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In somewhat uncharacteristic fashion Kevin Colbert recently addressed the media to discuss the contract of Ben Roethlisberger and the understandable lack of an extension that would be coming this off season.
More interestingly Colbert went on to mention other players the Steelers front office were focusing on instead such as Cortez Allen, Marcus Gilbert and Shaun Suisham and although he didn't confirm how much cap space the team had to play with he did say it was a bit less than the readily available NFLPA's figure of $6,820,413.
So how much cap space do the Steelers really have? ..... Here are all the numbers that matter:
| Quarterbacks | Cap Hit In 2014 | Saving If Cut | Contract Length | |
| 1 | Ben Roethlisberger | $18,895,000 | $5,305,000 | 2 |
| 2 | Bruce Gradkowski | $1,833,333 | $1,266,666 | 2 |
| 3 | Landry Jones | $604,805 | $275,390 | 3 |
| 4 | Brendon Kay | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| Running Backs | ||||
| 5 | Le'Veon Bell | $936,500 | -$591,100 | 3 |
| 6 | LeGarrette Blount | $1,375,000 | $425,000 | 2 |
| 7 | Will Johnson | $570,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 8 | Dri Archer | $546,504 | $40,488 | 4 |
| 9 | Alvester Alexander | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 10 | Miguel Maysonet | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 11 | Josh Harris | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 12 | Jordan Hall | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 13 | Tauren Poole | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| Wide Receivers | ||||
| 14 | Antonio Brown | $4,517,500 | -$8,932,500 | 4 |
| 15 | Lance Moore | $1,177,500 | $532,500 | 2 |
| 16 | Markus Wheaton | $662,844 | $219,312 | 3 |
| 17 | Darrius Heyward-Bey | $635,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 18 | Martavis Bryant | $529,805 | $90,585 | 4 |
| 19 | Derek Moye | $495,000 | $495,000 | 1 |
| 20 | CJ Goodwin | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 21 | Kashif Moore | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 22 | Justin Brown | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 23 | Danny Coale | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 24 | Lanear Sampson | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| Tight Ends | ||||
| 25 | Heath Miller | $6,133,166 | -$2,313,334 | 3 |
| 26 | Matt Spaeth | $1,037,500 | $900,000 | 1 |
| 27 | David Paulson | $581,474 | $558,526 | 2 |
| 28 | Michael Palmer | $570,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 29 | Rob Blanchflower | $434,850 | $375,450 | 4 |
| 30 | Eric Waters | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| Offensive Line | ||||
| 31 | Maurkice Pouncey | $5,000,625 | -$9,400,000 | 6 |
| 32 | David DeCastro | $2,131,063 | -$1,030,709 | 2 |
| 33 | Ramon Foster | $1,950,000 | $1,350,000 | 2 |
| 34 | Marcus Gilbert | $1,026,905 | $815,103 | 1 |
| 35 | Mike Adams | $966,450 | $457,850 | 2 |
| 36 | Cody Wallace | $880,000 | $430,000 | 3 |
| 37 | Guy Whimper | $635,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 38 | Kelvin Beachum | $581,474 | $558,526 | 2 |
| 39 | Wesley Johnson | $456,140 | $311,580 | 4 |
| 40 | Will Simmons | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 41 | Kaycee Ike | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 42 | Emmanuel McCray | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 43 | Chris Elkins | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 44 | Christopher Hubbard | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 45 | Bryant Browning | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| Defensive Line | ||||
| 46 | Steve McLendon | $2,983,333 | $1,866,666 | 2 |
| 47 | Cameron Heyward | $2,133,418 | $1,289,322 | 2 |
| 48 | Cam Thomas | $1,500,000 | $500,000 | 2 |
| 49 | Stephon Tuitt | $838,081 | -$1,883,763 | 4 |
| 50 | Hebron Fangupo | $495,000 | $495,000 | 2 |
| 51 | Brian Arnfelt | $495,000 | $495,000 | 1 |
| 52 | Daniel McCullers | $439,670 | $360,990 | 4 |
| 53 | Nicholas Williams | $434,462 | $420,000 | 2 |
| 54 | Josh Mauro | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 55 | Ethan Hemer | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 56 | Roy Philon | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 57 | Al Lapuaho | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| Linebackers | ||||
| 58 | Lawrence Timmons | $11,816,250 | -$1,382,500 | 3 |
| 59 | Jason Worilds | $9,754,000 | $0 | 1 |
| 60 | Jarvis Jones | $1,978,523 | -$5,144,161 | 3 |
| 61 | Ryan Shazier | $1,728,582 | -$7,778,622 | 4 |
| 62 | Sean Spence | $726,345 | $453,655 | 2 |
| 63 | Chris Carter | $685,700 | $645,000 | 1 |
| 64 | Arthur Moats | $635,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 65 | Vic So'oto | $570,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 66 | Vince Williams | $514,670 | $455,660 | 3 |
| 67 | Terence Garvin | $495,000 | $495,000 | 1 |
| 68 | Jordan Zumwalt | $446,213 | $341,361 | 4 |
| 69 | Howard Jones | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 70 | Dan Molls | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| Defensive Backs | ||||
| 71 | Ike Taylor | $7,692,404 | $2,750,000 | 1 |
| 72 | Troy Polamalu | $6,387,500 | -$300,000 | 3 |
| 73 | Mike Mitchell | $2,200,000 | -$3,050,000 | 5 |
| 74 | William Gay | $1,666,667 | $1,333,332 | 2 |
| 75 | Cortez Allen | $1,528,875 | $1,431,000 | 1 |
| 76 | Will Allen | $635,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 77 | Brice McCain | $635,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 78 | Shamarko Thomas | $608,288 | $268,424 | 3 |
| 79 | Robert Golden | $571,668 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 80 | Antwon Blake | $570,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 81 | Isaiah Green | $495,000 | $495,000 | 1 |
| 82 | Ross Ventrone | $495,000 | $495,000 | 1 |
| 83 | Shaquille Richardson | $467,513 | $277,461 | 4 |
| 84 | Devon Carrington | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 85 | Lew Toler | $420,000 | $420,000 | 3 |
| 86 | Devin Smith | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 87 | Jordan Dangerfield | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| Special Teams | ||||
| 88 | Shaun Suisham | $1,762,500 | $1,425,000 | 4 |
| 89 | Adam Podlesh | $570,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 90 | Greg Warren | $635,000 | $570,000 | 1 |
| 91 | Brad Wing | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| 92 | Bryce Davis | $420,000 | $420,000 | 1 |
| Dead Money | ||||
| 1 | Lamarr Woodley | $5,590,000 | ||
| 2 | Willie Colon | $4,300,000 | ||
| 3 | Larry Foote | $666,667 | ||
| 4 | Terry Hawthorne | $142,539 | ||
| 5 | Curtis Brown | $130,300 | ||
| 6 | Justin Brown | $78,054 | ||
| 7 | Justin Cheadle | $74,541 | ||
| 8 | Mike Golic | $5,000 | ||
| 9 | Nik Embernate | $5,000 | ||
| 10 | Cordian Hagans | $3,334 | ||
| 11 | Christopher Hubbard | $3,000 | ||
| 12 | Reggie Dunn | $2,667 | ||
| 13 | Omar Hunter | $2,667 | ||
| 14 | Joe Madsen | $2,000 | ||
| 15 | Curtis McNeal | $2,000 | ||
| 16 | Adrian Robinson | $1,668 | ||
| 17 | Drew Butler | $1,668 | ||
| 18 | Alan Baxter | $1,667 | ||
| 19 | JD Woods | $1,667 | ||
| 20 | Terence Garvin | $1,334 | ||
| 21 | Brian Arnfelt | $1,334 | ||
| 22 | Mike Farrell | $1,334 | ||
| 23 | Luke Ingram | $1,000 | ||
| Totals | ||||
| Adjustment for 51 | -$17,595,000 | |||
| Roll Over from 2013 Salary Cap | -$1,352,450 | |||
| Salary Cap Adjustment | $104,000 | |||
| 2011/12 Cap Payback | $1,125,000 | |||
| Salary Cap Total | $126,654,091 | |||
| 2014 Salary Cap | $133,000,000 | |||
| Under Cap | $6,345,909 | |||
A few notes on the figures, the salaries are taken from a combination of NFLPA, Rotoworld, OverTheCap and Spotrac.
The lowest salary counting in the top 51 is one of $495,000. The Adjustment for 51 is made up of 5 salaries of $495,000 and 36 salaries of $420,000. This means any additional player signed in the next month under a salary of $495,000 will have no impact on the teams cap as seen by the signing of running back Josh Harris most recently for example.
While the Steelers technically have around $6,345,909 of cap space to spend looking at the figures above it is worth noting that to be cap compliant for the start of the season 53 salaries will be counted against the salary cap, two more than currently count. If the start of the season was today that would add another $990,000 to the salary cap.
Additionally a practice squad will have to be taken into account financially which this year, with a minimum salary of $6300 per week for each of the eight players, would amount to an additional $806,400 at least to account for within the cap.
The Steelers will have all of these figures in mind when evaluating how much space they have left to extend players this off season but it looks as if the team has a little over $4,500,000 in practical cap space to use for extensions, a figure that could rise slightly with cuts to higher priced players as camp goes on, but serves as a good bench mark when thinking about who might get a new deal this year.