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The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a very busy past few days, trading for San Francisco 49ers tight end Vance McDonald, releasing two players and putting another on injured reserve and now speculation of possibly acquiring Joe Haden is dominating the coverage.
One sticking point with possibly signing a player like Haden is the cost. The Cleveland Browns will be on the hook for $4 million of his 2017 salary, but he will be expecting to be paid by his new employer, whomever that may be.
To get a grip on the Steelers current salary cap number, the numbers for Vance McDonald must be included. Check out the details of McDonald’s contract details below per Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network:
Steelers new TE V McDonald counts $2.6M on cap. Have roughly $13M left. Usu keep $3M in reserve. Want to sign Tuitt. Still, $ for Haden.
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) August 30, 2017
McDonald counting for just $2.6 million towards the 2017 salary cap is huge, and leaves the Steelers with roughly $13 million left. With teams keeping roughly $3 million in reserve, that leaves about $10 million dollars for them to possibly sign a player like Haden, but don’t forget someone like Stephon Tuitt, as mentioned by Kinkhabwala.
Haden would certainly be an upgrade over their current CB2 prospects, but the money has to be right. Tuitt should be a priority, but the Steelers could certainly let Haden go to the highest bidder, and wait for teams to release players after their fourth preseason game and sign a player who was released, like they did with Ross Cockrell three years ago.
Either way, it seems almost certain the Steelers will be making some adjustments to their cornerback depth chart, the question now is who will be added and how much they will cost.
Stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and information regarding the black and gold moving forward.