The Pittsburgh Steelers should be around $6.5 million under the salary cap after signing defensive end Clifton Geathers to a one-year contract on Wednesday.
The Steelers had been $7.115 million under the cap, according to ESPN Stats & Info, prior to the Geathers signing.
Assuming Geathers, who did not suit up in five games with the Steelers last season, signed a veteran minimum contract his cap hit is $585,000.
The Steelers have plenty of room under the cap since they might sign a free-agent cornerback to a veteran minimum contract and bring back veteran safety Will Allen on a veteran minimum contract.
And again that is a maybe on each.
Beyond that the only cap spending the Steelers have in the foreseeable future is on contract for their draft picks.
They should have more than enough room to take care of that since they will clear at least $3.75 million in cap space if veteran safety Troy Polamalu retires or the Steelers release him.
The Steelers will also lower Cameron Heyward's cap hit of $6.969 million when they sign the defensive end to a new long-term contract.
The Steelers won’t get anything done with Heyward before the NFL draft but look for him to have a new deal before the end of offseason practices in June.
Left tackle Kelvin Beachum's cap number -- it is around $1.553 million right now -- will spike when the Steelers sign him to a new multi-year contract. But the Steelers don’t have to take care of that until training camp or even right before the start of the regular season.
If things play out as expected -- Heyward signing a new deal and Polamalu either retiring or playing for another team -- the Steelers should have plenty of room to absorb Beachum’s new cap hit and retain enough saving to making signings during the season in the event of injuries.
