With the first week of the 2026 NFL league year now behind us, it’s time to look at the salary cap situation for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have been quite busy these past few weeks.
As of Thursday morning, all of the outstanding contract reporting has been completed when it comes to the Steelers’ re-signings and signings since our last update. Currently, the Steelers have 70 players under contract for the 2026 season, and I have the team tabulated as having $30,595,782 in available 2026 salary cap space. This available salary cap space also includes the team’s $16,907,294 in carried over cap space from 2025 as well as the recent $3,652,778 credit the team has received. Currently, the Steelers have $12,221,838 in dead money on the books for 2026, and that list includes dollars being attacked to 14 total players.
As I have previously mentioned in past salary cap update posts, the official 2026 cap charge for Steelers DB Jalen Ramsey is $17.229 million. However, that amount could go to as high as $23.149 million, should the Steelers choose not to prorate Ramsey’s $7.4 million option bonus later this summer.
To recap quite a busy last few weeks, the Steelers signed DT Cameron Heyward to a two-year, $36 million contract extension ahead of the start of the league year. That extension resulted in Heyward’s 2026 salary cap charge dropping by $5.475 million. Additionally, the Steelers terminated the contracts of OL Calvin Anderson and TE Jonnu Smith ahead of the new league starting, and both of those transactions cleared nearly $10 million in 2026 salary cap space.
The Steelers re-signed CB Asante Samuel Jr., DL Esezi Otomewo, OL Jack Driscoll and ILB Cole Holcomb so far this offseason. Samuel’s 2026 salary cap charge is the largest of those four players at $4 million. Also, since the new league year has started, the Steelers have signed outside unrestricted free agents in S Jaquan Brisker, DL Sebastian Joseph-Day, RB Rico Dowdle and CB Jamel Dean. The team also acquired WR Michael Pittman Jr. in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts, and since then they have signed him to a two-year, $35 million contract extension.
The NFL officially announced several weeks ago that the universal salary cap amount for 2026 is set to be $301,200,000. With that, the Steelers adjusted salary cap number for 2026 is expected to be $321,760,072 and that includes 2025 carried over space and the cap credit issued recently.
With the Steelers Rule of 51 total currently at $291,164,290, that’s how the team is now $30,595,782 under the cap with the 2026 league year now in its second week.
The $30,595,782 of available salary cap space should be plenty of room for the Steelers to work with throughout the remainder of the free agency signing period, which is essentially through the 2026 NFL Draft taking place.
Moving beyond the 2026 NFL Draft, the Steelers will need to account for several fairly predictable cap costs leading all the way up to Week 1 of the 2026 regular season. Those future salary cap costs that must be budgeted for at some point, include things such as offseason workout bonus charges, the draft class and undrafted free agent pool offset charges, 52nd and 53rd player charges post Rule of 51 ending, a full 17-man practice squad, all offseason injury settlements, potential players being on the Reserve/Injured list to start the regular season, and an in-season buffer amount of cap space to work with throughout the 2026 regular season.
As usual, I have listed estimations of these projected future offseason cap costs in the table below. They total out at $20,787,900. Please note that that total amount could shift quite a bit, depending on how many selections the Steelers ultimately make during the 2026 NFL Draft and where those picks ultimately wind up in the overall order.
Currently, consider the Steelers as having $9,807,882 in effective salary cap space at this point of the new league year. While that is certainly not as much as $30,595,782 in available salary cap space, nearly $10 million will go a long way when top 51 roster displacement is factored in along the way. Obviously, a one-year contract signed by veteran QB Aaron Rodgers this offseason could eat up that full amount of $9,807,882, and possibly even more.
When we get deeper into the offseason, the Steelers are likely to sign a few players currently under contract to extensions prior to Week 1 of the regular season. The list of potential contract extension candidates for this offseason still should likely include CB Joey Porter Jr., TE Darnell Washington, OLB Nick Herbig, DT Keeanu Benton and K Chris Boswell. Even so, there’s an exceptionally good chance that all five of those players won’t ultimately sign contract extensions prior to the start of the 2026 regular season.
Once we get past the start of free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft, we will take a closer look at all possible contract extension candidates and the potential impact on the team’s 2026 salary cap situation for each as well.
The Steelers also still have several players they could perform contract restructurings on this offseason to free up additional 2026 salary cap space. On the surface, it appears as though the Steelers chose not to restructure the contract of TE Pat Freiermuth prior to his March roster bonus being due. Even so, the Steelers could still decide to restructure Freiermuth’s 2026 base salary at any point moving forward. WR DK Metcalf and OLB T.J. Watt are also potential contract restructuring candidates later this offseason, should the Steelers decide they need to create additional salary cap space prior to the regular season getting underway.
The Steelers could obviously cut several players who currently sit inside the Rule of 51 listings before the regular season begins. However, ILB Patrick Queen isn’t likely to be cut at this point now that his March roster bonus of $2.5 million has been earned. The same goes for Ramsey, who has now earned a $2 million roster bonus for 2026 since the new league year has started.
ILB Malik Harrison remains the highest 2026 cash earner under contract with the Steelers who remains ripe to be cut later on in the summer. The Steelers could save $4.75 million in 2026 salary cap space prior to roster displacement by jettisoning him this offseason. As usual, the team’s final roster cuts later in the summer should result in some salary cap space being reclaimed as part of the dust settling.