INDIANAPOLIS _ Like all NFL teams, the Steelers' plans for what to do with contract extensions and in free agency have been put on hold while league owners wait for the players union to ratify or reject a new collective bargaining agreement.
The board of player representatives for the NFL Players Association voted on Wednesday to send the proposed CBA to the nearly 2,000-player membership for a vote _ a seemingly positive step to finalizing the 10-year agreement and preventing further delay.
Guard Ramon Foster is in charge of presenting the agreement to the Steelers as the team's player representative and asking them if they want to follow the vote of their union leaders. Among other things, the new agreement calls for an enlarged share of league revenue, an expanded playoff format that would begin in 2020 and a 17-game season that would begin in 2021.
While the ratification process could take anywhere from a week to two weeks, teams have either been unable or reluctant to conduct business because they do not know what the league rules will be for the upcoming season. That includes the salary cap, which could go as high as $230 million under the new CBA.
For example, Tuesday was to be the first day teams could start issuing franchise and transition tags on their free agents. But that has been pushed back, pending resolution of a new deal. The deadline for using the tags was originally scheduled for March 10, but that will be pushed back, as well.
Also, under the new agreement, teams will no longer be allowed to use both the franchise and transition tag in the same year.
"We will be handed down new rules if there ever is a new agreement," Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said at the NFL combine. "But, right now, we are working under the assumption of the current rules."
Nonetheless, the delay is affecting the Steelers for now. They are expected to use the franchise tag on linebacker Bud Dupree and keep him with the team for at least one more season. Also, they want to sign All-Pro defensive end Cam Heyward to a new contract that will make him one of the highest paid linemen in the league. Both will have to wait.
What's more, any decision on which players might have to be released or have their contracts restructured for salary-cap relief will have to wait until a new cap is in place. The Steelers held their free agency meetings last week, but any final determinations could not be made.
"We have projections of what we may have to do, but it's all predicated on what we do _ who we sign, who we may be able to cut," Colbert said. "That usually unfolds later in the spring and into the summer. We're getting a feel for what our cap would be."
As part of the deal in front of the union, players would go from a 47% revenue share under the current deal to 48% share at 16 games and a 48.5% share for 17 games. That would mean $5 billion in revenue to the players' union.
That percentage is still lower than what players from America's other professional sports leagues receive. According to Spotrac, a website that tracks the financial side of sports, NBA players receive 49% to 51% of player revenue compensation from basketball-related income, NHL players get 50% of hockey-related revenue and Major League Baseball players receive 48.6% of the revenue from the owners.
Many NFL players, particularly veterans, have railed against the idea of a 17-game season, calling it hypocritical to add an extra game at a time when the league preaches about player safety. The league would reduce the amount of preseason games from four to three with the extra regular-season game.
Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey blasted the agreement and urged the players to reject the proposal in a profanity-laced video post on Twitter on Wednesday.
"Man, the (expletive) is so (expletive) crazy," Pouncey said while riding in a car. "I vote no, (expletive) that (expletive). Our NFLPA, the dudes at top, the leaders, man, that's all (expletive) bull----. They ain't looking out for the best of the players. Y'all want my vote, the Pouncey twins vote no.
"If any player on any one of our teams, if y'all hurting for rent money or anything while we go through this lockout, call us. Man, we got way more money than what they had back in the days. We don't have to worry about that. All the vets on each team, stand the (expletive) up. Stand up, show these guys that we care about them. Man, I care about all you young players. I love you guys to death. I ain't going to let y'all down. Trust and believe. They trying to sign a (expletive) deal just so those (expletives) can go around and smile and say I got something done. You ain't got (expletive) done."
The addition of a 17th game means teams will have an unequal amount of home and away games during the preseason and regular season. That will cause some teams who have existing deals in place with their respective cities or stadium authorities to adjust their arrangement, something that might be easier said than done.
"Who gets that extra home game? That's what I want to know," Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said. "The one thing about the league, as a coach, you ain't got (anything) to do with it, so you may as well just buy in. You know what I mean?"
The expanded playoff format would add an extra team from each conference and reward a first-round bye to just one team, not two like in the current arrangement. Also, players on teams that earn a first-round bye will receive postseason pay for that weekend, which was not the case under the current CBA.
