Steelers 2021 mock draft hits every potential major free-agent loss

https://steelerswire.usatoday.com/lists/2021-nfl-draft-steelers-mock-free-agents/

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a position where they stand to lose multiple starters in free agency. If the salary cap woes are as bad as anticipated, the 2021 roster could look very different.

league proposal, if accepted, would set the 2021 cap floor at $175M. the 2020 salary cap is set at $198.2 million

Of that entire list, seeing Hayward's name on there as a FA is tough. But there has to be a reset of the roster at some point though.

Gonna have to find a lotnof servicable journey men vets on the cheap or roll the dice and hope draft picks are ready to stepnup their game. We simply wont have the money to pay a lot of players. Then again neither will a lot of other teams.

https://stillcurtain.com/2020/06/18/steelers-ben-roethlisberger-cap-2021

Ben Roethlisberger.

Because of the way his contract was restructured, Ben is set to be the NFL’s highest-paid player in 2021 with a cap hit of $41.25 million. If the cap drops as far as Schefter claims it could, this means that Roethlisberger’s deal alone could equate to one-third of Pittsburgh’s total cap space.

Keeping Ben would not only mean that the Steelers would be forced to let players like Heyward, Dupree, Smith-Schuster, Villanueva, and Conner walk next offseason, they would also be forced to cut many of the players currently on their roster. Some potential cap casualties based on the way their contracts are structured may include players like Maurkice Pouncey, Joe Haden, Vance McDonald, and Vince Williams.

imho Ben could be a cap casualty, what do you think? keep one aging QB and gut your team or cut that QB and keep as many players as possible?

will an interesting off season next year for NFL teams with keeping their teams under the salary cap.

Keeping Ben at the 41.25 cap hit just wouldn't make sense unless we win the SB this year and even then I think Ben could be gone after this season. So we sign Cam and everyone else we can afford and roll with who at QB. It looks to me like any way we go we will see some leans years. Drink up boys the well may be running dry.

I think even if Ben were to retire next season we are on the hook for 21.4 million I read somewhere from one of the cap gurus. That last contract the organization offered him really bent them over a barrel.

I think the front office is going to do everything they can to keep Cam Heyward. He's too damned good, too damned productive, and he's the vocal leader of the defense. Colbert has been pretty good over the years restructuring contracts to free up money, I'm hoping he can work that magic again.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

I think the front office is going to do everything they can to keep Cam Heyward. He's too damned good, too damned productive, and he's the vocal leader of the defense. Colbert has been pretty good over the years restructuring contracts to free up money, I'm hoping he can work that magic again.

While I think you're right I also think it is getting harder to do that and now with the cap being trimmed back it's anyone's guess what will happen. Not only is Cam damn good he is also a leader in the community. He deserves to be a Steeler for life.

honestly depending on how the season goes with a lot of individual players performance , it may not be such big loses. either way we are expecting dupree , juju, and connor may all be cap casualties anyway , and guys like AL, pouncey and ben may just decline so much we might be glad to see them go. mcdonald and williams, can easily be replaced in the draft. father time is catching joe haden. it's time for a rebuild and a cap balancing year or two.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

honestly depending on how the season goes with a lot of individual players performance , it may not be such big loses. either way we are expecting dupree , juju, and connor may all be cap casualties anyway , and guys like AL, pouncey and ben may just decline so much we might be glad to see them go. mcdonald and williams, can easily be replaced in the draft. father time is catching joe haden. it's time for a rebuild and a cap balancing year or two.

If we lose all of them, that's still a significant portion of position players. I think it would be more than a year or two. Maybe 3 or more, especially if we can't find a successor to Ben.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

honestly depending on how the season goes with a lot of individual players performance , it may not be such big loses. either way we are expecting dupree , juju, and connor may all be cap casualties anyway , and guys like AL, pouncey and ben may just decline so much we might be glad to see them go. mcdonald and williams, can easily be replaced in the draft. father time is catching joe haden. it's time for a rebuild and a cap balancing year or two.

with the cap being down imho in the next few years could work in the Steelers favor.

effyou515 wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

honestly depending on how the season goes with a lot of individual players performance , it may not be such big loses. either way we are expecting dupree , juju, and connor may all be cap casualties anyway , and guys like AL, pouncey and ben may just decline so much we might be glad to see them go. mcdonald and williams, can easily be replaced in the draft. father time is catching joe haden. it's time for a rebuild and a cap balancing year or two.

with the cap being down imho in the next few years could work in the Steelers favor.

the future problems were coming anyway , the lowered cap just brings them a year closer. for years the steelers have been manipulating the hell out of the cap pushing the money in to the future. at some point you just have to bite the bullet , pay the piper, and get the finances in order. a reset.
the people the steelers may lose are mostly players they were going to lose ANYWAY. some would have already been cap casualties and some are just getting old with declining play. one of my gripes with Tomlin and colbert is they keep players around for too long. Foster was a perfect example. the guy was already showing he was on the downside, so what do they do ? give him another two years...
they need to be more proactive with the roster instead of reactive. they supposedly do an annual review of every player. did they not watch fosters game film for the year prior to giving him a new contract ? if i can just watch the game live on TV with only the views and angles the network offers can see when a player is not playing at an acceptable level, then how can the management with access to game film and the ability to see multiple angles and slow motion not see what i saw ? i predicted they would or should regret giving him the extra two years. its not just the cap hit , but giving a roster spot to someone unworthy rather than actively looking for someone who is. i would argue they could have plugged in someone off the scrap heap that would have given just as good of a performance at a much lower cost.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

effyou515 wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

honestly depending on how the season goes with a lot of individual players performance , it may not be such big loses. either way we are expecting dupree , juju, and connor may all be cap casualties anyway , and guys like AL, pouncey and ben may just decline so much we might be glad to see them go. mcdonald and williams, can easily be replaced in the draft. father time is catching joe haden. it's time for a rebuild and a cap balancing year or two.

with the cap being down imho in the next few years could work in the Steelers favor.

the future problems were coming anyway , the lowered cap just brings them a year closer. for years the steelers have been manipulating the hell out of the cap pushing the money in to the future. at some point you just have to bite the bullet , pay the piper, and get the finances in order. a reset.
the people the steelers may lose are mostly players they were going to lose ANYWAY. some would have already been cap casualties and some are just getting old with declining play. one of my gripes with Tomlin and colbert is they keep players around for too long. Foster was a perfect example. the guy was already showing he was on the downside, so what do they do ? give him another two years...
they need to be more proactive with the roster instead of reactive. they supposedly do an annual review of every player. did they not watch fosters game film for the year prior to giving him a new contract ? if i can just watch the game live on TV with only the views and angles the network offers can see when a player is not playing at an acceptable level, then how can the management with access to game film and the ability to see multiple angles and slow motion not see what i saw ? i predicted they would or should regret giving him the extra two years. its not just the cap hit , but giving a roster spot to someone unworthy rather than actively looking for someone who is. i would argue they could have plugged in someone off the scrap heap that would have given just as good of a performance at a much lower cost.

K

Looking at all these fat contract extensions around the league makes me believe we won't be the only team in trouble. I agree with MOP that these troubles were coming anyway. I won't claim to know a lot of maneuvers in regards to the cap and how to straighten this out. It looks like we will be looking at some lean years (2 or3). Having said this we have seen this in the past and watched the FO do a reload. Not sure they can do it in today's NFL though.

l'm waiting to see what teams will be spending on free agency next off season l don't know how close all teams are to the cap but l think it's going to be a down year and might be down for the next couple of years.

Either Hayward will have to make less with his contract if he is stay with the team or Steelers will have to look at the 2021 draft for his heir apparent.

JPPT1974 wrote:

Either Hayward will have to make less with his contract if he is stay with the team or Steelers will have to look at the 2021 draft for his heir apparent.

If he chooses not to give the hometown discount he pretty much has us over a barrel because half of college isn't playing so it'll be hard to evaluate D lineman IMHO.

solardave wrote:

JPPT1974 wrote:

Either Hayward will have to make less with his contract if he is stay with the team or Steelers will have to look at the 2021 draft for his heir apparent.

If he chooses not to give the hometown discount he pretty much has us over a barrel because half of college isn't playing so it'll be hard to evaluate D lineman IMHO.

https://triblive.com/sports/chris-wormley-not-quite-on-the-nose-but-assimilating-into-steelers-defense/

Chris Wormley not quite on the ‘nose’, but assimilating into Steelers’ defense

“In the 3-4 scheme, our base package, I’m more of a ‘4-tech,’ playing (against) the (offensive) tackles,” Wormley said during a video conference call with media Thursday, echoing what defensive line coach Karl Dunbar said earlier during camp. “Then, when we go into our sub-packages, I’ll be inside on the guards and centers, depending strength and formation and all that stuff.”

if Ben has a very good season and the Steelers want to keep him a few more years might be the reason they bought Wormley in insurance in case they can't sign Hayward? then draft a college 290 pound 3-4 DE remember money is tight.

Looking at some of the cap projections the team is really caught in between a rock and a hard place. Only bright side is many other teams will be in similar situations.