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Emmanuel Sanders contract could lead to long-term deal

The Steelers may have matched the Patriots offer, but they can still work out a long-term deal, should they be interested in that. They will have to work something out, considering they are basically at the top of the salary cap.

Justin K. Aller

The poll run on BTSC earlier this week saw eight percent of voters choose the "match the Patriots offer" option.

Two-thirds of you voted for letting him go, and 25 percent said to sign him to a long-term deal.

Perhaps that long-term deal is still in the works.

The $2.5 million one-year deal Sanders now has pushes the Steelers to the brink of the salary cap. A move is imminent, but whether that involves Sanders remains to be seen.

They could defer some of that cap hit in a longer deal to Sanders, but he'd still have to sign it. Considering he's owed $2.5 million this year, and hasn't exactly played for a large contract to this point, he may not be interested in getting less money this year.

That means someone else will either have to restructure, if not be cut.

Obviously, it's possible for the Steelers to simply move money around the ledger, and not release any player, but they will have to be cap compliant in the near future. According to Mark Kaboly of the Tribune-Review, they are $742,000 under the cap with their top 48 players, needing that money to sign three more.