Jaguars to pay half of Joe Schobert’s 2021 salary leaving the Steelers with a low cap hit

It’s the deal that keeps on giving.

When news of the Steelers trading for Joe Schobert broke during their preseason game Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles, not many details were known at the time. There were reports that the Jaguars were taking on part of Schobert’s salary, but those reports quietly went away as the deal became official on Saturday. But according to Pro Football Talk, the Jaguars are footing half the bill for Schobert’s 2021 salary.

Schobert was due a $7 million fully guaranteed base salary in 2021 as well as $300k in roster bonuses in total for the season. As reported by PFT, the Jacksonville Jaguars are paying $3.65 million of Schobert base salary in 2021. This leaves the Steelers on the hook for the $3.35 million base salary and the $300k roster bonuses. In all, the Steelers are responsible for the other $3.65 million for Schobert in 2021 according to Pro Football Talk.

But the Steelers weren’t done.

The Steelers also converted as much as Schobert’s base salary as possible, $2.36 million, into a signing bonus according to Pro Football Talk.

When crunching these numbers together, it leaves Joe Schobert with a very small 2021 salary cap hit for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Assuming there was no void year added to the remaining four-year contract, Schobert is now only on the books for his $990k base salary, $300k roster bonuses, and $590k prorated bonus by dividing his signing bonus by the remaining four years. If the Steelers did add a void year to the end of the contract, the only amount that would actually save any money, the additional savings for the 2021 salary cap would be $118k.

After looking at these totals, the most Joe Schobert is going to count against the Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 salary cap is $1.88 million. After factoring in roster displacement, Schobert only lowers the Steelers current salary cap by $1.03 million assuming all the details were reported by Pro Football Talk.

Looking into the future, Schobert’s final three years of his contract are not guaranteed. Schobert is due a base salary of $8.75 million in 2022, $10.25 million in 2023, and $10.75 million in 2024. Each season also includes $300k in combined per-game roster bonuses and $200k in workout bonuses each year according to his previous contract with the Jaguars as reported on overthecap.com.

In a worst-case scenario where things wouldn’t work out between Schobert and the Steelers after the 2021 season, there is only $1.77 million in dead money should the two part ways. This number is also assuming that there were no void year in Schobert’s contract.

In all, the Steelers gaining a former Pro Bowl linebacker and half of his salary for the upcoming season for only a sixth round pick, this deal continues to only get better for Pittsburgh. Add in Schobert is projected to cost less than $2 million on the 2021 salary cap, and Steelers once again still have their cap situation to where they have enough room to conduct their 2021 business as well as the ability for new contracts for some of their own players before the beginning of the regular season.

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