Cam Heyward signs contract extension

[dislocatedday]

Cam is the cornerstone of our defense right now and for the foreseeable future. He seems to be the unquestioned new leader of the defense, from everything I've read and heard. And at only 26 years old, he's a pretty damn good player who works extremely hard and hustles every play, every game. I definitely agree with Zu, these are the guys you want to pay. I don't think it's a bad deal at all, considering what other lesser players are being paid right now.

This post nails it correctly IMO.

One thing in particular I tend to like about the Steelers is that they develop and reward from within the organization. They never throw extremely large contracts at "big name" outside free agents, and history has shown that those deals rarely provide an equal value in return for the teams giving them out.

Cam is clearly the best young defensive player on the Steelers at this point in time. He has shown himself to be hard-working and plays with a relentless intensity. By accounts I have read, he is also considered a leader and is well-respected by his teammates. I see opposing O-lineman struggling against him consistently in games. He is not an average 3-4 defensive end in the least.

6 yrs/60 Million is a realistic fair deal for him IMO. Yes, you can't pay every player that type of deal, but you have to peg and sign guys as the central building blocks. Maurkice Pouncey got a large deal last offseason because he is clearly the leader on that Oline, has immense talent, brings it every play, etc. His deal was worth it, and I don't see anybody complaining a year later that it was an unwise signing.

My guess is that the Steelers will lose some good players along the way in the coming seasons just because they can't pay large money to everyone, but since the start of this century, I can't think of any large signing that turned out badly except for the Woodley contract and Jason Gildon (..if my memory of Gildon after he signed his big deal is correct.....it's possible I am wrong on this).

[TD's & Beer]

I sure as hell hope we know what we're doing.

Me too.

I face reality - I see a defense full of holes and have no expectations they will be anything better than average this year, with or without Cam.
We still have no franchise NT, still have a suspect outside pass rush and have huge question marks everywhere in the secondary. If you want to spend all your money on the DL, go ahead, I guess.

I still think we'll need to score 30 pts a game to even have a chance to win that coveted wildcard slot again. Go Ben!

[Mojouw]

Cam Heyward was a must sign for the Steelers at almost any reasonable cost. The fact that they got him for a bit less than his predicted cost based on recent 3-4 end contracts - we should all be doing cartwheels. Not lamenting his cap charge.

Here is what I see:
1. Other than Timmons, Heyward is the leader of the defense now. You can see it on Sundays just watching your TV. Multiple articles have alluded to the fact that it stretches to the locker room and practice fields. Leadership is important. Especially on a young defense. A really young defense.

2. We still do not know what Butler is going to call on gamedays, but we have some clues. Multiple reports (ones with actual interviews and attributed quotes and stuff), not just speculation, have stated that he wants to get his ends up the field more and use them to cause disruption and make plays in the backfield. Clearly he is not envisioning a version of the 3-4 where the downlineman are just anchored to the LOS. In Heyward you have one of the only 4 or 5 DE's in the league who can fill that role. Hopefully, Tuitt becomes another one. Either way, when you have one of the very few players who excels at an fundamental aspect of your entire defensive philosophy - you don't screw around. Sign the guy.

3. This contract gives the Steelers cost certainty with one of their foundational pieces on defense. It takes him into his age 33 season. Makes it easier to plan and implement other signings once you know what Heyward is going to cost.

4. I'm not having the NT debate again. The Macs will be fine at NT. Watch. No one is going to be bitching about NT by mid season. If you look across the league at the 3-4 teams right now, things have/are changing. In response to the fact that no one really lines up and rams the ball down your throat anymore - NT are de-emphasised. They emphasis along the 3-4 line is focused on DEs that can play the run and rush the passer - on their own. Basically, JJ Watt and Calais Campbell with Mario Williams thrown in. On any NFL defense these days, regardless of scheme, players on the edges make the difference. So, again, I say - the Steelers have one and they didn't over think it - the signed the dude.

I'm sure Heyward and the Steelers are celebrating and so should all of us.

[Chidi29]

It seems like "the market" is now $10M a year for any player who's good at any position. Call it whatever you will, but no matter the reason, we can't afford many more of those.

He's a player I'm glad we kept, but I do have a growing suspicion that we're outbidding ourselves in some of these re-signing negotiations. The Timmons contract, the Pouncey contract, the Gilbert contract, the Cortez Allen contract, and this contract all went that way, and the Worilds contract probably would've gone that way if he hadn't cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffsed his way off the team. The DeCastro contract, the Bell contract, the Tuitt contract, and the Shazier contract will probably all go that way too. Cannot afford.

Heyward is a good player, maybe his ceiling on the market is $10M a year. A good GM's job is to get him for $8M while he's still under contract and offer some incentives to take the deal - not pay everyone the absolute most that he'd command on the open market. We look at the maximum that could theoretically be available to a player and go straight to that, and everyone applauds it for "rewarding our players." Well, sorry, but to be a successful GM, sometimes you've got to be a dick. Here's a case where we probably could have done that and helped ourselves in the long run. Cap space is extreeeeeemely important.

Before you say that the players have all the leverage in these negotiations, shut up.

So you think Heyward is going to just offer up a hometown discount right after Cam Jordan gets paid? That's not how it works.

And yes, it's a rising cost for players across the board. As the cap continues to rise, so will individual contracts. Have to be fluid with our thinking of how much money a player truly gets, just as the cap is fluid and will continue to rise. 10 million now isn't what it was five years ago. And in five years, 10 million will be even less.

[86WARD]

He's the 11th highest paid DE in the league...granted he's a 3-4 guy, but then so is JJ Watt at $16M a season...

[teegre]

I've said it before, but it bears iteration:

Heyward & Tuitt will be the best DE tandem in the NFL.

[tube517]

I've said it before, but it bears iteration:

Heyward & Tuitt will be the best DE tandem in the NFL.

Meh...both busts. Tomlin sucks. Fire John Mitchell.

[LLT]

Love this so much. As we may all recall...when SU had a chance to talk with Cam during his rookie year, he stressed how he wanted to make a name for himself outside of the legacy of his dad.

Mission accomplished!

[Psycho Ward 86]

Maybe what we're seeing is an indirect result of the new rookie salary scale. Lower pay to start, restrictions on what you can do for extensions ... all the high draft picks hit the market in their fifth year, and boom, suddenly everyone's worth $10 million. A different way of doing it, for sure, and probably takes some different skills to navigate than a few years ago. I sure as hell hope we know what we're doing.

That, and basically the NFL's version of inflation. Around the time Albert Haynseworth got his record setting deal seems to be when the contracts started to REALLY get out of hand. I remember there were like 4-5 players that became the highest paid players at their positions ever (or something along those lines) that year

[hawaiiansteeler]

Cam Heyward was a must sign for the Steelers at almost any reasonable cost. The fact that they got him for a bit less than his predicted cost based on recent 3-4 end contracts - we should all be doing cartwheels. Not lamenting his cap charge.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Extension for DE Cam Heyward was a Must

By Dave Holcomb
July 17, 2015



The Pittsburgh Steelers have made a habit of extending contracts for franchise players before their current deals run out. Pittsburgh did that for James Harrison back in 2009, Ben Roethlisberger a couple times and even for their head coaches.

Thursday night, defensive end Cameron Heyward joined this group, signing a six-year deal worth $59.25 million according to NFL.com reporter Ian Rapoport.

Before the new deal, Heyward had one year left on his contract and was set to make $6.969 million in 2015. With the new contract in place, Heyward will make an average-annual salary of $9.86 million, which makes him the 11th-highest paid defensive end in the NFL and the second-highest paid player on the Steelers.

On the surface, that sounds a bit high, but the Pittsburgh Steelers had little choice but to retain Heyward's services.

to read rest of article:

http://www.footballnation.com/conten...as-must/33830/

[zulater]

I've said it before, but it bears iteration:

Heyward & Tuitt will be the best DE tandem in the NFL.

I could see that.

[steelreserve]

That, and basically the NFL's version of inflation. Around the time Albert Haynseworth got his record setting deal seems to be when the contracts started to REALLY get out of hand. I remember there were like 4-5 players that became the highest paid players at their positions ever (or something along those lines) that year

Yeah, the inflation is getting ridiculous. The salary cap has gone up about 20% over the last 7 or 8 years since the Woodley contract, but the number of players making $10 million a year has easily doubled, if not tripled or quadrupled. The result being that it's not only the superstars who are making insane money, but also the players who are merely good. In other words, the cost for talent at the high end of the spectrum is quickly running away from what is sustainable. I wonder how long that will keep up, or whether it'll just accelerate the game of musical chairs that the cap relentlessly enforces.

[polamalubeast]

Yeah, the inflation is getting ridiculous. The salary cap has gone up about 20% over the last 7 or 8 years since the Woodley contract, but the number of players making $10 million a year has easily doubled, if not tripled or quadrupled. The result being that it's not only the superstars who are making insane money, but also the players who are merely good. In other words, the cost for talent at the high end of the spectrum is quickly running away from what is sustainable. I wonder how long that will keep up, or whether it'll just accelerate the game of musical chairs that the cap relentlessly enforces.

This is the market

The elite players like Suh or Watt make 16-20 million per year

The great,good or average QB make at least 20 million per year

[Mojouw]

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/

Seems like the lessons here are, pay a premium to get your own emerging stars (a roll of the dice) locked up through their prime on an expensive second contract OR pay through the nose to get a FA on their third contract.

Also, the NFL seems willing to pay whatever it takes for QB, LT, pass rush, and CB.

[steelreserve]

This is the market

I tend to disagree that "the market" is as simple to define as the latest offer made to one guy by a team who may or may not have made a smart move.

omg Cam Jordan got paid X - that's the market!!!!

No, that's one guy. You just follow what everyone else does every time, you'll do no better than everyone else. Maybe this was a case where we just couldn't avoid paying that amount, but you at least try. There's plenty of evidence that Jordan has been significantly better over his career, so I have no idea how that sets the market value as the same for someone who's merely challenging to get to that level but hasn't actually gotten there yet. I mean, Heyward has shown himself to be pretty good, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking he's emerged as one of the most dominant players in the game.

Sometimes you get yourself a good deal, similar to A. Brown's, and I fully believe this could've been one of those cases, only we saw the Jordan deal and allowed ourselves to be talked into paying a couple million more than we had to.

[Mojouw]

I tend to disagree that "the market" is as simple to define as the latest offer made to one guy by a team who may or may not have made a smart move.

omg Cam Jordan got paid X - that's the market!!!!

No, that's one guy. You just follow what everyone else does every time, you'll do no better than everyone else. Maybe this was a case where we just couldn't avoid paying that amount, but you at least try. There's plenty of evidence that Jordan has been significantly better over his career, so I have no idea how that sets the market value as the same for someone who's merely challenging to get to that level but hasn't actually gotten there yet. I mean, Heyward has shown himself to be pretty good, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking he's emerged as one of the most dominant players in the game.

Sometimes you get yourself a good deal, similar to A. Brown's, and I fully believe this could've been one of those cases, only we saw the Jordan deal and allowed ourselves to be talked into paying a couple million more than we had to.

That line of argument makes a few potentially unwarranted assumptions. The first is that the final signed contract terms was the only offer made to Heyward and his camp. I am willing to bet that is not true at all.

The second is that the NFL player market is an open system. Most of the time it is not. In this case the exceptions prove my point. AB's contract was an exception to the rule. The Steelers had 3 capable emerging young WRs that all were going to need contract renewal or extension around the same time (Wallace, Sanders, and Brown). In that case they were totally able to make their "best offer" to multiple (@ least in their minds) equivalent players. Wallace said "no". AB said "yes". End of story. Now, returning to Heyward - where is the equivalent player? There is no alternative on the market, either internally or externally. I mean, unless you want to count Cam Thomas.

The final one is that Heyward's contract is above market value or at the top of the market, etc. In this case it isn't. I posted the link upthread to the breakdown and all the gory details. Bottom line is that the top end of the market for 3-4 ends (which does NOT include Jordan) is $13.5 million per year. Heyward is getting around $9.875 million per year. Considering that Liguet and Campbell (the best "market" comps for Heyward) got $10.25 and $11.0 million per year on their recent deals, I would say there is no way to look at where the Steelers didn't pay less (maybe not a ton) than "market value" for Heyward.

I get that the amount of money NFL players get is ludicrous and that there are concerns about what percentage of your roster takes up what percentage of your cap space - but to continually rail against every contract being an over-pay and another step along the path to ruin is getting a bit overzealous. If they had handed this kind of contract to MClendon, McCullers, or Tuitt - then it would be terrible. But not for one of the 3 or 4 best young 3-4 ends in the entire league.

[teegre]

Yeah, the inflation is getting ridiculous. The salary cap has gone up about 20% over the last 7 or 8 years since the Woodley contract, but the number of players making $10 million a year has easily doubled, if not tripled or quadrupled. The result being that it's not only the superstars who are making insane money, but also the players who are merely good. In other words, the cost for talent at the high end of the spectrum is quickly running away from what is sustainable. I wonder how long that will keep up, or whether it'll just accelerate the game of musical chairs that the cap relentlessly enforces.

I have no problem with football players making millions. I also don't have a problem with actors, comedians, and musicians making millions. These are people doing things (playing football, writing songs, telling jokes) that I simply could never do... but, that I enjoy immensely.

Secondly, the NFL has grown by the billions. Ergo, I have no problem with the salaries for the guys who we pay to watch (i.e. the players) going up by the millions.

[steelreserve]

I have no problem with football players making millions. I also don't have a problem with actors, comedians, and musicians making millions. These are people doing things (playing football, writing songs, telling jokes) that I simply could never do... but, that I enjoy immensely.

Secondly, the NFL has grown by the billions. Ergo, I have no problem with the salaries for the guys who we pay to watch (i.e. the players) going up by the millions.

Don't mistake my attitude for being sour about how much football players make. They're entertainers; if they can bring in millions of dollars apiece with what they do, they deserve pay that reflects that. If Cam Heyward was paid $10,000 a year or $100 million a year, that's all fine by me as long as it helps us win games. This is strictly concern over whether we can afford to fit another big contract into our cap situation, which could prevent us from winning if it turns out we can't. I'm pretty sure we can deal with this one right now, but before long there are going to be something like 9 guys on our team lined up to make that much, and that I'm less sure about. No, the sky is not falling, but every one of these makes me swallow a little harder.

[Chidi29]

Yeah, the inflation is getting ridiculous. The salary cap has gone up about 20% over the last 7 or 8 years since the Woodley contract, but the number of players making $10 million a year has easily doubled, if not tripled or quadrupled. The result being that it's not only the superstars who are making insane money, but also the players who are merely good. In other words, the cost for talent at the high end of the spectrum is quickly running away from what is sustainable. I wonder how long that will keep up, or whether it'll just accelerate the game of musical chairs that the cap relentlessly enforces.

To be fair/accurate, it's really gone up more like 30%. In 2007, it was 109 million. Now it's 142, just over 30%. So it shouldn't be a surprise to see contracts spike like that. It reflects the cap room teams have.

If you want to make that statement league-wide, fine, but Heyward does not fall in the "merely good" category.

[steelreserve]

To be fair/accurate, it's really gone up more like 30%. In 2007, it was 109 million. Now it's 142, just over 30%. So it shouldn't be a surprise to see contracts spike like that. It reflects the cap room teams have.

If you want to make that statement league-wide, fine, but Heyward does not fall in the "merely good" category.

He's good. Very good, even. I would not, however, say he's a superstar yet. Not a second-tier player by any means, but a Tier 1a or 1b player.

To me, he falls perfectly into the cadre of players who, if salaries had increased in proportion with the cap, would be about a $7-8 million player, but now those contracts are $10 million to a man.

The real proven stars get that kind of money; they've always been paid in about the 10%-of-salary-cap range and that's not news. To me, extending that down a level is a new development over the past two or three years, along with $20M being the standard contract for any slightly above-average QB, and both are worrisome not only here, but in a leaguewide sense. Yeah, fine, maybe "this is the market," but the market is heading in a dangerous direction if you ask me.

[fansince'76]

Love this so much. As we may all recall...when SU had a chance to talk with Cam during his rookie year, he stressed how he wanted to make a name for himself outside of the legacy of his dad.

Mission accomplished!

In case anyone's interested, here is the interview.

That was probably the one positive about the lockout back in '11 - LLT was able to get interviews with these guys as they had plenty of time on their hands.

[teegre]

Don't mistake my attitude for being sour about how much football players make. They're entertainers; if they can bring in millions of dollars apiece with what they do, they deserve pay that reflects that. If Cam Heyward was paid $10,000 a year or $100 million a year, that's all fine by me as long as it helps us win games. This is strictly concern over whether we can afford to fit another big contract into our cap situation, which could prevent us from winning if it turns out we can't. I'm pretty sure we can deal with this one right now, but before long there are going to be something like 9 guys on our team lined up to make that much, and that I'm less sure about. No, the sky is not falling, but every one of these makes me swallow a little harder.

Ah, I get it now. Makes sense.

Let me try to assuage your fears:

1. Omar Khan is a cap genius. The Steelers have been able to keep Troy, Harrison, Ward, Farrior, etc. for years. In Khan I trust.

2. The cap is going to go up next year (when the need to re-sign DD & Beachum), as well as the year after that (when they need to re-sign Bell). Heyward might currently be about 8% of the total salary cap, but with each subsequent season, that percentage will decline.

3. Think about the AB contract. They got AB's deal done before he blew up. I foresee the same thing about to occur with Heyward. In fact, for the next five seasons, I think Heyward is going to be the second-best 3-4 DE in the league (behind only JJ Watt).

[Chidi29]

He's good. Very good, even. I would not, however, say he's a superstar yet. Not a second-tier player by any means, but a Tier 1a or 1b player.

To me, he falls perfectly into the cadre of players who, if salaries had increased in proportion with the cap, would be about a $7-8 million player, but now those contracts are $10 million to a man.

The real proven stars get that kind of money; they've always been paid in about the 10%-of-salary-cap range and that's not news. To me, extending that down a level is a new development over the past two or three years, along with $20M being the standard contract for any slightly above-average QB, and both are worrisome not only here, but in a leaguewide sense. Yeah, fine, maybe "this is the market," but the market is heading in a dangerous direction if you ask me.

I think that point is debatable but even if we still classify Heyward as "very good," you're paying knowing he's got a great chance of becoming a superstar. That's foresight and if anything, a heady move by the Steelers.

[Mojouw]

Ah, I get it now. Makes sense.

Let me try to assuage your fears:

1. Omar Khan is a cap genius. The Steelers have been able to keep Troy, Harrison, Ward, Farrior, etc. for years. In Khan I trust.

2. The cap is going to go up next year (when the need to re-sign DD & Beachum), as well as the year after that (when they need to re-sign Bell). Heyward might currently be about 8% of the total salary cap, but with each subsequent season, that percentage will decline.

3. Think about the AB contract. They got AB's deal done before he blew up. I foresee the same thing about to occur with Heyward. In fact, for the next five seasons, I think Heyward is going to be the second-best 3-4 DE in the league (behind only JJ Watt).

Ah! I see you that you are unaware of Steelers message board orthodoxy. It goes along theses lines:

1. The Steelers always mismanage the cap. Omar Khan caves to player demands and simply pays what they want. This screws up the cap and the ability to add to the roster year after year.

2. All players should be signed to the minimum contract the Steelers can strong-arm them in to taking. Strangely enough NFL teams apparently hold all the leverage in negotiations. Holdouts are not a thing apparently. Or no player that suits up for the black and gold would ever dare hold out on the Steelers - at least no "real" Steelers. I believe this is the "magic jersey" argument. All players that threaten holdouts should be cut - unless they are super good (known as the Hines Ward caveat).

3. Signing players to contracts based on future performance is a tool of the salary cap devil. Side note - I saw the salary cap devil once. He looks like the robot devil from Futurama - it was weird. Anyway, back to the main point, players should only be paid on present performance and AT BEST be forced to sign heavily incentive laden deals if it is thought that they may outperform some minimal contract figure. Again, holdouts are not a thing (see above). This is known as the "Lamar Woodley is fat"; "Crotez Allen stinks"; and "Marcus Gilbert is a double agent whose sole purpose is to destroy the ligaments of all 4 other starting offensive lineman" clause.

4. Math is hard. So is Googling for contract information on comparable players. Plus those are precedents set by other NFL teams. Clearly, such a model franchise as the Steelers should be blazing new trails in "capology" and not simply blindly following the "sheeple" that lead other NFL teams.

5. The Rooneys are cheap.

[steelreserve]

Ah! I see you that you are unaware of Steelers message board orthodoxy. It goes along theses lines:

1. The Steelers always mismanage the cap. Omar Khan caves to player demands and simply pays what they want. This screws up the cap and the ability to add to the roster year after year.

2. All players should be signed to the minimum contract the Steelers can strong-arm them in to taking. Strangely enough NFL teams apparently hold all the leverage in negotiations. Holdouts are not a thing apparently. Or no player that suits up for the black and gold would ever dare hold out on the Steelers - at least no "real" Steelers. I believe this is the "magic jersey" argument. All players that threaten holdouts should be cut - unless they are super good (known as the Hines Ward caveat).

3. Signing players to contracts based on future performance is a tool of the salary cap devil. Side note - I saw the salary cap devil once. He looks like the robot devil from Futurama - it was weird. Anyway, back to the main point, players should only be paid on present performance and AT BEST be forced to sign heavily incentive laden deals if it is thought that they may outperform some minimal contract figure. Again, holdouts are not a thing (see above). This is known as the "Lamar Woodley is fat"; "Crotez Allen stinks"; and "Marcus Gilbert is a double agent whose sole purpose is to destroy the ligaments of all 4 other starting offensive lineman" clause.

4. Math is hard. So is Googling for contract information on comparable players. Plus those are precedents set by other NFL teams. Clearly, such a model franchise as the Steelers should be blazing new trails in "capology" and not simply blindly following the "sheeple" that lead other NFL teams.

5. The Rooneys are cheap.

Nailed it.

I have no point.

The front office always knows best and should never be questioned.

There's no point in even discussing it; might as well shut down the message board.

[Mojouw]

Nailed it.

I have no point.

The front office always knows best and should never be questioned.

There's no point in even discussing it; might as well shut down the message board.

First of all it was joke - so maybe calm down a bit.

Second, what exactly was your point in all this? You seemed to be arguing that Heyward was not worth tier 1 money. When it was pointed out w/ supporting evidence by others (not just myself) that Heyward was indeed first tier at his position AND he is getting paid less than players in the same tier - you responded with a reformulated argument about % of the cap/contract. When it was pointed out that the rise in the cap in the last 7 years more than accounts for that - you had no response.

Look, I personally enjoy your postings here and think you have good stuff to say. But you seem (broad brush here) to never like a contract extension, rework, resigning, or what have you. Put it this way, what would you have paid Heyward? Now find any other NFL player with a comparable level of production and youth that is getting paid that number. If you can't do it, then, yeah, I'm gonna go with the front office.

All that being said, if in 18 months the Steelers can't resign/extend Bell, Brown (he isn't going to let this contract stuff rest), Beachum, DeCastro, and the reason is solely(or @least largely) Heyward's cap figure - - then I will totally admit you were right and get off my soapbox on the issue.

[steelreserve]

What I think is that there is a dangerous trend leaguewide of paying almost-stars the money that used to be reserved for star players, and I don't think that's sustainable. Maybe we were stuck paying Heyward $10M a year and there was no way around it, and maybe that's what the market really was, but it's still dangerous. Forget the one contract for a minute. The overall trend is what's worrisome.

The rise in the cap certainly does not account for it. I said it rose around 20%, it actually was more like 30% - meantime, the number and skill level of the players getting these contracts increased more as if the salary cap went up 50% or 100%. Aaron Smith, one of the best 3-4 DEs of all time, made $5 million at the peak of his third contract in 2010; that was also the peak of what Keisel earned around the same time. The salary cap has gone up 16% since then; it has not doubled. Look, Heyward's a good player and probably a great guy, but one thing he is not is an Aaron Smith-caliber player, not at this point in his career. The market is running away from what's sustainable. Again, maybe we paid market price and that was what we had to do. That is a completely separate argument from this.

I don't consider Omar Khan a salary cap genius. He is a master of kicking the can down the road. I could do that. The reason why I have criticized seemingly every major re-signing in the past couple of years is because he spent several seasons preparing a nice footlong shit sandwich, we just finally got done eating it, and already people have forgotten all about that even though we're still kind of burping it up - and Khan has already grabbed another hoagie roll and started reaching back into the toilet for more. Giving backloaded deals, restructuring the big contracts already on the books, and hoping for a big increase in the cap is exactly how we got into trouble before. The cap will go up, but it won't always go up as much as you hope, and constantly counting on it to bail you out is how you end up $20 million over the cap.

Maybe his plan is to keep barely stringing things along financially until Ben retires and then let the whole thing go, which I guess might work. I sure hope that's the plan.

[Mojouw]

What I think is that there is a dangerous trend leaguewide of paying almost-stars the money that used to be reserved for star players, and I don't think that's sustainable. Maybe we were stuck paying Heyward $10M a year and there was no way around it, and maybe that's what the market really was, but it's still dangerous. Forget the one contract for a minute. The overall trend is what's worrisome.

The rise in the cap certainly does not account for it. I said it rose around 20%, it actually was more like 30% - meantime, the number and skill level of the players getting these contracts increased more as if the salary cap went up 50% or 100%. Aaron Smith, one of the best 3-4 DEs of all time, made $5 million at the peak of his third contract in 2010; that was also the peak of what Keisel earned around the same time. The salary cap has gone up 16% since then; it has not doubled. Look, Heyward's a good player and probably a great guy, but one thing he is not is an Aaron Smith-caliber player, not at this point in his career. The market is running away from what's sustainable. Again, maybe we paid market price and that was what we had to do. That is a completely separate argument from this.

I don't consider Omar Khan a salary cap genius. He is a master of kicking the can down the road. I could do that. The reason why I have criticized seemingly every major re-signing in the past couple of years is because he spent several seasons preparing a nice footlong shit sandwich, we just finally got done eating it, and already people have forgotten all about that even though we're still kind of burping it up - and Khan has already grabbed another hoagie roll and started reaching back into the toilet for more. Giving backloaded deals, restructuring the big contracts already on the books, and hoping for a big increase in the cap is exactly how we got into trouble before. The cap will go up, but it won't always go up as much as you hope, and constantly counting on it to bail you out is how you end up $20 million over the cap.

Maybe his plan is to keep barely stringing things along financially until Ben retires and then let the whole thing go, which I guess might work. I sure hope that's the plan.

I can kind of see where you are coming from, but none of that really applies. Take a look at what 3-5 million a year buys you now a days at DE (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/defensive-end/). My opinion on all of those guys is "nope". My central point is that a player with Heyward's combination of age and production costs (typically) north of $10 million per year. End of story. You want that production out of your 3-4 end spot? You have two options pay for it (Heyward) or hope you drafted it and ride the low cost for 3 years or so (Tuitt).

As to the larger cap issues, the Steelers got bit by a perfect storm last time. They paid premium $$$ to Harrison, Woodley, Polamalu, Hampton, Roethlisberger, Ward, Taylor, and Timmons/Farrior all at the same time. That's what happens when you have a LOADED team, miss on a few draft picks, and keep the band together for one last ride (how many out of that group got 3rd contracts?). EVEN w/ all that, it would still have worked if the CBA negotiations hadn't broken down and as a result the cap flattened out for 2-3 years.

So the Steelers had to eat a bit of shit sandwich. Despite that tasty treat, the negative impact was/has been shockingly minimal. Let's count the "losses" to the cap troubles:

1. Keenan Lewis
2. A season or so of Larry Foote
3. A season of James Harrison
4. Say 3 lower end FA's

That's it. I think that Omar Khan deserves a damn medal. He makes ZERO football decisions. Colbert et al come to him and say "Here is the list. All these guys have got to fit under the cap. Make it happen." Year after year he does, and the negative impacts have been fairly minimal.

[hawaiiansteeler]

Let's count the "losses" to the cap troubles:

1. Keenan Lewis

I don't think it was so much losing Keenan Lewis because of cap troubles as much as it was Lewis just wanting to play for his "hometown" New Orleans Saints...

[polamalubeast]

I don't think it was so much losing Keenan Lewis because of cap troubles as much as it was Lewis just wanting to play for his "hometown" New Orleans Saints...

Maybe, but at the same time, the steelers had not offer a contract to Lewis

The Steelers also lost Wallace because the Steelers had no cap space but fortunately it turned out well for us, since Wallace is a disappointment since 2012