2022 Offseason

I know. See my response above. The fact that they have so few players under contract is a good thing. And yes, the voidable years will result in dead cap but there won’t be that much.

 

32 players we will have to sign which includes our new draft picks and then pay for a practice squad. we will also carry about 3 million into the season. after juju and bens and ebron voidable contracts out of the 110 million they have right now, we will have about 88 million to sign the draft picks and PS and sign 33 players total. (some of those will be draft picks). by then at least 16 of those would be draft picks from this year and next. we also need expensive ones like QBs. plus minka's 5th year option and watt's new salary. so roughly 15 players with about 40 million in free agency. as i said a couple of those are QBs.

 

Why would they bring JuJu and Ben back if they were tanking?

 

They have 23 players under contract for 2022 with a total cap hit of just under 93 million at the moment.

 

My my,


You sure turned over a new leaf about this havent' you?!

 

Yep.
You have to keep things in perspective....if you look at 2024 they have a projected $234M in cap space. Of course they're 50 guys short of fielding a game date roster though.

 

Ben needs 3100 yards and 26 TDs to pass Rivers and lead the 2004 draft class in every category. 2021 is his farewell tour, wins are ancillary at this point.

 

Not counting the voidable years deals? Those contracts void five days after the Super Bowl in February.

 

They're straddling the fence and are going to end up taking it in the nuts as a result. Could have kept key D players for multiple years and given Mason a shot, instead they're letting Ben go out in a blaze of statistical glory.

 

I will reserve judgment until we see how the season goes but I think there is a good possibility that 2021 is just a wasted year with the team spinning it’s wheels at 8-8, missing the playoffs having borrowed a tonne of money from future years.

There is also a future where they manage to craft a running game, Canada gets the offence rolling and Ben plays well. The defence should still be good even with the losses. They’d need to have virtually everything go right to be relevant in the postseason however, IMO

 

I don't think the D will be fine at all. Run D evaporated without Alualu, now throw in the losses of Dupree, Hilton, and Vince and I expect they'll have one of the worst run D's in the league.

Secondary will be weaker, too. Pick your poison.

We've seen that Butler and Tomlin need an absolutely stacked defense to have success. Remember how porous it was in early 2019 pre-Minkah? If there's one hole, it will be mercilessly exploited because Coach Next Man Up can't scheme to cover holes. That's why we see things like Spillane covering Jarvis Landry in a playoff game.

 

You could be right, they still have the draft and I don’t think they are finished in free agency though so it is too early to write the season off. I’d be more glass half empty at this stage though admittedly.

It was certainly alarming how easily teams ran through them down the stretch, having had such a solid run defence earlier in the season.

 

The Steelers currently have 23 players under contract for 2022. How many voidable contracts are there? Things can also change if they sign or cut someone. Obviously the draft over the next two years will impact the number also.

 

I miss the days of following your favorite teams without thinking about money.

 

It’s just Ben and Juju from that 23, Ebron has not been added yet.

To break it down a little more, effectively they have 21 players under contract that should be active on the roster in 2022. Of those, 10 are starters, or at least I expect they will be starters. I’m not counting ST guys like Boz and Derek Watt, only the main 22 offence / defence.

TJ Watt, Minkah and Edmunds should all be extended or option picked up, meaning they will have 13 of 22 starters under contract for next year. They need to find 4-5 starters over the next two drafts and they will no doubt add some free agents, but not too many. After that they’ll be looking for depth.

 

You really think he's coming back for some meaningless stats .

 

The run defense also evaporated when Alalu returned from injury, he wasn't the same player, also the loss of Dupree and Bush hurt them.

 

24 players under contract in 2022 now.