Steelers reportedly hopeful to retain several of their own free agents

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a laundry list of player who are about to hit the open market as free agents. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge ordeal, but with the NFL salary cap dipping to $182.5 million dollars in 2021, it becomes a challenge to keep anyone on their roster unless they take a hometown discount.

Regardless, it is being reported the Steelers are interested in bringing back Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) Matt Feiler, Tyson Alualu, Mike Hilton and Cam Sutton. This per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

As Dulac points out, saying you want to keep this players is one thing, doing so is another. Of course the Steelers would love to keep both Hilton and Sutton, but is that even remotely realistic considering how cap strapped the Steelers are?

If the team wants to do anything in free agency, including sign some of their own free agents, they will need to create more salary cap space. To do so they would have to give extensions to players like Joe Haden and/or Steven Nelson, or release players like Vince Williams or David DeCastro.

While the latter of that above scenario is unlikely, you will get to see what the team has planned by their next move. If the next news which hits is news of an extension, you can expect some news to follow about a potential signing. If you don’t hear of any cuts or extensions, it is unlikely the Steelers do much of anything in free agency. They simply don’t have the cap space to do so.

Needless to say, stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the Free Agent frenzy.