The Steelers have restructured the contract of Pro Bowl guard David DeCastro, creating nearly $4 million in salary cap space.
The move came on the eve of the team making cuts to get down to the 53-man roster limit by 4 p.m. Saturday and now puts the Steelers in a situation where they have moved some $25 million into future years with current restructures. Earlier this year they restructured the contracts of cornerback Joe Haden and center Maurkice Pouncey, as well, to create cap space
The move to restructure DeCastro, who missed two of the past three weeks of training camp with a calf injury, also increases his 2021 salary cap hit to $14.2 million. That gives the Steelers six players scheduled to count $14 million or more in 2021. The NFL salary cap is expected to go down next season -- possibly as low as $175 million -- due to revenue losses created from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The contracts of DeCastro, Haden, Pouncey, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, defensive linemen Stephon Tuitt and cornerback Steven Nelson will now account for just over $100 million of cap space in 2021.
According to the NFLPA website, the Steelers had $4.6 million in cap space available prior to the move. The restructure of DeCastro will give them enough cap space from which to operate in the 2020 season.