The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the many teams who have work to do to get under the salary cap for the 2021 league year. As the team continues to restructure contracts of players like Cameron Heyward and Ben Roethlisberger, they still have work to do.
Reportedly, the Steelers have added fullback Derek Watt to the list of restructured players. This per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network:
More restructuring to create salary cap space:
— #Saints S Malcolm Jenkins: $3.4M of extra room
— #Saints OL Andrus Peat: $6M
— #Eagles OL Isaac Seumalo: $2.408M
— #Steelers FB Derek Watt: $880K— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 10, 2021
For those in the camp who would have preferred the Steelers simply release Watt, it would have only saved the Steelers $1.67 million. After factoring in roster replacement, the savings of under $1 million would have barely been more than what the Steelers saved in the restructure where they get to keep Watt for the 2021 season.
This news is all well and good, but the giant elephant in the room is the fact no one knows a thing about the actual number of the 2021 salary cap. Do the teams/owners know, but it just isn’t public? It is a possibility, but teams are being forced to restructure contracts and release players to try and get compliant with some unknown number.
Some will wonder how much cap space the Steelers currently have, and some will try to provide that answer, but without a known cap number those estimations are nothing more than mere guesses.
The Steelers will continue to make moves as the new league year approaches, and you can see all the news and notes surrounding the black and gold right here at BTSC.
