Ben Roethlisberger's cap hit for 2021 is officially $25.9 million after his contract restructure, w/ a $1.075 million base salary and a $12.925 million signing bonus.
That currently puts Pittsburgh at $-297,911 in cap space according to ESPN's roster management system
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 7, 2021
According to ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler, the Pittsburgh Steelers are still far from out of the woods when it comes to the 2021 salary cap. According to ESPN’s calculations, with Ben Roethlisberger’s cap hit at $25.9 million, the Steelers are still $297,911 over the cap assuming the number they’ve used is $180 million.
The NFL hasn’t announced the official salary cap for the season yet. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league lost billions of dollars in revenue which has forced them to slash the cap for this season.
It is assumed the final cap number will be somewhere in the $185 million which doesn’t offer the Steelers much relief. There is still a high likelihood that Pittsburgh is going to be forced to re-structure some contracts like they already did with defensive tackle Cam Heyward. But it could also mean Pittsburgh has to release some guys just to get some cap relief.
Pittsburgh has been accused of creating salary cap hell but the reality is they have managed a really bad situation they didn’t create in the best way possible. Pittsburgh isn’t going to be big players in free agency but the front office is lining things up where they won’t need to just rely on the draft to fill all of their needs.
