Updating the Steelers salary cap situation after multiple contracts have been reported

The Pittsburgh Steelers have kicked off the official start of the 2025 league year. With business continuing on, I am ready to make some updates to my numbers for the salary cap availability for the Steelers. While reports come in about a deal, it can sometimes take some time to know the exact financials within the contract. Relying heavily on reliable salary cap websites such as overthecap.com (OTC) or spotrac.com, when they are able to report a player’s contract numbers over the specific years I then update the salary cap situation with a more precise number.

Remember, to determine how much each player changes the Steelers’ salary cap space, their cap number must be adjusted due to roster displacement. As a reminder, roster displacement is taking into account only the top 51 contracts for a team count towards the salary cap during the offseason. As a larger contract comes on the books, it bumps a smaller contract out of the top 51. Therefore, it’s only the difference in those contracts that increases the salary cap number.

Since my last update yesterday, there have been 8 contracts reported by either OTC or Spotrac. The first contract I want to address is Mason Rudolph, which I projected in my update yesterday. According to both sites, my breakdown was exactly correct and he has a $3 million cap number this season.

Another salary that has been reported is the one-year deal for safety Juan Thornhill. With a $1.17 base salary and a $1.83 million signing bonus, Thornhill’s cap hit comes in at $3 million. After displacing the final $960 K contract, it takes $2.04 million off the Steelers cap space.

Another player signing a one-year contract was defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale. With a $1.17 million base salary, Ekuale‘s signing bonus was $1.63 million giving him a $2.8 million cap hit for 2025. Displacing Beanie Bishop’s cap hit of $986,333, Ekuale takes a little more than $1.8 million off the Steelers salary cap.

Ben Skowronek signed a two-year deal with the Steelers for $4.475 million. Skowronek has a base salary of $1.17 million for 2025 as well as a $1.08 million signing bonus. Prorating the bonus over two seasons, Skowronek’s cap for 2025 is $1.71 million. After displacing a $1.03 million contract, Skowronek only counts $0.68 million off the Steelers salary cap space.

Another wide receiver coming back for the Steelers is Scotty Miller on a one-year, Veteran Salary Benefit (VSB) contract. Miller has a $1.17 million base, but because of the benefit it only counts $1.03 million against the salary cap. Miller has the maximum signing bonus allowed under a VSB contract of $167,500. In all, Miller’s cap hit is $1.1975 million and, after displacement, lowered the Steelers salary cap only by $167.5 K.

Defensive tackle Isaiahh Loudermilk is back with the Steelers on a one-year deal on a different type of VSB contract. Loudermilk was one of two potential players per season who has a special provision for a player who has been with the team for at least four seasons. Long story short, Loudermilk’s base salary of $1.46 million only counts as $1.17 million and he has a $167.5 K signing bonus. In all, Loudermilk counts $1.3375 million against the cap and displaces a $1.03 million contract, only costing the Steelers $307.5 K off their cap space.

Another player who is receiving a VSB contract is James Pierre, although his contract originally had me a little confused. A one-year deal with a $1.17 million base salary, he only has a cap number from his base salary of $1.03 million. This is much like Scotty Miller, but where it gets different comes with his bonus. He only has a $50 K signing bonus but also was reported to have a $75 K roster bonus should he be on the roster in Week 1. But because he wasn’t on a 53-man roster Week 1 last year, that bonus is considered not likely to be earned and doesn’t count against his cap number. Therefore his salary cap number for 2025 is $1.08 million and only reduces the Steelers cap space $50 K after moving out a $1.03 million contract.

The last player with their salary reported is Esezi Otomewo. With a one-year deal worth $1.03 million, his deal does not come in the top 51 and doesn’t change the Steelers salary cap number.

From the seven new players I’ve added in this update, they only cost the Steelers just over $5 million against their salary cap after displacement.

The only player that I don’t have his contract information, mainly because the Steelers have not officially announced the move, is Jeremiah Moon. Since I expect his contract to end up where the Steelers could have signed him as an exclusive rights free agent, I do not think he will fall within the top 51 salaries. But for now, I will leave him as TBD.

Here is the approximate breakdown of the Steelers salary cap space after some of the most recent deals by my own calculations. The numbers below are strictly the salary cap hit for each player in 2025.

Steelers salary cap space heading into free agency: Approximately $63.69 million

Workout Bonuses: Held until unused is refunded in the fall -$0.9072
Jaylen Warren: $5.346 million fro 2nd round RFA tender; No displacement: -$5.346 million
Larry Ogunjobi: Saves $7 million; No displacement: +$7 million
Malik Harrison: Reported $3.21 million; After displacement: -$2.324329 million
Kenneth Gainwell: Reported $1.79 million; After displacement: -$0.894982 million
DK Metcalf: Reported $11 million; After displacement: -$10.16 million
Ryan McCollum: Reported $1.03 million; After displacement: -$0.07 million
Darius Slay: Reported $10 million; After displacement: -$9.04 million
Brandin Echols: Reported $2.085 million; After displacement: -$1.125 million
Lecitus Smith: Reported $1.03 million; After displacement: -$0.07 million
Mason Rudolph: Reported $3 million; After displacement: -$2.04 million
Juan Thornhill: Reported $3 million; After displacement: -$2.04 million
Daniel Ekuale: Reported $2.8 million; After displacement: -$1.831667 million
Ben Skowronek: Reported $1.71 million; After displacement: -$0.68 million
Scotty Miller: Reported $1.1975 million; After displacement: -$0.1675 million
Isaiahh Loudermilk: Reported $1.3375 million; After displacement: -$0.3075 million
James Pierre: Reported $1.08 million; After displacement: -$0.05 million
Esezi Otomewo: Reported $1.03 million; No in top 51: -$0
Jeremiah Moon: No Report: TBD

Approximate salary cap space: Approximately $33.6 million

So how does my salary cap number compare to those reported by the major salary cap websites?

According to overthecap.com (OTC), the Steelers are $33,638,588 under the salary cap as of Wednesday night. Yesterday they had the new deal for DK Metcalf having an extra $417 for some reason but have since fixed it. With them having all these moves on the books, we now have the exact same number.

Another credible salary cap website is spotrac.com, which has the Steelers at $34,686,775 as of Wednesday night. Differences here are they do not have the offseason workouts counting against the salary cap. Additionally, Spotrac counts the potential dead money hit for players not in the top 51 even though it does not need to count against the cap at this time until those players are officially released.

While the Steelers are going to need cap space for a number of things this offseason, it doesn’t have to be at this time. The Steelers will need as much as an additional $15 million, with $13 million not needed until September. The Steelers are estimated to need about $2 million to sign their rookie class after displacement based on their current draft picks. Expenses in September include when they need to account for all 53 players on the roster (about $1.8 million), sign their practice squad (between $4 million and $4.5 million), and have some carryover in order to do business throughout the year (about $7 million). But even taking these things into effect now, which they do not need to do as there are other moves which could be made to save some cap space, the Steelers have plenty of room in order to still be active in free agency.

Does something not make sense? Curious about any of the specifics? Leave your questions in the comments below and I will check in and do my best to answer them.