I will be doing a series of articles that will be taking a methodical team by team approach to next year’s possible free agents. I will be starting with the team that has the least amount of salary cap space and ending with the team with the most. I will try to give a brief description of as many of the possible free agents as I can. I will also be looking for players that might be salary cap cuts in order for their teams to make room to sign some of these possible free agents. Any information anyone else can contribute on these players would be very much appreciated.
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The San Francisco 49ers will have a whole ton of money for 2017 NFL free agency. Head there to check out our breakdowns of all 31 other teams’ free agents and cap space.
The Pittsburgh projected to be $36,964,343 UNDER the cap (all salary info via Over The Cap) for 2017 and with 38 players under contract.
(EastBayNinerFan has the combined total of the salary cap surplus carry over from 2016 and the cap space for 2017 as $41,356,933).
I find it amazing that they have their first, second, third, and two fourth round picks from the 2013 draft and they haven’t bothered to extend any of them yet.
Dollar figures listed are player’s 2016 cap hits.
ILB Lawrence Timmons -$15,131,250
Lawrence Timmons is 30 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the first round of the 2007 draft. Timmons has 108 tackles, 2.5 sacks, five passes defended, two interceptions and two forced fumble this season. He seems to be doing what he does every year. PFF has him rated as the 81st best ILB in the NFL. I am not sure why that stat does not seem to go well with his achievements?
34OLB Jarvis Jones - $2,768,933
Jarvis Jones is 27 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the first round of the 2013 draft. Jones has 38 tackles this season but he doesn’t have any sacks and he only had two sacks last year. As a matter of fact, he only has five sacks in his entire career. Sorry Jarvis, but we are looking for some sacks.
RB DeAngelo Williams - $2,565,000
DeAngelo Williams is 33 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the first round of the 2006 draft. Williams’ carries are down this season. He only has 75 carries for 276 yards after having 200 carries for 907 yards in 2015. I guess age and Le’Veon Bell must finally be catching up with him.
34OLB James Harrison - $1,500,000
James Harrison is 38 years old and was picked up by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2002. Harrison has 53 tackles, five sacks, two forced fumbles and one interception this season. Not bad for a guy that started his college career in the last millennium.
C Cody Wallace - $1,350,000
Cody Wallace is 32 years old and was originally drafted by the 49ers in the fourth round of the 2008 draft. Pittsburgh signed Wallace in September of 2013 after he was cut by Tampa Bay. He was placed on injured reserve after hurting his knee in August.
RB Le’Veon Bell - $1,130,346
Le’Veon Bell is 24 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the second round of the 2013 draft. Bell is the second leading rusher in the NFL this season with 261 carries for 1.268 yards and seven touchdowns. He also has 75 receptions for 616 yards and another two touchdowns. With one game to go, it looks like he might surpass 2,000 all around yards this season. What do you think Pittsburgh will be paying him next season?
ILB Steven Johnson – $515,588
Steven Johnson is 28 years old and was originally picked up by the Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Johnson signed a one year contract with the Steelers in March. He has six tackles with the Steelers this season after having seven with the Titans in 2015.
TE David Johnson - $600,000
David Johnson is 29 years old and was originally drafted by the Steelers in the seventh round of the 2009 draft. Johnson returned to the Steelers this season after spending the previous two season with the Chargers. He has seven receptions for 80 yards this season.
34DE Ricardo Mathews - $600,000
Ricardo Mathews is 29 years old and was originally drafted by the Colts in the seventh round of the 2010 draft. The Steelers signed Matthews in March of this year. He has 14 tackles and one sack in a reserve role.
WR Markus Wheaton - $1,818,844
Markus Wheaton is 25 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the third round of the 2013 draft. Wheaton has 4 receptions for 51 yards this season. He had 44 reception for 749 yards in 2015.
S Shamarko Thomas - $788,288
Shamarko Thomas is 25 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2013 draft. Shamarko has seven tackles as a backup this season.
QB Landry Jones - $784,805
Landry Jones is 27 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2013 draft. Jones has completed 61 of 104 passes for 794 yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions as a backup to big Ben.