2017 Steelers salary cap situation heading into the new league year

You think the Pittsburgh Steelers have had a busy offseason so far? The Steelers are not big players on the free-agent market, but they do not hide under a rock either. What limits their action in the FA market is the amount of salary cap space available. The dawn of the new league year is upon us, and the show is about to start.

Just a quick reminder, only the Rule of 51 is in effect from March 9 until the first game of the regular season. The Steelers currently sit on $20,996,692 of available cap space. This includes dead money, but does not include carryover money for 2018 that has to be included in any calculation. Carryover money is kept in case of injuries during the season along with money to protect valuable members of the practice squad. The Steelers hold back $3 million to $4 million each season specifically for carryover purposes. To put this into perspective, Pittsburgh sits ninth from the bottom with their almost $21 million cap space. The Cleveland Browns have the most cap space, nearly $103 million, while the Chiefs are in the most precarious position with just $2.2 million.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of where the Black and Gold sit regarding the cap, it’s time to break down those numbers. The NFL set the 2017 salary cap at $167 million. Pittsburgh has more than $3 million in carryover, and now sits on more than $2.7 million in dead money. The disparity for the offense compared to the defense is shocking. The offense accounts for $100,772,242, the defense accounts for $52,467,393 and special teams account for $2,930,000. The steelers may not in the best shape cap-wise, but it is far from being in a dysfunctional crunch.