The opening day of the unofficial start of NFL free agency is behind us, and the Steelers' roster already looks different. In addition, we also know which free agent hopefuls will not be signing with Pittsburgh.
There's still another day and a half of legal tampering to go through before any agreements can be made official, and surely more agreements will be made throughout the league before pen can be put to paper.
But first, let's take a look at how the first day of free agency affects the Steelers.
The first domino to fall that had a direct impact on Pittsburgh was losing Cam Sutton, as he agreed to a three-year, $33-million contract with the Lions. Sutton was by far the Steelers' top priority among their own impending free agents, and his departure left an immediate void at cornerback with Levi Wallace, Ahkello Witherspoon and Arthur Maulet as the only ones under contract that logged snaps with Pittsburgh in 2022.
In typical Steelers fashion, they had a price tag in their head for which they were willing to re-sign Sutton and wouldn't go over it. We've seen it happen multiple times in recent years, including Mike Hilton taking off for Cincinnati when the Bengals offered him $24 million over four years. But, Omar Khan had a contingency plan in place if Sutton were to sign elsewhere.
Enter Patrick Peterson -- an eight-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro that comes to Pittsburgh in a tie with Harrison Smith for the lead among active players with 34 career interceptions. Just a few hours after news broke of Sutton's departure, the Steelers shocked a lot of people by landing Peterson with a team-friendly two-year contract worth $14 million and only $5.85 million guaranteed.
There will be some that would have preferred the Steelers pay the big bucks to keep Sutton; to keep continuity in the back end of the defense. However, signing Peterson actually sets up the Steelers better in the short term, and possibly the long term. The Steelers saved quite a bit of money by swapping Sutton for Peterson, even though the initial expectation is that Peterson can produce at a similar level, if not even better.
Regardless of Peterson turning 33 years old before the start of the 2023 season, the Steelers will be getting a guy that intercepted five passes and recorded 15 passes defended last season, all in a Vikings' secondary that was inconsistent at best. Peterson intercepted 6.9% of passes thrown into his coverage last season, which was the fifth-best mark in the NFL, and his 0.81 yards per coverage snap allowed was also a top-15 mark.
In the long term, the Steelers aren't nearly as tied down in terms of managing the salary cap. According to Spotrac, Peterson's contract is broken down with a $4.225-million cap hit in 2023 and $9.775-million cap hit in 2024. If the Steelers wanted to get out of the contract after 2023, they would save $6.85 million in cap space and only carry $2.925 million in dead money.
Conversely, the Lions structured Sutton's contract in a way that really kicks the can down the road. While he'll only carry a cap hit of $3.28 million in 2023, Sutton's cap hit will be $12.68 million in each of the 2024 and 2025 seasons, then the Lions will be on the hook for $4.36 million in 2026 and $2.18 million in 2027 in void years.
And, on top of all of this, the Steelers still can select one of the several highly-talented cornerbacks in the upcoming draft, which is obviously the most cost efficient way to build long-term stability. And, who better for a young cornerback to learn from than a future Hall of Famer in Peterson?
The first day of legal tampering in free agency took care of the cornerback situation, and it wouldn't be the most shocking development to see restricted free agent James Pierre return on a right-to-first-refusal tender, which only costs $2.629 million. However, there is still a colossal void at inside linebacker as the Peterson signing was the only addition the Steelers made on Monday.
The options are quickly running out at off-ball linebacker as all of the following have agreed to contracts:
• Tremaine Edmunds (Bears -- 4 years, $72 million)
• T.J. Edwards (Bears -- three years, $19.5 million)
• David Long (Dolphins -- two years, $11 million)
• Bobby Okereke (Giants -- four years, $40 million)
• Eric Kendricks (Chargers -- two years, $13.25 million)
• Kyzir White (Cardinals -- two years, $11 million)
• Azeez Al-Shaair (Titans -- terms not yet reported)
• Germaine Pratt (re-signed with Bengals -- three years, $21 million)
• Alex Singleton (re-signed with Broncos -- three years, $18 million)
• Leighton Vander Esch (re-signed with Cowboys -- two years, $11 million)
Even for the deepest position in the draft class, that is a massive chunk just ... gone. There are still quality players that can help the Steelers including Bobby Wagner, Drue Tranquill, Denzel Perryman, Cole Holcomb, Kaden Eliss and Rashaan Evans.
However, the Steelers can't go into the season, let alone the draft, with only Myles Jack and Mark Robinson as the only options at inside linebacker. Bringing back Robert Spillane would have provided a potential third option, given his ability in run defense, his familiarity and, dare I say, expertise in being a strong and respected communicator. However, he reportedly agreed to a two-year, $9-million contract with the Raiders.
Simply put, the Steelers need more established talent at linebacker. And, given the prices that most of the linebackers have agreed to thus far, adding one of the remaining free agents doesn't seem like a gargantuan task.
After the Peterson signing, taking the reported 2023 cap hit into account, the Steelers have $7.62 million in cap space, according to Spotrac. The Steelers can still create as much as $22.678 million in cap space by restructuring the contracts of T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick. In addition, the Steelers could work out a contract extension with Jack, Mitch Trubisky and possibly even Cam Heyward to lower their respective 2023 cap hits as well. That's all before cutting ties with any other players. There is room for the Steelers to do what they need to do.
While defensive line and secondary were further fortified through re-signing Larry Ogunjobi and Damontae Kazee, the Steelers need to add a linebacker. And, from the initial look of it, they need to do it rather quickly.
