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Pittsburgh Steelers News & Rumors

Steelers CB Joe Haden Restructures Contract

March 16th, 2020 at 9:21pm CST by Ben Levine

The Steelers continue to turn to veterans to help them clear up some extra cap. ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter) that Joe Haden has restructured his contract. Specifically, Haden guaranteed his salary all while opening up some extra breathing room for the front office.

This past season, the former first-round pick earned his first Pro Bowl nod since 2014. The veteran finished the campaign with 65 tackles, 17 passes defended, five interceptions, and one forced fumble. After spending seven seasons in Cleveland to start his career, Haden has seemingly found a home in Pittsburgh, where he’s spent the past three seasons.

Last September, Haden signed a new two-year, $22MM extension that would last through the 2021 campaign. The 30-year-old was set to have a $12.6MM cap hit next season.

Earlier this evening, we learned that the Steelers front office pulled off a similar move with veteran kicker Chris Boswell.

Steelers K Chris Boswell Restructures Contract

March 16th, 2020 at 7:48pm CST by Ben Levine

The Steelers are eyeing limited cap space this offseason, but one of their veterans is helping them out a bit. SiriusXM’s Adam Caplan reports (via Twitter) that kicker Chris Boswell has restructured his contract.

After bouncing between the Texans and Giants during his first year-plus in the NFL, Boswell has found a home in Pittsburgh. He’s appeared in 74 games during his five seasons with the Steelers, including a 2017 campaign where he earned a Pro Bowl nod.

The 29-year-old had one of his best seasons in 2019, connecting on 93.5-percent of his field goal attempts (29 of 31) and all 28 of his extra point tries.

Boswell signed a four-year deal worth close to $17MM prior to last season. He was set to have about a $3.6MM cap hit in 2020.

Steelers’ Ramon Foster Retires

March 16th, 2020 at 1:46pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

On a day with a seemingly endless stream of players finding new homes, one player has elected to step away from the game on his own. Steelers guard Ramon Foster is retiring from the NFL, he announced in a release on the team’s website.

“When the time comes, you just know and now is the time for me to take a bow,” Foster in a statement. “I’ve made some friends for a lifetime, had some moments that I’ll never forget, and seen some things I never thought I would because of this game. First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife and sons. I also want to thank the Steelers organization – Coach (Mike) Tomlin, Mr. Art Rooney II, the late Ambassador (Dan) Rooney, and Kevin Colbert for making Pittsburgh feel like a family. There are so many more people I need to thank, including everyone on staff with the Steelers. I would also like to thank my teammates who made this journey something very special to me and my family – you guys were amazing.”

“Last but definitely not least, thank you to the best fans in all of sports. I’m glad to say I was a Steeler for life, and there is no other organization I would have rather played for in my career,” he finished. Foster signed with Pittsburgh as an undrafted free agent all the way back in 2009, and never left. He made the team as a rookie, and it wasn’t long before he became a full-time starter.

He was an incredibly reliable presence on the interior of Pittsburgh’s offensive line, starting at least 14 games in each of the past nine seasons. Foster signed a two-year extension worth $8.25MM last offseason, but elected to hang up his cleats a year early. The Tennessee product turned 34 in January. It’s yet another reminder that the old era of Steelers football we’ve been accustomed to is slowly coming to an end. Ben Roethlisberger is insistent he’s going to come back from his elbow injury and play at least a couple of more years, but things are starting to change around him.

Steelers Cut Mark Barron, Anthony Chickillo

March 16th, 2020 at 12:40pm CST by Zachary Links

The Steelers have released linebackers Mark Barron and Anthony Chickillo, according to a team press release. In a related move, the club also cut wide receiver Johnny Holton.

For Barron, it’s an early end to the free agent deal he inked with the Steelers one year ago. With his two-year, $12MM deal terminated, he’ll look for work elsewhere. After coming over from the Rams, Barron registered 82 tackles, three sacks, and one fumble recovery in 15 games.

Chickillo, meanwhile, has mostly played as a reserve throughout his career in Pittsburgh. He has 65 total appearances to his credit with just nine starts. All in all, he’s logged 67 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, eight sacks, three pass defenses, three forced fumbles, and lots of time on special teams.

Steelers Expected To Tag Bud Dupree

March 16th, 2020 at 8:44am CST by Sam Robinson

MARCH 16: The Steelers will proceed with a Dupree tag, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). The team is interestingly $3MM-plus over the cap before any Dupree dollars are added to its 2020 payroll, per OverTheCap. A Dupree tag would cost Pittsburgh $15.8MM, if he’s tagged as an outside linebacker. The defensive end tag comes in at $17.8MM. The team has until 3pm CT Wednesday to get under the cap.

MARCH 2: Although the Steelers are projected to hold just $1.5MM in cap space — 31st in the NFL as of Monday — they are still planning on keeping one of their top defenders off the market.

Pittsburgh is preparing to use its franchise tag on Bud Dupree, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). Dupree played out his rookie contract, using his fifth-year option season as a value-raising campaign that has him looming as one of this free agent class’ top pass rushers.

The linebacker franchise tag is expected to come in north of $16MM, though Dupree would surely lobby to be tagged as a defensive end ($18MM-plus). Nevertheless, a tag loomed as a possibility for weeks.

The 2015 first-round pick shattered his previous career-best sack total, registering 11.5 last season. While Dupree has not quite panned out like the Steelers hoped when they took him 22nd overall, he profiles as a key piece for the franchise’s reinvigorated defense. The Steelers ranked third in defensive DVOA last season (first against the pass), and their Dupree-T.J. Watt edge tandem served as a key reason for the re-emergence.

Watt will clearly be the long-term priority, but the Steelers’ chances of assembling a Super Bowl contender around 38-year-old quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will improve if Dupree returns for the 2020 season. This could also be a tag-and-trade precursor. Three teams dealt franchise-tagged edge rushers last year, and the Steelers are certainly not flush with cap space. They also traded their 2020 first- and third-round picks to acquire Minkah Fitzpatrick and Devin Bush and made need future draft capital to pursue a Roethlisberger heir apparent.

Dupree, 27, topped out at six sacks from 2015-18. His 17 quarterback hits last season also ranked 29th. Watt posted 36 QB hits. If the Steelers go into free agency with a Dupree tag on their books, it will nearly tie their hands completely. A franchise that frequently restructures contracts to create immediate cap space likely will go to that well again soon.

Foster, Barron Could Be Steelers Cap Cuts

March 10th, 2020 at 8:28pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • Both Ramon Foster and Mark Barron could be Steelers cap casualties, Ed Bouchette of The Athletic writes (subscription required). Foster re-signed to stay in Pittsburgh last year and has started 145 games at guard with the Steelers since 2009. A cut would save the cap-strapped Steelers $4MM. The Rams released Barron last year; he caught on with the Steelers and started nine games. Pittsburgh still has Vince Williams under contract and would save $5.25MM by dropping Barron.

NFL Announces Compensatory Picks For 2020 Draft

March 10th, 2020 at 4:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL has awarded compensatory draft picks for teams in the 2020 draft.

These picks are awarded to the teams that suffered the most significant free agent losses during the 2019 offseason. This year, the Patriots top the list (shared below) with a league-high four picks.

The comp pick formula assigns picks who suffered the largest net losses, so teams that signed multiple free agents have a lesser chance of receiving picks. The Ravens collected two this year and remain in the all-time lead (from 1994-2020) with 52. No other franchise has accumulated more than 43 compensatory picks.

Here’s the full breakdown, by round and by team:

By Round:

Round 3: Texans (No. 97 overall), Patriots (98), Giants (99), Patriots (100), Seahawks (101), Steelers (102), Eagles (103), Rams (104), Vikings (105), Ravens (106)

Round 4: Buccaneers (No. 139), Bears (140), Dolphins (141), Redskins (142), Ravens (143), Seahawks (144), Eagles (145), Eagles (146)

Round 5: Broncos (No. 178), Cowboys (179)

Round 6: Patriots (No. 212), Patriots (213), Seahawks (214)

Round 7: Giants (No. 247), Texans (248), Vikings (249), Texans (250), Dolphins (251), Broncos (252), Vikings (253), Broncos (254), Giants (255)

By Team:

  • New England Patriots (4)
  • Denver Broncos (3)
  • Houston Texans (3)
  • Minnesota Vikings (3)
  • New York Giants (3)
  • Philadelphia Eagles (3)
  • Baltimore Ravens (2)
  • Miami Dolphins (2)
  • Chicago Bears (1)
  • Dallas Cowboys (1)
  • Los Angeles Rams (1)
  • Pittsburgh Steelers (1)
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1)
  • Washington Redskins (1)

The compensatory free agents lost and gained in 2019 by the clubs that will receive compensatory picks in the 2020 draft:

Ben Roethlisberger Aiming For Full Clearance By Summer

February 23rd, 2020 at 8:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

On the road back to becoming the Steelers’ starting quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger cleared key hurdles this week. After a positive medical checkup, the future Hall of Famer resumed throwing.

But the 17th-year veteran remains a long way away from working out with his teammates in a full capacity. Roethlisberger said it will be around 2 1/2 to three months before he expects to be full go, according to Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (on Twitter). Roethlisberger underwent elbow surgery in September.

The soon-to-be 38-year-old quarterback said his checkup went smooth enough he was given the go-ahead to skip the tennis ball-throwing stage of this rehab and go straight to footballs, and he has multiple additional throwing sessions coming up in California (Twitter link via Cook). However, it is unlikely he will be a full participant in any Steeler OTA session. Although Pittsburgh’s June minicamp is beyond the three-month window, that might be a stretch as well.

Both Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin are confident Big Ben will make a full recovery and be ready to resume his role as the Steelers’ starter. Years ago, Roethlisberger hinted at retiring by this age. But he since changed course. The Steelers gave Roethlisberger a new contract last year; the two-year, $68MM extension runs through 2021. Of the class of 2004 quarterbacks, he will soon be the last one standing on his original team. Eli Manning retired, and the Chargers will not re-sign Philip Rivers. Big Ben is the second-longest-tenured quarterback in the league, and if Tom Brady surprises most and leaves the Patriots, he will ascend to the top spot.

Ben Roethlisberger Resumes Throwing

February 22nd, 2020 at 9:19pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has insisted he’s going to come back and play, and he took a big step in the right direction this week. Big Ben has resumed throwing footballs, as you can see in this video the team tweeted out. 

Pittsburgh’s leader underwent surgery for a season-ending elbow injury back in September. Roethlisberger had “a significant checkup on the elbow Friday in Los Angeles” according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com, and apparently that checkup went pretty well. There were some rumblings a couple of months ago that Roethlisberger might never play again, but the passer quickly issued a statement to shoot down those results.

Ever since then everything has been trending in the right direction, and all signs seem to point toward Roethlisberger taking the field in 2020. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin just expressed confidence in his availability, and GM Kevin Colbert made similar comments a couple of weeks ago. The Steelers had high hopes for last season, but they were quickly dashed when Roethlisberger went down with his injury.

The defense became one of the league’s best units which kept them afloat for a while, but ultimately shaky quarterback play from Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges brought them down. There seems to have been hope within the organization that Rudolph would be the heir to Roethlisberger, but the Oklahoma State product certainly didn’t show anything last year to inspire much confidence. Even assuming Roethlisberger makes a full recovery he’s turning 38 next month, and the Steelers will likely have to address the position at some point in the near future.

AFC North Notes: Browns, Landry, Steelers

February 20th, 2020 at 9:24am CST by Zachary Links

A change of plans for Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry. Initially, Landry said he would go the rest-and-rehab route for his lingering hip issue. Instead, he went under the knife recently to correct the problem, per a team announcement.

The Browns expect Landry to make a full recovery for the 2020 season, so this shouldn’t impact their plans very much. And, even though there’s a new regime in Cleveland, Landry (and Odell Beckham Jr.) are expected to remain in the fold, giving Kevin Stefanski as many offensive weapons as possible.

Landry, 28 in November, played through the pain in all 16 games last year. In fact, he’s never missed a game in his six-year career. The LSU product – who finished out with 83 catches, 1,174 yards, and six touchdowns – has three years to on his five-year, $75.5MM deal.

More from the AFC North:

  • Even after inking nine contract extensions over the past year, the Ravens could have more on the way. Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic looked at the club’s remaining extension candidates, including outside linebacker Matt Judon and defensive tackle Michael Pierce. Center Matt Skura hasn’t been talked about as much, but he could also be in line for a fresh deal as he nears unrestricted free agency. The former UDFA gave the Ravens consistent play in the middle up until his major knee injury in November. The injury might complicate things a bit, but he expects to be back in time for training camp.
  • Alex Van Pelt is the Browns‘ new offensive coordinator, but he’s not sure if he’ll be the one calling the plays (via WKYC). That responsibility could be kept by Stefanski, who previously donned the headset for the Vikings.
  • Steelers cornerback Artie Burns has switched to Drew Rosenhaus, as Liz Mullen of SBJ tweets. Burns, a former first-round pick who had his fifth-year option declined by the team, will be a free agent in March. In 2019, he appeared in just ten games and started only once.
  • Another pending Steelers free agent – linebacker Bud Dupree – will be switching representation (Twitter link via Mullen). For now, all we know is that Dupree is parting ways with CAA. In the next few days, we should know who his agent will be. Dupree’s stock is pretty high after he registered 11.5 sacks in 2019, though the Steelers could cuff him with the franchise tag.
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