"The Steelers should sign Cam Newton!"
"Sign Clay Matthews now!"
I could keep going with these sentiments from the Steelers faithful as the 2020 regular season approaches, but I feel you catch my drift. For many, there always is a player on the open market who fans would love the team to court. This happened Friday when news of Jets safety Jamal Adams requested a trade out of New York.
Just take a look at Steelers Twitter and you'll see people suggesting the team should sign Adams. To this, the answer should be, "With what money?" The Steelers are bellied up to the salary cap, and before they even consider bringing in anyone from the outside, which I think they should eventually, they have to take care of their own first.
Here is a list of players who will be Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) after the 2020 season:
Bud Dupree
Cam Heyward
Alejandro Villanueva
Matt Feiler
Mike Hilton
Tyson Alualu
Zach Banner
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Cam Sutton
James Conner
A lot of big, and important, names on the above list, which is why it is imperative the Steelers take care of some of these pending free agents for multiple reasons. First, you want to keep these players in the organization because of their quality play. Next, by giving them a new contract, you can decrease the salary cap hit for the 2020 season.
Let's use Feiler as an example. After signing his second-round tender, he is due to make roughly $3 million dollars in 2020. Not a huge cap hit, but if the Steelers give Feiler a new contract and a nice signing bonus, nullifying the tender, it could cut his cap hit almost in half for the 2020 season.
For someone like Heyward, a new contract could significantly decrease his $13,251,250 cap number for 2020, and also lock up one of the team's best defenders for the long term.
That is a win-win.
Each one of these pending free agents is a unique case. Smith-Schuster and Conner came into the league together, but talk about a stark contrast in their contractual situations heading into 2021. With that said, it is important for the Steelers to address at least a couple of these players now to help ease the cap burden they find themselves in.
According to OverTheCap.com, the Steelers currently have $5,702,794 in salary cap space remaining. It will take the Steelers $4,872,493 to sign their rookie class, per OverTheCap, and it is well known Kevin Colbert likes to have money on hand in case of injuries, etc.
Looking at a player like Heyward, who is preparing as if this is his last year in Pittsburgh, if you were to take that $13 million cap hit and turn it into $6 million, you are creating enough space to potentially go out and add some depth at a position of need. Restructure a player like David DeCastro, and you have more money at your expense.
Should the Steelers look to bring in a free agent who hasn't been signed yet? I absolutely think they should consider it, if the price is right and the player is worth it.
Two positions jump off the page as positions of need, safety and inside linebacker. Here are some players who could fit the bill for the Steelers:
ILB Alec Ogletree
SS Reshad Jones
SS Tony Jefferson
ILB Mark Barron
The key to additions like these, players who are still on the free agent market, is they come with baggage of some kind. Jefferson is coming off an ACL tear in his knee last October, and Barron was released by the Steelers just this offseason. The odds of him coming back for less money are not that likely. The Steelers have showed they will bring in a player late in the year before, but it isn't a guarantee. One advantage of the Steelers possibly bringing in a free agent at this point is it won't count against them in the compensatory draft pick formula.
So, to bring this full circle, the Steelers do have needs to address, but they have to start with the players on their roster before they consider anyone from the outside to potentially add to their 2020 team.
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