The Steelers knew when they picked up the fifth-year option on Ryan Shazier, it meant paying him $8.718 million for the 2018 season, even if he suffered an injury.
As we all now know, that's exactly what happened, with Shazier suffering a serious spinal cord injury that has put his career in jeopardy. The Steelers officially placed him on the PUP List Wednesday.
That hasn't stopped the Steelers from continuing to support the injured linebacker. They made another move to do so this week, converting nearly all of what would have been his base salary in 2018 into signing bonus.
Instead of paying him the guaranteed $8.718 million over the course of the 17 weeks of the regular season -- which is when NFL players are paid -- the Steelers gave Shazier an $8.29 million signing bonus. The move was first reported by ESPN.
The move offered no salary cap relief for the team since Shazier's contract was fully guaranteed. It was simply made as a gesture to give Shazier his money now instead of waiting.