The Pittsburgh Steelers had a very active day on the Tuesday prior to the new league year beginning. It all started when it was reported that the organization agreed to a massive free agent deal with former Baltimore Ravens linebacker, Patrick Queen. Incredibly, General Manager Omar Khan structured a deal with the 2023 AP Second Team All-Pro that has the team only taking a $6.13 million cap hit in 2024, per Spotrac.
That was a little bit of a hint that the franchise has some more in their back pocket. Later on Tuesday evening, news broke that the Steelers agreed to trade wide receiver Diontae Johnson and a seventh-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for cornerback Donte Jackson and a sixth-rounder.
Trade! The #Steelers are sending WR Diontae Johnson to the #Panthers for CB Donte Jackson and a pick swap, per sources. pic.twitter.com/ayP6Afklmz
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 12, 2024
It certainly was an interesting move. Many believed that Johnson could be traded, but thought he was worth at least a day two pick. Instead, Khan elected to go with the better of the two draft selections along with adding an experienced cornerback who could play alongside Joey Porter Jr. Per Spotrac, the cap situation behind the deal saved Pittsburgh just a little bit of money.
Diontae Johnson leaves behind $5.8M of dead cap to the #Steelers bringing a 1 year, $10M contract to CAR ($3M due Friday).
Donte Jackson leaves behind $9.7M of dead cap to the #Panthers bringing a 1 year, $10.6M contract to PIT ($4M due Friday).
PIT adds $522,500 of cap per the…
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 13, 2024
Overall after the trade, Jackson is set to have a cap charge of roughly $10.52 million. Don’t expect that to stay that way, however. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported there will likely be some restructuring done so Jackson’s cap hit isn’t nearly as much as it appears to be immediately after the deal was reported.
It’s certainly an exciting time for Steelers fans. There are big-time questions at the wide receiver position now, but potentially finding someone to play on the outside, like Porter, is a big step in the offseason for Pittsburgh.
Khan has always been known as a guy that is masterful with the numbers and financial side of football. It hasn’t been reported yet, but as Dulac mentioned on social media, fans can expect Jackson’s cap hit to be much less of a burden on the Steelers in 2024. He is only under contract for one season in Pittsburgh, so the question will be what the team decides to do in order to alleviate some damage.
Steelers Will Still Have Plenty Of Money To Spend In 2024 Offseason
The moves up to this point from Khan have had nothing to do with restructuring internal contracts or extending someone like Cameron Heyward to spread out his massive $22.4 million cap hit. There is still plenty of space to clear, and with that comes plenty of money to spend. Khan has proven to be aggressive in the past, so no one should be surprised if he continues to make big moves as the new league year kicks off.
