News that the 2022 salary cap ceiling is now set at $208.2 million by the NFL and NFLPA was met with enthusiasm around the NFL.
It's a sure sign that the league and NFLPA believe things will be getting back to normal this season.
One thing that won't be normal for the Steelers will be the bounty of cap space they'll have available.
With the ceiling set at $208.2 million, you can bet league revenues would have pushed it beyond that with the new TV deals kicking in and fans back in stadiums across the league. A ceiling was set so that any revenue above that amount can pay players back benefits that were suspended because of the pandemic in 2020.
So, you can bet that the cap was set low enough to ensure that will happen.
What would a $208.2 million cap mean to the Steelers?
Currently, they have expenditures of $131.4 million for 2022 with 44 players under contract for next season according to Spotrac. That means the Steelers will have $76.8 million in cap space available in 2022. Only the Colts with $81 million available -- but only 38 players under contract -- have more.
Certainly, the Steelers won't go on a free agent bender. It's just not their style. But it will allow them to re-sign some of their own players and acquire a quarterback -- if they choose to go that route.
Ben Roethlisberger, JuJu Smith-Schuster, David DeCastro, Terrell Edmunds and, perhaps most importantly, T.J. Watt, are among those heading into the final season of their current deals. The Steelers will certainly be able to afford to re-sign them all if they choose.
It's a nice spot to be in. And one in which the Steelers haven't found themselves since the salary cap was instituted in 1994.
The cap that year was a robust $34.2 million. The Steelers have typically found themselves right up against it each year as they have spent to the limit to keep their own.
And by and large, it's worked. The Steelers have been one of the league's most successful teams of the salary cap era, going to four Super Bowls and winning two since 1994. They've had just three losing seasons in that time period.
Yes, they face some uncertainty now with Roethlisberger now 39. But they have played their cards well to put them in a position to make major moves to account for that.
