Roosevelt Nix Extension Details
- Though he had been scheduled to become a restricted free agent this offseason, Steelers fullback Roosevelt Nix inked a four-year extension last week, the details of which salary cap guru Ian Whetstone has now provided (via Twitter). All told, Nix’s new deal is worth $6.975MM and contains $1.5MM guaranteed (all in the form of a signing bonus). His 2018 cap charge will be $1.437MM, which is roughly $500K cheaper than the lowest RFA tender. So while Nix will receive a slightly reduced base salary next season, he’s picking up guarantees that otherwise wouldn’t have been available.
Opinion: Steelers Should Retain Vance McDonald
- Tight end Vance McDonald was a late bloomer for the Steelers last season and ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler speculates the 27-year-old may be worth retaining despite the $4.3MM cap hit it’ll take to keep him in 2018. McDonald had a career-high 10 catches and 112 yards receiving in the Steelers’ playoff loss to the Jaguars. He was acquired from the 49ers 12 days prior to the Steelers’ regular-season opener and appeared in 10 games, catching 14 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. Pittsburgh also has Jesse James at tight end, who started 14 games last season and tallied three touchdown catches.
Steelers Can Make More Cap Room
- The Steelers recently created $13.5MM in cap space by moving some money around, but there’s more that can be done in that area, Ed Bouchette of the Post-Gazette writes. Antonio Brown ($7.875MM), Cam Heyward ($9MM), Joe Haden ($9MM), Ryan Shazier ($8.72MM) and Maurkice Pouncey ($7MM) all have large salaries for 2018 that can be restructured, if needed. The Steelers are expected to use that increased flexibility on a new multi-year deal for star running back Le’Veon Bell. For his part, Bell says that this round of talks has been more productive than 2017’s negotiations.
Steelers Hire Ex-Alabama DL Coach
- A defensive line coach for four NFL teams between 2004 and 2015, Karl Dunbar will join a fifth staff in that capacity. The Steelers hired Dunbar after he’d spent the past two seasons coaching at Alabama. He’ll head up the Pittsburgh D-line and rejoin forces with Mike Tomlin. Dunbar served under Tomlin for one season with the Vikings (2006) before the defensive assistant took the top coaching job in Pittsburgh. Dunbar, who coached in Minnesota for six years, also was an eighth-round Steelers pick in 1990. John Mitchell served as Pittsburgh’s defensive line coach from 1994-2017. The longtime Steelers assistant will remain on staff and retain his assistant head coach title next season.
- The Steelers also promoted Shaun Sarrett to assistant offensive line coach, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic tweets. Sarrett has worked with Steelers blockers since 2012.
Steelers Create Nearly $15MM In Cap Space
Mired in another negotiation with Le’Veon Bell, the Steelers will have a friendlier cap situation to work with after two starters agreed to adjust their contracts.
The team will take the restructure route to create space. Both David DeCastro and Stephon Tuitt agreed to convert their 2018 base salaries into roster and signing bonuses, Field Yates of ESPN.com reports, and this will free up $13.26MM in 2018 cap space.
Neither player will lose any money, with these being merely adjustments to help out in the short term. Tuitt, who signed an extension just before last season, now has a $10.21MM signing bonus included in his contract. DeCastro, extended just before the 2016 season, has a $6.79MM signing bonus coming his way.
DeCastro will count for $5.69MM against Pittsburgh’s 2018 cap as a result of this conversion, and Tuitt will represent $5.43MM of the Steelers’ ’18 payroll. Both will earn $790K in base salary this season. However, these adjustments will inflate the linemen’s 2019 figures. Tuitt comes in at $13.64MM for 2019, and DeCastro’s cap hit is set to be $11.97MM next year.
Bell stands as the only high-profile UFA for a team that’s usually not too big on free agency, but with the running back franchise tag cost rising to $14.5MM and a decision due by March 6, the team appears to be preparing for a tag scenario — if only as a means of retaining negotiating rights through mid-July.
Steelers Sign FB Roosevelt Nix To Extension
Roosevelt Nix is staying in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future. The Steelers announced that they have signed the fullback to a four-year extension. The deal will keep the 25-year-old with the organization through 
the 2021 season.
Following four seasons as a linebacker at Kent State, Nix joined the Falcons after going undrafted during the 2014 draft. He didn’t catch on as a fullback, and he ultimately landed with the AFL’s Cleveland Gladiators. He eventually signed with the Steelers in 2015, and he’s proceeded to appear in 41 games (nine starts) since that time.
Nix earned a Pro Bowl birth this past season after playing a major role in Le’Veon Bell‘s productive campaign. Nix finished the season with zero rushing yards on three carries, and he added a pair of receptions for six yards and one touchdown. Nix also compiled 10 special teams tackles.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/9/18
Steelers Interview USF DBs Coach
- Prior to hiring Tom Bradley to be their new defensive backs coach, the Steelers interviewed South Florida DBs coach Blue Adams, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. Mike Tomlin coached Adams while he was an assistant at the University of Cincinnati.
Coaching Rumors: Ravens, Lions, Steelers
Dean Pees‘ retirement from the Ravens didn’t last long as he became the Titans’ defensive coordinator less than a month later. The about-face took Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti by surprise.
“I’m a little shocked,” Bisciotti said (via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com). “He’s 68 years old. It’s hard to give it up, I guess.”
Bisciotti didn’t come right out and say it, but it sounds like Pees went to the Titans in part because they were willing to employ his son, Matt Pees, as a quality control coach.
“I wish Dean all the luck,” Bisciotti said. “I understand he got his son in; I think that was a big point of his. We have a nepotism rule that may have prohibited that from happening in the last few years.”
Here’s more from the coaching world:
- Following Carnell Lake‘s resignation from the position of Steelers secondary coach, Pittsburgh’s brass reached into the college ranks to fill the post. UCLA defensive coordinator Tom Bradley will leave Los Angeles to become the Steelers’ new DBs boss, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Bradley is a Pennsylvania native who spent 33 seasons on Joe Paterno’s staff — from 1979-2011. He coached the Bruins’ defense for the past three years. The 61-year-old Bradley will be on an NFL sideline for the first time come 2018.
- In addition to formally announcing former Boston College defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni as their new defensive coordinator and keeping Jim Bob Cooter on as offensive coordinator, the Lions have also named several other members of new head coach Matt Patricia‘s staff. Chris White has been hired as Detroit’s tight ends coach, while former Miami head coach Al Golden will remain on staff as the club’s linebackers coach (he’d previously coached tight ends). Most of White’s experience has come at the collegiate level, but he did serve as the Vikings’ assistant special teams coach from 2009-12. The Lions also officially announced several other coaching hires that had been previously reported, including George Godsey (quarterbacks), Jeff Davidson (offensive line), and Brian Stewart (defensive backs), plus one that hadn’t in David Corrao (director of football research).
- A 49ers defensive assistant for the past three years, former NFL DC Jason Tarver will become a coach outside of California for the first time in his 20-plus-year career. Tarver agreed to take the defensive coordinator job at Vanderbilt, per Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk. The Raiders’ DC from 2012-14, Tarver enjoyed two stints with the 49ers — the first from 2001-10. He coached alongside current Vanderbilt HC Derek Mason in 2011 at Stanford.
- Speaking of the Commodores, the SEC program also announced former Browns assistant Shawn Mennenga will oversee Vandy’s special teams units in 2018 (Twitter link). The Browns let Menneaga walk after he served seven seasons under previous ST coordinator Chris Tabor.
Sam Robinson contributed to this report.
Steelers Notes: Big Ben, Bell, Tomlin, Berry, Lake
- With a solid core in place, the Steelers‘ personnel plan involves inking quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a multi-year extension and signing running back Le’Veon Bell in the short-term, argues Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. Roethlisberger wants to play for at least three more seasons, so Pittsburgh can reduce his 2018 cap charge by giving him a new signing bonus, the cap hit of which would be spread across multiple seasons. Bell, meanwhile, has a “conviction to set a healthier market for running backs,” but has indicated he’d accept the franchise tag next season.
- Keeping stability among their most talented players is essential for the Steelers, but so is ensuring continuity on a staff that parted ways with offensive coordinator Todd Haley earlier this year. Head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t going anywhere, but as for the reports indicating a Steelers minority ownership group had pushed for Tomlin’s firing? “I didn’t get that letter yet,” Steelers majority owner Art Rooney II sad, per Fowler (Twitter link). “I don’t know if it got lost in the mail or it’s coming by Pony Express.”
- The Steelers‘ one-year extension for punter Jordan Berry is worth $1.887MM, per salary cap guru Ian Whetstone (Twitter links). Berry had been scheduled to become a restricted free agent this offseason, and his new contract will pay him roughly the same as an original round tender. RFA tenders must increase by at least 5% each year, and given that last year’s low tender was worth $1.797MM, Berry’s salary is now equal to the 2017 original round tender plus that 5%. As such, it’s possible the Steelers have added a mechanism to Berry’s contract that will increase his pay when the tender amount is officially announced by the NFL, per Whetstone. For what it’s worth, Over the Cap projects the 2018 original round tender to come in at $1.908MM.
- Steelers defensive backs coach Carnell Lake will not return to team in 2018, as he indicated in a statement released by Pittsburgh that he’ll move home to California as his son finishes high school. Lake is longtime Steelers fixture, as he earned multiple Pro Bowl nods and was named to one All-Pro team during his decade-long career in the Steel City. He was hired to serve as Pittsburgh’s secondary coach in 2011, and that role comprises the sum of his coaching experience. Lake is only 50 years old, so there’s a chance he returns to the coaching ranks down the road.