It doesn't sound like the Steelers will be signing any pending 2021 free contract extensions anytime soon.
That includes All-Pro defensive tackle Cam Heyward.
Speaking to the media Wednesday for perhaps the final time for the 2020 season, Kevin Colbert said the team is cognizant of the fact the salary cap could go down to as low as $175 million in 2021, something that could be a detriment to any potential new long-term deals getting done.
"The league has set in place a $175 million floor. So, we know that's the lowest it can go," Colbert said. "Where it goes from there, nobody knows. No one can predict the revenues at this point. None of us, especially people in my occupation are going to try to do that. So, we have to operate with what we know and remind ourselves that this affects 32 teams. This doesn't affect one team. How will that be reflective of what's doable and not doable in the future, none of us know. It's a great unknown that over time will resolve itself and we'll act accordingly."
Heyward headlines a list of a number of Steelers heading into the final season of their current contracts. Also in that group are wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, running back James Conner, offensive linemen Alejandro Villanueva, Zach Banner and Matt Feiler, outside linebacker Bud Dupree and cornerbacks Mike Hilton and Cameron Sutton, among others. The team also had to pick up the fifth-year option on linebacker T.J. Watt, a situation that will see his 2021 salary jump to more than $10 million.
The team had wanted to get Heyward signed to a new deal in the offseason, but the pandemic put that on hold, much to the chagrin of Heyward.
"I know dealing with the coronavirus definitely halted a lot of things," Heyward said recently. "Early on, we had set dates to talk, and we’re past those dates. Nothing really got resolved or really ramped up. My agent’s talking to them, but there hasn’t been anything of substance."
Currently, if the cap does drop to $175 million due to decreased revenues across the league because of the lack of fans in stadium from COVID-19 restrictions, the Steelers would be $14.8 million over that cap. They would be one of 14 teams that are over that floor.
It's a situation that has the team concerned.
Because so many teams would be over -- and some, such as the Eagles, who would be nearly $100 million over -- there is a feeling the league and NFLPA could get together once again at the conclusion of the season and negotiate a new floor.
Neither the NFL or the NFLPA will want a floor that floods the market with high-priced veterans and few teams that have available cap space to sign them.
"We know that's as low as it can go. In my mindset, I always have to operate from that mindset up," Colbert said. "If that changes over time, we don't know what time that is, none of us can predict that at this point. We have to operate with that understanding. We also understand that there are a lot of teams that will be affected by it. We're focused on 2020. Let's get the best results that we can now. But as we do that, we're always thinking about '21, '22, '23 and so forth.
"We're never going to sell this thing out completely to win. We think we have a nice team. We're going to make the best effort we can now. And then we're going to move forward and try to be as competitive as we can be in every given season."
One thing the Steelers won't do is change their long-standing policy of negotiating new deals once the regular season begins. That policy, which was instituted by Dan Rooney, has been in place since the early 1990s when the current free agency system was put in place. And the Steelers have stuck to it and plan on doing so even under these extraordinary circumstances.
"We haven't talked about amending our policy," Colbert said. "That's an organizational policy that has been in place for a lot of years, so I don't anticipate that changing. We'll continue to look at situations, and if one makes sense, we'll do it."
But given the team's potential lack of available cap space next season, that might not happen.
"We're always looking at where we are, where we want to be, not only in 2020, but we also have to keep in mind what the future holds for us in 2021 and beyond," Colbert said. "Quite honestly, that's a big unknown. We don't know what we're dealing with in future caps, so we have to be aware of that. But we also have to be aware of where we are in 2020."
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