Updating the Steelers salary cap situation after T.J. Watt’s extension

The Pittsburgh Steelers are less than a week away from training camp. With lots of business still happening, I am ready to make some updates to my numbers for the salary cap availability for the Steelers. While reports come in about a deal, it can sometimes take some time to know the exact financials within the contract. Relying heavily on reliable salary cap websites such as overthecap.com (OTC) or spotrac.com, when they are able to report a player’s contract numbers over the specific years I then update the salary cap situation with a more precise number.

Remember, to determine how much each player changes the Steelers’ salary cap space, their cap number must be adjusted due to roster displacement. As a reminder, roster displacement is taking into account only the top 51 contracts for a team count towards the salary cap during the offseason. As a larger contract comes on the books, it bumps a smaller contract out of the top 51. Therefore, it’s only the difference in those contracts that increases the salary cap number.

Since my last update, I had to put out an article about what information I was still missing from the Steelers–Dolphins trade which can be seen HERE. In that article I outline how the Steelers were saving $15.5 million this season from trading Minkah Fitzpatrick. For a further breakdown of exactly how that number was reached, check out the previous article. Rather than deal with roster displacement twice, I am not taking that into account for Minkah Fitzpatrick as I am simply swapping him and Jalen Ramsey in and out of the top 51.

Of course, the day that article came out then the numbers came on the Jonnu Smith deal. The Steelers added an additional year and approximately $12 million to Smith’s contract to where it is for two years and $16 million. With a $1.255 million base salary, the league minimum for his years of service, and a $7.745 million signing bonus, Smith is paid $9 million this year but only counts $5.1275 million against the 2025 salary recap. For those wondering about the future, he has over a $10.8 million cap hit for next year, but the Steelers could choose to move on and saver his $7 million base salary which would leave only $3.8725 million in dead money. So they have options. When it comes to how that 2025 number affects things now, it displaced a $1.1 million contract so it ultimately only lowered the Steelers cap number by $4.0275 million.

Jalen Ramsey is still a bit tricky. OTC does not have a reasonable number for his contract at this time as their numbers don’t even add up properly. They have him set with a $19.5 million cap hit for 2025 which should ultimately be the amount of cash he gets paid. Once they properly report this, I’ll have a much better idea of things. At Spotrac, they have Ramsey‘s cap hit at $4.904 million for 2025. But one thing they have is they kept the void years on Ramsey‘s deal which the Steelers potentially did not do. Spotrac has done void years on a contract with the Steelers that don’t exist in the past as they incorrectly had Alex Highsmith’s restructure last year as the wrong number as they put on void years.

Not being able to completely trust Spotrac, I’m going with my own salary cap number for Jalen Ramsey for now which I will adjust when I get better information from OTC. I am keeping his base salary as $1.255 million, the league minimum, that is reported by Spotrac. I am also keeping him having a signing bonus of $18.245 million reported at Spotrac (giving him $19.5 million paid in 2025), but I’m only splitting it up over the four years remaining on his deal and not keeping void years. For this reason, I have Ramsey‘s cap hit this year as $5.81625 million, less than $1 million more than what Spotrac has reported. I’m not saying my number is correct, but I do believe it is a much safer assumption than going with what has been reported by either place. So this is my number for now of how much it will cost the Steelers and I am not factoring in displacement as I swapped Ramsey for Fitzpatrick.

Now for the big one…

T.J. Watt’s three-year extension for $123 million did exactly what anyone who was paying attention knew would come: Lowering in his cap hit for 2025 (Now do you see why those other signings didn’t affect this, Ed?). Watt was due to count $30.418694 million against the 2025 salary cap based on a $21.05 million base salary and a $9.368694 million proration from the signing bonus of his previous deal. This prorated bonus could not be moved around and had to come in 2025. As for his new deal, Watt has a $4 million base salary in 2025 and an additional $10 million in a prorated bonus due to a $40 million signing bonus spread out over four seasons. In all, T.J. Watt’s cap hit for 2025 is $23.368694 million, coming in $7.05 million less than what it was scheduled to be previously.

For those curious about the rest of the deal with Watt, 2026 and 2027 are identical years when it comes to the salary cap. Watt has a $32 million base salary which, when added to the $10 million prorated signing bonus, comes to a $42 million cap hit in each year. In the final year of 2028, Watt once again will have a $21.05 million base salary, what he was set to have this year, along with a $15 million roster bonus which apparently is the only amount not guaranteed. His cap hit in 2028 is set to be $46.05 million.

Here is the approximate breakdown of the Steelers salary cap space as of now by my own calculations. The numbers below are strictly the salary cap hit for each player in 2025.

Steelers salary cap space heading into free agency: Approximately $63.69 million

Workout Bonuses: Held until unused is refunded in the fall -$0.9072
Jaylen Warren: $5.346 million for 2nd round RFA tender; No displacement: -$5.346 million
Larry Ogunjobi: Saves $7 million; No displacement: +$7 million
Malik Harrison: Reported $3.21 million; After displacement: -$2.324329 million
Kenneth Gainwell: Reported $1.79 million; After displacement: -$0.894982 million
DK Metcalf: Reported $11 million; After displacement: -$10.16 million
Ryan McCollum: Reported $1.03 million; After displacement: -$0.07 million
Darius Slay: Reported $10 million; After displacement: -$9.04 million
Brandin Echols: Reported $2.085 million; After displacement: -$1.125 million
Lecitus Smith: Reported $1.03 million; After displacement: -$0.07 million
Mason Rudolph: Reported $3 million; After displacement: -$2.04 million
Juan Thornhill: Reported $3 million; After displacement: -$2.04 million
Daniel Ekuale: Reported $2.8 million; After displacement: -$1.831667 million
Ben Skowronek: Reported $1.71 million; After displacement: -$0.68 million
Scotty Miller: Reported $1.1975 million; After displacement: -$0.1675 million
Isaiahh Loudermilk: Reported $1.3375 million; After displacement: -$0.3075 million
James Pierre: Reported $1.08 million; After displacement: -$0.05 million
Esezi Otomewo: Reported $1.03 million; No in top 51: -$0
Jeremiah Moon: Reported $1.03 million; No in top 51: -$0
Mike Williams: $1.516 million in dead money; No displacement: -$1.516 million
Calvin Anderson: Reported $1.585 million; After displacement: -$0.555 million
Max Scharping: Reported $1.1975 million; After displacement: -$0.1675 million
Montravius Adams: Saves $2.25 million; No displacement: +$2.25 million
Ryan Watts: $0.137013 million in dead money; No displacement: -$0.137013
Robert Woods: Reported $2 million; No displacement: -$2 million
George Pickens: Saves $3.656 million; After displacement: +$2.626 million
Kaleb Johnson: Reported $1.158557 million; After displacement: -$0.109111 million
Jack Sawyer: Reported $1.077733 million; After displacement: -$0.047733 million
Yahya Black: Reported $0.934959 million; No in top 51: -$0
Will Howard: Reported $0.902025 million; No in top 51: -$0
Carson Bruener: Reported $0.874235 million; No in top 51: -$0
Donte Kent: Reported $0.873363 million; No in top 51: -$0
Derrick Harmon: Reported $3.267928 million; After displacement: -$2.216819 million
Trey Sermon: Reported $1.03 million; No in top 51: -$0
Blake Mangelson: Released with $3,000 in dead money: -$0.003 million
Aaron Rodgers: Reported $14.15 million; After displacement: -$13.072267 million
DeShon Elliott: Increases $0.17 million; No displacement: -$0.17 million
Tucker Addington: Reported $1.1 million; After displacement: -$0.02 million
*NEW*
Jonnu Smith: Reported $5.1275 million; After displacement: -$4.0275 million
Minkah Fitzpatrick: Saves $15.5 million; No displacement: +$15.5 million
Jalen Ramsey: ESTIMATED $5.81625 million; No displacement: -$5.81625 million
T.J. Watt: Saves $7.05 million; No displacement: +$7.05 million

Approximate salary cap space: Approximately $31.3 million

So how does my salary cap number compare to those reported by the major salary cap websites?

According to overthecap.com (OTC), the Steelers are $10,595,145 under the salary cap as of noon on Friday. OTC does not have the T.J. Watt deal on the Steelers team page (even though they have it on Watt’s individual page) and they have what I believe to me more than $13 million too much for Jalen Ramsey.

Another credible salary cap website is spotrac.com, which has the Steelers at $32,278,302 as of noon on Friday. They have a slightly lower cap hit for Jalen Ramsey than I am ready to give at this time as well as they don’t have the same cap number for Mason Rudolph. Other differences here are they do not have the offseason workouts counting against the salary cap. Additionally, Spotrac counts the potential dead money hit for players not in the top 51 even though it does not need to count against the cap at this time until those players are officially released.

While the Steelers are going to need cap space for a number of things this offseason, it doesn’t have to be at this time. The Steelers will need as much as an additional $13 million, but not until September. The expenses in September include when they need to account for all 53 players on the roster (about $1.8 million), sign their practice squad (between $4 million and $4.5 million), and have some carryover in order to do business throughout the year (about $7 million). But even taking these things into effect now, which they do not need to do as there are other moves which could be made to save some cap space such as a Pat Freiermuth restructure, the Steelers still have room in order to acquire more players should the need arise. The Steelers currently have around $18.3 million above their projected future expenses.

Does something not make sense? Curious about any of the specifics? Leave your questions in the comments below and I will check in and do my best to answer them.