Free agency news is largely driven by insiders reporting contracts on X. What some people don’t understand is that players’ agents often leak the most favorable information to insiders (or even write their tweets for them). This results in inflated contract values being reported. We saw this with Najee Harris and his incentive-laden contract that potentially hurts the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2026 compensatory value. Now we see that again with WR Mike Williams.
According to Nick Korte of Over The Cap, the preeminent Internet expert on all things comp picks, Williams’ initially reported contract of $6 million APY was a little too aggressive. The actual number comes in at $3 million APY, which makes him unlikely to qualify as a compensatory free agent.
The "up to" reports on Mike Williams were doubly too aggressive: at $3M APY, he's less likely to qualify as a compensatory free agent.
That takes a 6th 2026 comp pick off the board from the Steelers, and draws the Chargers even on CFAs lost/gained.https://t.co/zS7vNUh42v
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) March 20, 2025
The old comp pick model had Mike Williams and Najee Harris signing with the Chargers getting canceled out by the Steelers signing Mason Rudolph and Malik Harrison. Now Malik Harrison could potentially cancel out Donte Jackson signing with the Chargers, lowering the Steelers’ total comp picks to three.
Teams can only have a maximum of four comp picks, and the Steelers appeared to be on track to hit that number until contract details started surfacing. Both Williams and Harris could potentially still help the Steelers get over that threshold if they hit their incentives, but the full incentive package is rarely reached in its entirety.
The last remaining hope for the Steelers to get back on the right side of the formula to have four compensatory draft picks would be QB Russell Wilson. If he signs a healthy contract prior to the 2025 NFL Draft, that could give the Steelers another high comp pick in return. The only issue is, Wilson would have to sign that contract before the compensatory cutoff date, which comes the Monday following the draft.
This is yet another reason why it would be ideal for Aaron Rodgers to make up his mind sooner rather than later. If he signs in Pittsburgh, he wouldn’t affect the formula because he was released by his previous team. He is the last domino to fall until the other veteran quarterbacks start signing elsewhere. It would be a shame for that to happen after the draft and see the Steelers miss out on compensatory value for Russell Wilson.
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