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The Pittsburgh Steelers have not been as active in free agency as some fans have wanted them to be. However, the team did shore up one of their biggest holes with the signing of ILB Jon Bostic.
The former 2013 second-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears (50th overall) is penciled in as the current replacement for the injured Ryan Shazier. (I use the term “penciled in” due to the relatively small contract size which pays him very low starter money or high backup money, depending on how you look at it.)
The often injured Bostic accepted a team friendly deal worth $800,000 for 2018 and an acceptable salary of $1.8 million in 2019. This is on top of a $1.4 million prorated signing bonus. The 2018 cap hit is $1.5 million for 2018 and $2.5 million for 2019, according to Ian Whetstone.
It looks like the Steelers' contract with LB Jon Bostic contains, in addition to the $1.4 million signing bonus as originally reported by @JFowlerESPN, salaries of $800,000 in 2018 and $1.8 million in 2019. The salary cap hit this year is $1.5 million, next year $2.5 million.
— Ian Whetstone (@IanWhetstone) March 22, 2018
Bostic has 15 starts over the past two seasons, but did start 14 games last season for the Indianapolis Colts before a knee injury sidelined him during Week 14. Bostic also missed part of the 2015 and 2016 seasons due to varying injuries.
At 26 years old, Bostic has a lot of things going his way.
- He has the pedigree and upside to fill the void at inside linebacker, even if just temporary.
- He has experience at both starting ILB spots and was the primary defense caller.
- Bostic missed only three snaps until his departure in week 14 as the Colts used him in an every down role. A role that the Steelers may use him in 2018.
Whatever Bostic’s role with the black-and-gold will be, he brings a lot of experience at a very reasonable cost to a position which was a sore spot by the end of 2017.
For those waiting, and wondering, what the Steelers’ current salary cap status us, please read the disclaimer below:
I am having a tough time nailing down exactly where the Steelers currently stand cap wise. My thought was Pitt had to clear cap space to sign Morgan Burnett. Clearly, that is not the case. The cap figures from OTC and the NFLPA have swung wildly the past few days. OTC has Pitt’s cap figure at $6.1 million while the NFLPA has it at $5.3 million. Neither site accounts for Bostic, Burnett or Daniel McCullers. I will try and figure this out and publish an updated salary cap article as soon as possible.
Update after publish: I now see that OTC has updated to show Bostic and the cap figure is $5 million. While the NFLPA is showing $3.4M. I am now really scratching my head at the NFLPA drop of $2.7 million. I find it literally impossible that McCullers would land $1.2 million.