Do The Steelers Still Have Room For CB Keenan Lewis?

[steelreserve]

Came across this little analysis from our friends at Steelers Depot:

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/03/do-the-steelers-still-have-room-for-cb-keenan-lewis/

Basically, as we all know, the longer we go without hearing anything, the better ... Long and short of it is that we're $4.4M under the cap right now, will be $9.9M under with the release of Colon, and they seem to think we can afford about $2-3M in cap space in the first year, which obviously would have to increase later.

The thing I'm admittedly confused about is how June 1 releases are handled. Apparently we don't actually "have" that money to spend until the actual day Colon is released, and we're required to be under the cap every minute between now and then? That would suck. I thought you were just required to make it so that everything penciled out cap-wise at the start and the end of the league year, and those kinds of moves (say, signing Lewis to a $5M deal with the knowledge that we'd soon have $10M in cap space) didn't count against you. Anyone who knows the answer to that, it would be much appreciated.

Also, I wonder if there's a way we could get around it by, say, paying Lewis $3M now and a couple million more in a roster bonus on June 2. You would think.

Anyway, in either case, $5M-$6M seems like about the most we could afford/be willing to spend on him, and the real question is whether that's in the same neighborhood as he's looking for.

[Psycho Ward 86]

yeah i was confused about the same thing. if we get lewis under contract and the rest of the RFA's sign their tenders, im feeling good about this year's free agency. even if lewis doesnt get signed, we still look like were in good shape

[86WARD]

Lewis is on his way to New Orleans for a visit...

[TMC]

The moment you tender the RFAs and ERFAs, their contracts count against your salary cap, just like the franchise or transition tag. That $4.4M the Steelers have right now includes all the RFAs and ERFAs.

Now, when they state the Steelers can sign Lewis for under $3M, that is not total compensation, that is his cap hit. If you sign him to a deal, say 5 years, and you pay him $1M in salary this season and hand him a $10M signing bonus, that is a 2013 cap hit of $3M. He gets $11M in pocket today.

If he wants more bonus money, you give him a $5M option bonus next year. That would be $16M (plus his salary) in the first 2 years. If he inked a deal for, say $30M, then his salaries would be $2M (2014) and $4M (2015-2017). That is $30M and his cap hit never gets over $7M a season (only $7M in 2015/16).

It can be done. You just have to kind of let Lewis feel out what the market is. You do not want to start bidding against yourself and drive the price up. If he is going to New Orleans, let them make the offer and see if the Steelers are willing to match it.

[The Pittsburgh Kid 59]

TMC:

Did the Steeler Nation message board shut down?

[stillers4me]

TMC:

Did the Steeler Nation message board shut down?

You can send TMC a private message ...he will then be notified that you have a message for him.

BTW....welcome to SU!

[Psycho Ward 86]

The moment you tender the RFAs and ERFAs, their contracts count against your salary cap, just like the franchise or transition tag. That $4.4M the Steelers have right now includes all the RFAs and ERFAs.

Now, when they state the Steelers can sign Lewis for under $3M, that is not total compensation, that is his cap hit. If you sign him to a deal, say 5 years, and you pay him $1M in salary this season and hand him a $10M signing bonus, that is a 2013 cap hit of $3M. He gets $11M in pocket today.

If he wants more bonus money, you give him a $5M option bonus next year. That would be $16M (plus his salary) in the first 2 years. If he inked a deal for, say $30M, then his salaries would be $2M (2014) and $4M (2015-2017). That is $30M and his cap hit never gets over $7M a season (only $7M in 2015/16).

It can be done. You just have to kind of let Lewis feel out what the market is. You do not want to start bidding against yourself and drive the price up. If he is going to New Orleans, let them make the offer and see if the Steelers are willing to match it.

thanks for clearing that up. ive always wondered why the steelers sometimes dont throw down an offer right away to their coveted homegrown free agents. your explanation seems to be the reason why

[BigNastyDefense]

thanks for clearing that up. ive always wondered why the steelers sometimes dont throw down an offer right away to their coveted homegrown free agents. your explanation seems to be the reason why

Also, say they offer him a contract that his agent feels is "lowballing" him. Then you have Lewis saying "that's all they think I am worth?" and he doesn't even want to sign with Pittsburgh after that.

Let another team make an offer and find out what the market is. Then you make an offer. Lewis and his agent might have not even made an offer to the Steelers, so they may not know what he feels his market worth is. Once they know what he thinks he is worth, the can negotiate with him. You really don't want to make the first offer in this situation. I would think the Steelers would know what the market is for Lewis with the new "legalized tampering" period, but maybe nobody made an offer.

[TMC]

The Saints are also "interested" in Nnamdi. How does that bode for Lewis, who is visiting and now they are talking up another corner.

And have another scheduled to visit tomorrow.

[Count Steeler]

The Saints are also "interested" in Nnamdi. How does that bode for Lewis, who is visiting and now they are talking up another corner.

And have another scheduled to visit tomorrow.

I like the way that sounds for us.

[Psycho Ward 86]

at this point i just hope the bengals and browns dont go after lewis. they still probably have tons of cap space left and they could use another good corner

[SteelerFanInStl]

The Saints are also "interested" in Nnamdi. How does that bode for Lewis, who is visiting and now they are talking up another corner.

And have another scheduled to visit tomorrow.

So are the Niners. I think the Saints lose out to the Niners on that one.