Rank the 3 worst contracts the Steelers currently have.

For me it’s Freiermuth, Highsmith and a distant 3rd Queen. Definitely need to trade or cut the first 2. The Steelers won’t be elite until they make some tougher decisions.

 

Freirmuth. No one else close.

Queen looks to be playing better recently.

 

Considering Highsmith’s backup is on a rookie deal and is playing as good or better.

 

Tomlin

 

1.) Pat Freiermuth: I haven't the foggiest of what happened to him but he seems to fallen out of favor a bit. Not sure if that is game plan related or if Arthur Smith simply cannot get him the plays that he needs. Regardless, dude is MIA and has been for going on two seasons.

2.) Alex Highsmith: Back to back years in which you sustain either the same or near identical injuries to your groin and ankle?! Accidents do happen but true coincidences are rare. It is very fair to question if Highsmith finishes out the 2025 Season at all. He cannot stay healthy.

3.) Juan Thornhill: Only a one year deal but he was supposed to be a quality tandem with DeShon Elliot. Not meant to be I suppose. Thankfully Jabrill Peppers is here but that doesn't fully remove the sting.

 

Pat Friermuth and not even close. Another
draft piece for 2026 draft.

 

Had an argument with a poster on another board about Muth. He quoted 2024 stats claiming Muth had a great season. I countered with a few of my own like 32nd in first down % and middling in yards/gm. The fact that the Steelers went after Smith in a trade tells us they weren't all that thrilled with Muth's game.

 

I would have cut ties after last year’s playoff game where twice he couldn’t get a first down vs much smaller CB. Soft!

 

agreed

PQ is getting it figured out. He is who and what he is, needed to be better utilized for his strengths.

yes - Highsmith is an issue RIGHT now only due to the FACT that he can't stay on the field. When he is healthy, he is very good

 

one of his best games as a Steeler, FOR SURE

 

I think this shows that we don't really have any bad contracts.

Freiermuth probably could live up to his contract if we didn't sign a guy who is basically the same player (but older) so they split snaps. And if we're classifying PF's contract as bad, not sure how Smith isn't bad as well.

They both got basically market level contracts for average-ish TEs. Which is probably fair value. Don't think we need two guys like this. Especially when we should be playing Washington pretty much every snap in 2TE sets IMO.

Highsmith is probalby also on a fair-ish deal. The lack of availability of all of our edge rushers (including Highsmith) hasn't been great over the last few seasons though.

While I don't think it's a "bad" contract, I think DK is probably our "worst" contract.

 

This is definitely #1.

 

Freiermuth's contract is pretty team friendly. Its high AAV for the player we're gettting (4yr/$48m - $12m/yr), but less than $12 million was guaranteed. We could cut him in the offseason (post June 1 designation) after the year and only have $2.1m in dead cap per year for 3 years. That's a savings of roughly $9m per year for the following 3 years. Not bad at all. Its a low-risk contract to trade for too, so that's good on our end. He just hasn't produced like we wanted to, so that is why his contract looks "bad". His contract itself is quite manageable.

Queen is a weird one to be brought up here. I don't think he played to $17m/yr value last season, but he wasn't WAY off. He provides plenty enough young leadership to the team to offset the fact that he played like a $13-14m/yr player. He's been great this year IMO. I honestly think he's been the player we thought we'd get/wanted to get ever since he's been here. He had a couple slow games to start last season and a lot of the fanbase has held it against him apparently. He's a good player.

Highsmith's contract is tougher, despite him being a good player. He has 2 years left, and would be more difficult to outright cut (though, I'd argue if we were getting rid of him that trade is the only real option). His play is a lot closer to his contract than Freiermuth, and with the premium on pass rushers, I think we could get decent trade value for him. I wouldn't hate it if we traded him in the offseason for good value and extended Herbig. We'd need to sign a vet EDGE4, but that should be easy enough. Sawyer should slot in as EDGE rotational depth.