Quincy Roche slated to be the first Steelers rookie to sign his rookie contract

There was once a time, seemingly a long time ago, when NFL rookie contracts were anything but certain. Teams who had a high draft pick would be held hostage by agents as they postured for more and more money.

Two Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) later, and now rookies signing their first professional contract has become just news which runs late on a Friday night without any fan fare.

For the Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 NFL Draft class, it looks as if 6th round pick Quincy Roche, from the University of Miami, will be the first rookie to ink his contract. This per Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

With the Steelers starting rookie minicamp, there is a good chance the vast majority of their rookies will be under center when minicamp wraps up. If not by then, at least by the end of mandatory minicamp.

So, how much will Roche be making, and counting towards the team’s salary cap?

Based on the salary cap numbers from overthecap.com, Roche should have a 2021 salary cap hit of $696,644. This amount will not land Roche in the Steelers top 51 salaries on the offseason roster and would therefore not affect the Steelers current salary cap. Each drafted player has a base salary of $660k with the only difference being the signing bonus given based on draft position. The prorated bonus from Roche’s 2021 cap number is $36,644, so this number calculated from a four-year contract would have his signing bonus coming in at $146,576 based on the numbers from OTC.

Be sure to stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers as they prepare for the 2021 regular season.