The Steelers have restructured the contracts of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and cornerback Steven Nelson Tuesday morning, the fifth players with which they had made such a move in the past 24 hours.
The move with Roethlisberger was the one that made the biggest dent in their 2020 salary cap, but it also comes at a big cost.
Per Overthecap.com, a simple restructure on Roethlisberger's 2020 salary would create $9.75 million in cap space for the Steelers, even though his 2020 cap hit actually increased by $1 million to $33.5 million.
The problem is that by restructuring Roethlisberger this year, his 2021 cap number jumps to over $40 million in 2021 when he'll be 39 years old. That's a lot of money for a player coming off a major elbow injury, though Roethlisberger is expected to make a full recovery.
Roethlisberger signed a three-year, $80-million contract last spring.
Nelson, meanwhile, signed a three-year, $25.5-million deal to join the Steelers last season. It was the richest free-agent contract in team history. His restructure saves the Steelers $3.76 million in 2020.
The restructures of Roethlisberger and Nelson, along with those of Joe Haden, Chris Boswell and Vance McDonald not only put the Steelers under the $198.2 million salary cap for 2020, but they also give the team enough wiggle room to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents. Those would include offensive linemen Matt Feiler and Zach Banner and cornerback Mike Hilton.
With the releases of Mark Barron, Anthony Chickillo and Johnny Holton, and the retirement of Ramon Foster on Monday, the Steelers have cleared approximately $35 million in cap space in the past two days.
But $15.82 million of that went to linebacker Bud Dupree, on whom the Steelers placed the franchise tag on Monday.
The moves leave the Steelers with around $12 million in available cap space heading into the new league year. But much of that would be eaten up by extending tenders to Feiler, Banner and Hilton.
If the Steelers want to make any moves in free agency, they'll need to make additional moves to clear more cap space.
LOLLEY'S VIEW
The restructure of Roethlisberger is a risky move. While it was the one that could create the most cap space, kicking the can down the road with him is pricey in 2021.
The way the Steelers could get around that would be to add another year or two to his contract next offseason. But that will depend largely on how he plays in 2020.
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