The cap

[Don Kedic]

What is? being in good cap shape?

Yeah I’m excited to see which old has-been that doesn’t move the needle we decide to overpay this time.

 

[insaniti]

The Steelers sitting at just under $14M in cap space without a clear franchise QB is definitely concerning. While restructures and cuts can free up room, it highlights how tight their flexibility is heading into the season. Building around uncertainty at quarterback makes the margin for error even smaller. The front office has tough decisions ahead, and fans are right to feel uneasy about the current cap situation and roster outlook.

I don't understand why it is concerning to some people. We don't have a franchise QB so we aren't going to have a franchise QB contract eating up cap space. We also aren't going to be signing someone else's franchise QB, so we don't need the space to sign one. And drafting a QB gives you 4-5 years before you have to worry about having the space for a franchise QB.

It's why Seattle was able to build their team with Russell Wilson at QB. Under his rookie contract, they loaded up on other positions. KC did the same with Mahomes, and we can go on and on. Until you HAVE a franchise QB that is in the final year of his rookie contract, or have the chance to sign one in free agency (VERY unlikely), the NEED for space for one is irrelevant.

And again, none of these sites are accounting for the unused space from 2025 that will be rolled over into 2026.

 

[madinsomniac]

I went there and it says top 51 are only $281M and we have $27 in cap room.

Patrick Queen is still on the books and if he is cut that frees up $10 more million. Still not sure what they do with that. There are potentially some other restructures. The extension time period for guys in their last year of contracts ends September 1st for this team (we don't do mid-season extensions).

I think they are on top of the cap situation right now with room for Rogers if/when he decides to return.

Again... nothing about this off-season has really bothered me much. The roster is very young and also needs a lot of work to decide which young guys are keepers in McCarthy's system and which are losers. Then on the other side of the coin, we still have some very old veterans.

It's very evident there was a big "gap" in talent on this team based on poor drafts/planning in those last couple of Colbert/Tomlin years, culminating in the swing/miss on a 1st round QB.

Project 2027.

They arent cutting Queen... any big name cuts for cap space would have happened by now.

 

[Drink IRON City]

They arent cutting Queen... any big name cuts for cap space would have happened by now.

I think you are right on Queen, they usually cut a player & also giving them the best opportunity to regain employment elsewhere.

Sometimes the player cut may have a June 1st designation to spread out cap hit another year.




Salute the nation

 

[slashsteel]

They aren't cutting Queen... any big name cuts for cap space would have happened by now.

I think their thinking is Graham can get more out of them than Tomlin/Austin.

I can’t disagree if that is their thought process…