Steelers Restructure TE Pat Freiermuth’s Contract
Even after the Jonnu Smith release and Connor Heyward Raiders defection, Mike McCarthy‘s first Steelers roster is fairly deep at tight end. The team returns Darnell Washington to go with fifth-round rookie Riley Nowakowski. Pat Freiermuth remains the veteran presence among this group.
The Steelers gave Freiermuth a four-year, $48.4MM extension before the 2024 season, and they are using this contract to create some mid-offseason cap space. The team restructured Freiermuth’s deal this week, according to Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti.
Pittsburgh’s recent move will free up $4.25MM in cap space. The team was just shy of the NFL’s salary ceiling prior to this restructure, though more work will need to be done to carve out room to complete rookie signings. The Steelers are more than $1MM in the red in terms of effective cap space, per OverTheCap. The Steelers have not signed third-round quarterback Drew Allar yet.
This conversion reduces Freiermuth’s 2026 base salary to the veteran minimum and trims his cap number to $6.9MM. No void years are being added here, so future Freiermuth cap numbers are going up. He will count for $14.2MM against the Steelers’ 2027 cap and $12.6MM on the team’s 2028 payroll. The ’27 and ’28 figures are each increasing by $2.13MM, per OverTheCap.
Seeing Washington become a more prominent pass-game component and using Heyward regularly, the Steelers reduced Freiermuth’s snap share by a significant amount last season. He closed the campaign with a career-low eight starts and played 51% of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps. The former second-round pick, who had logged a 69% snap rate in 2024, had never played fewer than 62% of the team’s offensive snaps.
Teams expressed trade interest in Freiermuth in early March; this report came before Pittsburgh released Smith, who remains a free agent. Washington, who played 57% of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps last season, is viewed as an extension candidate. No guaranteed money remains on Freiermuth’s deal beyond 2026. This restructure would make a 2027 separation a bit more costly; a trade next year would tag the team with nearly $9MM in dead money.
The Steelers also added two high-profile receiving pieces this offseason, trading for Michael Pittman Jr. — and giving the possession receiver a two-year, $35MM extension — and using a second-round pick on slot target Germie Bernard. Smith and Heyward’s exits point to Freiermuth seeing a usage uptick under McCarthy, but how the team proceeds with Washington will be worth monitoring regarding Freiermuth’s future ahead of his age-28 season.
Steelers, Senior Special Teams Coach Derius Swinton Part Ways
The Steelers are moving on from one of Mike McCarthy‘s new staff hires well before the season. Senior special teams coach Derius Swinton is out, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes.
Swinton is believed to have engaged in workplace misconduct, ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor notes. The Steelers hired Swinton as a right-hand man for special teams coordinator Danny Crossman in February. Swinton, 41, has been an NFL assistant since the 2009 season.
Crossman joined the Steelers as their Danny Smith replacement; Smith, who is now with the Buccaneers, was a target to retain under McCarthy. But Crossman became the team’s pick once Smith left for Florida, leading to Swinton’s hire soon after. Now, Pittsburgh is without a top lieutenant for its new ST boss.
Swinton finished last season as the Raiders’ interim ST coordinator, taking over in that role after Pete Carroll fired Tom McMahon in November. A 2023 Josh McDaniels hire retained by Carroll, Swinton worked with new Steelers DC Patrick Graham during his time in Las Vegas. Swinton, however, had not previously worked on a McCarthy staff or with Crossman.
The lack of connections to the new Pittsburgh HC and ST coordinator made for an interesting fit, but Swinton has been coaching in the NFL since 2009. The Steelers were his ninth NFL employer. He had been a special teams coordinator twice — with the 49ers in 2016 and with the Chargers in 2021 — but mostly has resided on the assistant STC level. He has held that role for the Raiders, Cardinals, Bears and Broncos prior to his appointment in Pittsburgh.
Steelers, Patrick Queen Discussed Extension
Patrick Queen has struggled to live up to expectations through his first two seasons in Pittsburgh. That apparently hasn’t stopped the Steelers from engaging in extension talks with the veteran linebacker.
When asked about his contract status, Queen acknowledged that the two sides have had some initial discussions about a new deal.
“It was talks here and there,” Queen told the Steelers beat (including ESPN’s Brooke Pryor). “Nothing crazy. … Obviously no movement either way. At the end of the day, they got a business to handle. I got a business to handle.”
Following a standout 2023 campaign with the Ravens, Queen joined their AFC North rivals via a three-year, $41MM contract. His grades from PFF have slipped in each of the first two years of that pact, culminating in a 2025 campaign where he ranked 79th among 88 qualifying linebackers. The website also credited Queen with a career-worst 20.4% missed tackle rate. Despite his struggles, the 26-year-old reportedly generated some trade interest from the Cowboys this offseason, although a swap obviously never came to fruition.
The Steelers haven’t done a whole lot to reinforce the position this offseason. The team did re-sign key depth piece Cole Holcomb, and Payton Wilson is entrenched at the other linebacker spot. Still, the team will continue to be reliant on Queen in 2026. After being handed the “green dot” responsibility through his first two years with the organization, perhaps the Steelers value Queen’s veteran leadership, especially as they look to install Patrick Graham‘s new defense.
While Queen’s performance doesn’t necessarily warrant a contract standoff, he was notably absent from the first week of OTAs before recently showing up for this week’s practices. Unless the Steelers are able to extend Queen for a below-market price, there’s a good chance they’ll let the 2026 campaign play out before committing to another contract.
NCAA Will Not Negotiate Settlement To Reinstate Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby
Brendan Sorsby‘s college football career appears to be on life support.
The NCAA denied the 22-year-old’s request for reinstatement on Tuesday with Texas Tech already working on an appeal to keep their coveted quarterback. Sorsby has a separate injunction hearing scheduled for Monday (with his personal attorneys) that would allow him to play as his legal case progresses.
The injunction seems to be his last chance at playing for the Red Raiders this year, as the NCAA has “already informed Sorsby’s legal team that it will not negotiate a settlement to get Sorsby back on the field,” per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
Such a settlement would have involved accepting a suspension for his infractions while remaining eligible to play later in the year. It was seen as the quickest path for his return to the field, but the NCAA will instead force him to prove his case in court.
Winning the injunction seems like a long shot, too. All Sorsby has to do is prove he has a chance of winning the case, but his admission of sports gambling and entrance into a treatment program is near-incontrovertible evidence against him.
As a result, it increasingly seems that the NFL’s supplemental draft will be Sorsby’s eventual next step. He could still face discipline from the league, perhaps also accepting a suspension similar to the Terrelle Pryor case as a condition of entering the draft. He would have time in July to work out in front of NFL teams, likely in a pro day-style setting with private workouts with interested teams.
Breer mentions the Colts and Steelers as two clubs who could take a look at Sorsby should he be available in July. Indianapolis signed Daniel Jones to a two-year deal, but he will have to prove he can resume his stellar play from 2025 post-injury. But his overall career suggests he may not be a long-term franchise quarterback, so the Colts could consider throwing a mid-round pick at Sorsby to prepare themselves from 2027 and beyond.
Pittsburgh has had no issue using Day 2 selections on quarterbacks in each of the last two drafts. Perhaps they would be willing to do so again, but that would create a developmental logjam with Will Howard and Drew Allar already taking second-team reps behind Aaron Rodgers.
Steelers Re-Sign DL Dean Lowry
The Steelers have finally agreed to a new deal with Dean Lowry. The team announced that they’ve signed the free agent defensive lineman to a one-year deal. To make room on the roster, the Steelers have waived defensive tackle Jahvaree Ritzie.
There were reports last month that the two sides had agreed to a new contract. However, that was quickly dismissed, as the Steelers wanted to give the veteran more time to return to playing shape. The 31-year-old is working his way back from a torn ACL suffered last summer.
Lowry joined the Steelers on a two-year, $5MM contract during the 2024 offseason. He mostly served as a backup during his first season in Pittsburgh, getting into about 20 percent of his team’s defensive snaps in his 12 appearances. The veteran suffered a torn ACL during last year’s training camp that erased his entire 2025 campaign. We heard previously that Lowry had been given medical clearance, and the Steelers are apparently happy enough with his recovery to bring him back for another season.
The former fourth-round pick turned into a dependable starter during his long stint in Green Bay, where he started 80 of his 111 appearances. He tallied 15.5 sacks, 23 TFLs, and 34 QB hits during his seven seasons with the Packers. He left for the Vikings on a two-year deal in 2023, but a pectoral injury limited him to only nine games that year. Lowry was cut loose after only one season in Minnesota.
While he’s unlikely to return to his early-career production, Lowry will still provide the Steelers with some veteran continuity on the defensive line. Isaiahh Loudermilk and Daniel Ekuale are both out the door, with Sebastian Joseph-Day representing Pittsburgh’s reinforcement up front. Derrick Harmon, Cameron Heyward, and Keeanu Benton will still command the majority of the snaps on the DL, but Lowry should be a dependable depth piece and special teamer.
Ritzie went undrafted out of North Carolina in 2025 before catching on with the Patriots. He had a brief stint on New England’s practice squad before getting cut in September. He caught on with Pittsburgh in January via a reserve/futures contract.
Steelers’ Rico Dowdle, Jaylen Warren Both RB1 Options
In an uncommon series of events, the Steelers have two running backs on similar multiyear deals each coming off career-best seasons. With both Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle having similar contracts and similar recent production, there doesn’t appear to be a clear RB1 in Pittsburgh at the moment.
Looking solely at the money, Dowdle’s two-year, $12.25MM free agent contract just outweighs the incumbent starter’s two-year, $11.9MM extension. Looking solely at production, Dowdle’s 1,373 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns once again just outshine Warren’s totals of 1,291 scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns. Both comparisons are close enough, though, that it’s hard to come to any hard conclusions either way. Plus, the two are quite different in their styles of play.
An undrafted player out of Oklahoma State, Warren spent his first three years in Pittsburgh as a change-of-pace and third-down back behind starter Najee Harris. He displayed promising abilities catching passes out of the backfield early and often, and his 784 yards and four touchdowns while sharing touches with Harris in Year 2 showed he can handle a higher volume of rushing touches as an RB2.
Also an undrafted player to start his career, Dowdle saw very little time on the Cowboys offense in his first three years in the league as he sat behind Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. In 2023, Dowdle stepped into the Cowboys’ RB2 role behind Pollard with Elliott no longer in the picture. Dowdle showed enough in his first look at extended time that Dallas tabbed him as RB1 after Pollard moved on in free agency. After recording a 1,000-yard season in his first starting opportunity, Dowdle landed in Carolina in free agency and started as RB2 behind Hubbard before taking over and completing a second straight 1,000-yard campaign.
One thing working in Dowdle’s favor is his history with the Steelers’ new head coach, Mike McCarthy. The two worked together when McCarthy was the head coach in Dallas, so Dowdle will have some familiarity with the offensive play-caller’s system. Having spent his entire career in Pittsburgh, though, Warren has existing chemistry with the returning players of the offense, including veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
In an appearance yesterday on the Steelers Collective, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette argued that he was looking forward to the possibility of Warren returning to a third-down, receiving back role as a change of pace to Dowdle. Fans have mourned the loss of Kenneth Gainwell to Tampa Bay in free agency after he filled that role last year, but Fittipaldo believes the combination of Dowdle and Warren could improve on the production of Warren and Gainwell last year.
The Steelers have two capable producers populating the backfield in Pittsburgh, and the coaches will have to figure out the ideal mixture for success by the time the regular season comes around. Both players have shown they have starting ability, but the potential that their skills may work in tandem could mean one former starter may be forced to embrace a lesser role on the offense.
No Timeline For Steelers’ Broderick Jones
Steelers offensive tackle Broderick Jones is facing plenty of uncertainty as he enters the final season of his four-year rookie contract. While Jones was the Steelers’ starting left tackle for the first time in 2025, a neck injury ended his season in November and limited him to 11 games. The 6-foot-5, 311-pounder is now working back from spinal-fusion surgery, but he is unsure when he will return.
“They didn’t really give me a timeline,” Jones said (via Chris Harlan of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). “They’re just monitoring it day by day, and we go from there.”
Jones’ surgery has been a major part of an eventful offseason for the former first-rounder. The Steelers traded up to select Jones 14th overall in 2023, but they have not seen enough to commit to him for the long haul. The team declined his $19.07MM fifth-year option for 2027 in April, the same month it drafted yet another first-round offensive tackle.
The Steelers were so confident they were going to pick receiver Makai Lemon 21st overall that they called the ex-USC star before they were on the clock. But the Eagles suddenly swooped in for Lemon in a trade-up to No. 20, dashing the Steelers’ plans. Pittsburgh then pivoted to former Arizona State right tackle Max Iheanachor.
The Steelers took Iheanachor after deploying Jones as a starter for most of his first three seasons. He logged perfect attendance in his first two years and racked up 27 starts on the right side along the way. The Steelers lost left tackle Dan Moore Jr. to the Titans in free agency after 2024, and they decided to shift Jones to the blind side as his replacement. It wasn’t a seamless transition, as Pro Football Focus ranked Jones’ performance an unimpressive 66th among 84 tackles and charged him with six sacks allowed. That continued a disappointing trend for Jones, who has never cracked PFF’s top 60 in a season.
Along with Jones and Iheanachor, the Steelers have Troy Fautanu in the fold as another recent first-round tackle. Fautanu, the 20th pick in 2024, took over as the club’s starting right tackle last year. He was a standout left tackle during his college career at Washington, though, and has gotten work on that side this offseason. A full-time shift is “up in the air,” according to Fautanu, but if it happens, it could relegate Jones to a backup role. That would depend on whether the Steelers are confident Iheanachor (or Dylan Cook) can start in Week 1. At the latest, Iheanachor should emerge as a full-time starter by 2027. It’s fair to say Pittsburgh didn’t draft him in the first round to sit the bench for multiple years.
To Jones’ credit, he has welcomed Iheanachor with open arms.
“I’m down to help Max wherever he needs me,” Jones told Harlan. “Because at the end of the day, all of us got to be ready.”
In a best-case scenario, Jones will be ready for training camp. That would give him a chance to retain a starting gig in what may end up as his last season as a Steeler. If the soon-to-be 26-year-old wins a job on either side and performs well in the wake of a significant injury, he could earn a nice second contract in free agency next March.
Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers’ Incentives Based On Playing Time, Playoff Success
Aaron Rodgers‘ new contract with the Steelers includes $22MM in fully guaranteed money with an additional $3MM available via incentives and other bonuses, per
Rodgers is almost certainly going to receive his two roster bonuses, worth $250K each. The first is due on August 7 for being on the 90-man roster, per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer; the second will be earned if he is on the roster for Week 1 of the regular season.
The rest of Rodgers’ potential earnings can come via a set of four incentives worth $625K apiece for winning playoff games. For all of them, he must have played at least 75% of Pittsburgh’s regular-season snaps. The first incentive is for winning a wild-card game or receiving a first-round bye and going up through the divisional, championship, and Super Bowl rounds of the playoffs. He must play 50% of the snaps in all of those games, with an obvious exception for a first-round bye.
The structure of Rodgers’ 2026 deal is very different than last year’s $13.65MM deal that included a $10MM signing bonus and almost $6MM in incentives. The 42-year-old did not receive any signing bonus this time around with his $22MM salary instead making up his guaranteed money.
In 2025, Rodgers’ incentives were based on playing at least 70% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps during the regular season with $500K available for making the postseason and escalating incentives for each playoff win. Another $1.5MM was available for winning the MVP, which would have been the fifth of his career.
Rodgers only hit the first incentive, which was considered ‘Likely To Be Earned’ and therefore counted against Pittsburgh’s salary cap in 2025. None of his incentives in 2026 are LTBE, so any that he earns will count against the 2026 cap.
Assessing Steelers’ QB Hierarchy Under Aaron Rodgers
After much ado, veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to the Steelers on a new deal last weekend then, shortly after, announced his plans to retire following the 2026 NFL season. Both bits of news could influence the makeup of the quarterbacks room moving forward in Pittsburgh, and the possibilities of who might be the odd man out are extremely interesting.
Rodgers is clearly the starter, as he returns for his 22nd season of NFL play, but in his return, he joined an existing three-man group. New head coach Mike McCarthy is surely thrilled to be reunited with his longtime quarterback from the pair’s time in Green Bay together, but he has routinely carried no more than three quarterbacks on the active roster in any given year, sometimes going with two but sticking with three a majority of the time. With Rodgers in tow, it now becomes a question of which of the other three will be the odd man out.
The three likely competing for two spots are veteran backup Mason Rudolph, 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard, and rookie third-round pick Drew Allar. While a couple of combinations seem like obvious favorites, there are several arguments that make this an intriguing battle to watch.
One seemingly obvious conclusion would be that Rudolph must be one of the two backups; in fact, it would be a reasonable presumption to say that he should be the primary backup. Since being taken in the third round out of Oklahoma State eight years ago, Rudolph has appeared in 34 games, starting 19 but never functioning as QB1 for a team. He’s shown over time that he can keep a team afloat, but a limited ceiling is likely going to keep him from being the man to eventually take the reins from Rodgers.
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rudolph believes Rodgers’ presence bodes well for him. With Rodgers, he sees the Steelers as a “win now” team that could ride Rodgers off into the sunset on top. If they’re going all in on this one season to “win now,” they would need an experienced backup, in case Rodgers can’t make it all the way from start to finish. Fortunately for Rudolph, Howard and Allar have combined for zero NFL snaps as of today, and it’s hard to imagine the team would feel comfortable with either youngster coming off the bench right now in place of Rodgers.
Bucking against the obvious presumption, McCarthy, who has a penchant for developing quarterbacks, has expressed his preference for molding younger, less experienced arms. “I love the young guys, especially when you get them when they’re just starting out,” McCarthy said at rookie minicamp (per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor).
If that’s the case, then the argument could be made for holding on to the younger pair of backups. Howard has a slight advantage over Allar, having been on the team for a year longer, but Howard’s rookie-year redshirt was essentially a medical redshirt, keeping him away from many of the things that would’ve provided him a familiar edge over Allar. If McCarthy likes passers who are “just starting out,” Allar may be his perfect canvas. The Penn State-product didn’t even start playing the position until high school, and though he oozes potential, a lot of production failed to make it to the field in Happy Valley.
A Steelers correspondent on The Pat McAfee Show, Mark Kaboly seemed pretty of convinced of how things might shake out. He started with the obvious route, slotting Rodgers in at QB1 and Rudolph in as his experienced backup. Then, when choosing between Howard and Allar for the third spot, Kaboly opted for the higher-drafted Allar, who also has more years of team control remaining on his contract. Kaboly thinks this route also gives Pittsburgh its strongest chance to retain all four guys. Either young player would be placed on waivers, if cut, and be at risk of any team claiming them. Howard stands the best chance of clearing waivers to land on the practice squad, while Allar would likely draw a decent number of claims as a third-round pick with potential.
In a surprising update from just a couple days ago, though, Pryor reported that, at early practice activities, Howard has been taking QB2 reps over both Allar and Rudolph. As a third-round pick this year under McCarthy, it seems highly unlikely that Allar would be going anywhere, so Rudolph may just end up being the odd man out. We’d likely need to see this stack with much more consistency before truly believing that Howard has surpassed Rudolph on the depth chart, but it’s great experience for the Ohio State-product regardless.
To see where Rodgers’ retirement plans come into effect, one must fast forward a year. Further supporting the potential hierarchy Pryor noted, the notion Pittsburgh might move forward with Rudolph as the starter next year is highly unlikely. If it turns out the Steelers are not as competitive as they hope to be in Rodgers’ final year, McCarthy and Co. may be interested in seeing what they have in their younger arms.
There is so much time that will transpire before anything definitive decisions need to be made. Injuries or trades may make the team’s decision for them, or one of the three contenders could start to steal the show and run away with the job. While Rodgers is obviously the star of the room, it will be very interesting to see how the battle behind him plays out.
AFC Staff Updates: Merritt, Watts, Browns, Colts
A month ago, Chiefs cornerbacks coach David Merritt was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, Merritt’s case was dismissed by the District Court of Johnson County.
At the time of Merritt’s arrest on the Kansas side of the border, no details accompanied the news to explain his arrest and charging, but the former NFL linebacker pleaded not guilty once given the opportunity in court as the Chiefs chose not to comment on the situation. Merritt’s attorney, Ryan Ginie, informed Garafolo that the District Attorney’s office “looked at (the case) a little more thoroughly and reviewed some additional information” before they “agreed it was a matter that should be dismissed.”
Following the case’s dismissal, the Chiefs are set to continue the offseason with their assistant coach of the past seven years. Merritt has helped coach a secondary unit on a defense that has routinely finished in the top half of the league in pass defense.
Here are a few other staff updates from around the AFC:
- After leaving Pittsburgh in March, veteran scout Chris Watts reportedly turned to the collegiate ranks of the game, joining the University of Texas “in a player personnel capacity,” per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Watts is coming off a four-year stay with the Steelers following a 15-year stint in the Giants’ front office. Watts scouted the Longhorns in his coverage of the south area for the Steelers, and he also has some experience working for the Senior Bowl.
- The Browns have added a veteran presence to their front office, hiring Mike Derice as their new mid-Atlantic area scout, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedInFootball.com. Derice wasn’t with a team in 2025, but before his short sabbatical, he had gathered a combined 13 years of experience working with the Giants and Colts. He returns to work following a surprising parting of ways with New York a year ago.
- The Colts made a minor addition to their data/analytics group earlier this month. Per ESPN’s Seth Walder, Sam Swift was hired as a football data analyst in Indianapolis. Swift will be working his first full-time NFL position after interning with the Bills last year and working as a recruiting assistant as he finished school at the University of Iowa.