It may feel like a footnote as part of the blockbuster trade that brought WR DK Metcalf from Seattle to Pittsburgh. But in the Steelers’ front office, there’s been a major change. The five-year, $150 million contract Metcalf signed to keep him in Pittsburgh for the long haul includes the first two years fully guaranteed. And that changes everything with how the Steelers go about their business.
Longtime NFL agent Joel Corry confirmed the news in a Wednesday tweet.
“As expected, DK Metcalf got traditional salary guarantees like T.J. Watt & Minkah Fitzpatrick. $60M is fully guaranteed at signing, which is the cash in the 1st 2 years of the deal.”
As expected, DK Metcalf got traditional salary guarantees like T.J. Watt & Minkah Fitzpatrick. $60M is fully guaranteed at signing, which is the cash in the 1st 2 years of the deal.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) March 19, 2025
It means Metcalf’s signing bonus, 2025 salary, and 2026 salary structure are all fully guaranteed.
Dave Bryan’s reaction to the news says it all.
For most of Pittsburgh’s history, the only position that received fully guaranteed money past Year 1 of a contract was the quarterback. That changed in 2021 when EDGE T.J. Watt got the first three years of his contract guaranteed. Free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick soon followed suit, getting the first two years of his 2022 extension guaranteed.
Hence, the Steelers’ stance softened to giving guaranteed money to big-money quarterbacks and players who reset the market, becoming the highest-paid player at their position as Watt and Fitzpatrick did.
Now, with Metcalf getting the first two years guaranteed, that precedent has been broken. Metcalf is one of the highest-paid wide receivers in football but not the highest paid. And that came before the Cincinnati Bengals made WR Ja’Marr Chase the highest-paid non-quarterback in football.
For the first time, Pittsburgh has given fully guaranteed money past Year 1 for a player who didn’t reset the market. That changes how they negotiate, or more accurate, how agents negotiate with them, going forward. No longer can the team lean on precedent to structure a deal “its” way.
In a sense, it could make it easier for the Steelers to get deals done. Perhaps they’ll no longer be hung up on guaranteed money as a sticking point, though they reportedly didn’t offer it to QB Justin Fields, who left for the New York Jets.
In theory, it would make it easier for the team to extend EDGE T.J. Watt, no longer “needing” to keep precedent by giving him a top-market deal. Still, Watt could look to top Myles Garrett’s $40 million average yearly value, not wanting to be second to someone he has been and will be compared to throughout his career.
This news is for cap nerds (like us). Publicly, the Steelers’ change won’t be seen or felt. But it’s a major shift in organizational philosophy. Pittsburgh could no longer hold out on the “old” model and teams like Cincinnati have also had to give up their principles. The salaries are too large, the competition too tough to stubbornly do things the “old” way.
The Steelers still have several more long-standing precedents worth breaking (their uncompetitive UDFA structure tops among them) but this is a value that’s officially gone away. And makes the radical trade for Metcalf all the more noteworthy.
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