In the past two offseasons, the opening days of free agency has brought the Steelers the likes of linebacker Patrick Queen, safety DeShon Elliott, linebacker Elandon Roberts, guard Isaac Seumalo and quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields – though Fields was acquired via a trade – among others.
They've been aggressive in filling their needs – particularly aggressive considering their past.
Thing is, the Steelers have been that aggressive in free agency the past couple of seasons because they had the available salary cap space. And this year, according to numbers released by the NFL earlier this week, the Steelers enter free agency – which begins with the legal tampering period Monday and officially kicks into full gear Wednesday – with the seventh-most available cap space, nearly $60 million, among all 32 teams.
So, while all teams got a bump last week in cap space when the league informed teams what the 2025 salary cap would be, the Steelers didn't need to necessarily concern themselves with the actual cap. They already knew they would be under.
As we've already seen this week, a number of teams across the league are not. Players are getting released left and right by teams working to become cap compliant. Contracts are being adjusted, which is great for the player, who gets a big check instead of having to wait for it. But the team owner has to write that big check as opposed to paying it out over the course of the season.
And it also simply pushes the player's future cap hit higher, which the Browns have done several times to their own detriment with quarterback DeShaun Watson – something the Browns did again this week in an effort to get under the 2025 salary cap. At some point, the bill comes due.
Per OvertheCap.com, which tracks such things, the Steelers currently have the least amount of "dead money," cap space paid out to players no longer on the roster, of any team in the NFL entering the 2025 season at less than $50,000.
On the opposite end of that spectrum is San Francisco, which has nearly $66 million in dead money counting against its cap and you see the difference.
The Steelers currently have freedom to improve their roster that few other teams in the NFL possess.
And they've largely mined free agency well, signing outside free agents to shorter-term contracts that don't hamstring the franchise in future years, while also getting players who have contributed in big ways.