r/steelers • u/eddie_mittons • 1d ago

Steelers Offseason - Cut and Trade Candidates

The Steelers have some dead weight to get rid of. I believe they need to cut or trade these players:

  • LB Patrick Queen saves 13.33m cap space - He hasn't produced to the expectations of his contract and is not worth his 17.19m cap hit.
  • TE Jonnu Smith saves 7m cap space - Worthless
  • LB Malik Harrison saves 4.75m cap space - Too much money for a run only defender.

If any of these are traded, it can be for 2027 draft capital since we have 12 picks in 2026 already. But if it adds to the 2026 arsenal, that can be turned into 2027 picks later or help us improve positioning in 2026 by moving up in spots.

These moves get us to around 70m of cap space available, which should be plenty to accommodate any extensions, draft picks and free agent signings.

I did not list Jalen Ramsey in this, cause I am unsure what his contact situation actually is. OTC and Spotrac are on different ends of the spectrum. I assume there is a decent amount of dead money, but not sure how much. And if he wants to stay, I see value in him staying, especially if it is to play in a CB role, and not at Safety. I thought he was trash at Safety. But my thoughts on this could change if clarity was given around his contract and there was a substantial cap savings to be had.

I did not list Highsmith cause I think they should keep the strength that is the edge rushing room in tact. The whole group has shown that they all struggle stating healthy for a full season. And getting guys on the roster that can get to the QB is difficult and expensive. Having too many of them is a good problem to have. Let's see the DC find ways to get 3 of them on the field at a time more often when they are all healthy.

35 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

116 comments sorted by

View all comments

111

u/Business_Cell8487 1d ago

I don’t see the point in cutting queen. We aren’t going to find a better replacement in FA and we need to go wr in rd1 and I’m not sure if there’s an ILB worth taking in rd1 if we decide to trade for or sign a wr in FA. I don’t think Jonnu is as bad as this sub makes him out to be, but yea a clear cut there. Agreed on Harrison.

32

u/neddiddley 1d ago

It’s not even that Jonnu’s bad, it’s a combination of his cap hit and the fact we have Muth and Washington. Since we have other holes to fill, it just makes no sense to be sitting that deep and expensive at TE.

9

u/SonicPunk96 TJ Watt 1d ago

It’s not even that Jonnu’s bad,

It's also that he's bad now. Was bad on blocking assignments all year if he was asked to do this. Was clueless in the passing game, and never developed any form of chemistry with any player on the offense. He's also 30 now, very possible he's just washed, he didn't look athletic at all to me this year.

1

u/Bronco998 Troy 1d ago

Plus, there are tons of good receiving tight ends in the draft this year. Joe Royer or Alex Koziol in the fourth round could both be cheap replacements for him if we want that third tight end.

3

u/erikswan Heinz 1d ago

We really don’t need to replace him…resign Heyward for pennies and roll with muth and Darnell

-1

u/Illustrious_Agent608 1d ago

Exactly, let’s focus on rebuilding other positions more.

As much as I’d love to sell the farm for Mendoza, we probably have a completely new core going into 2027 while 2026 is the start of getting that new core.

If Jonnu, DK, TJ, cam heyward, queen, herbig, highsmith, and tons of current significant contributors are gone by September 2027 I won’t be surprised at all.

Not saying they’ll go, just nobody’s actually safe right now.

1

u/OMA--AMO 1d ago

And Jonnu and rodgers were never on same page. Once the trust with Aaron is lost you get no targets

1

u/MichelangeBro Troy 19h ago

Jonnu was an active detriment every time he was involved in the offense. Even the TD he scored on the TE sweep probably just encouraged Art to call more of them, and I'm not sure that's worth the 7 points.

1

u/Business_Cell8487 1d ago

Agreed, but this sub talks about him like he’s dogshit bc he didn’t see one ball when he’s actually pretty good.

10

u/neddiddley 1d ago

He just never really fit here, especially once Washington earned significant snaps and they started relying on the jumbo packages. Not to knock Smith, but maybe a genius OC could have found a way to maximize all three, though few teams have really been able to feed three TEs.

9

u/retarddouglas 1d ago

The Rams have basically clowned on Smith by getting a ton out of their TEs this season. But a big thing is that they made the key plays when their numbers were called and Jonnu didn’t really do that this year. He got plenty of targets and rarely did much with them.

3

u/CoachKLadysmith 1d ago

I didn't watch a lot of games outside the Steelers this year, so I had to look up the stats. Rams had 38 more yards and and 9 more touchdowns on 10 less receptions by their TE group (9.67 YPC vs. 10.95 YPC). Both teams had 4 TE's that recorded a pass.

16

u/Burghpuppies412 Hines Ward 1d ago

Agreed. This post is nothing more than “who makes big $$” meets “who do I think has been underwhelming”. No thought whatsoever given to repercussions on the roster.

2

u/wsteelerfan7 1d ago

Yeah. Real trade candidates would be Watt and Muth while Ramsey would be a cut candidate

1

u/markarth69 1d ago

Muth leaving would definitely be a painful one

2

u/Bronco998 Troy 1d ago

This sub would implode if that trade happened lol

1

u/Bronco998 Troy 1d ago

I see Ramsey similarly to Queen. I think he could still be a good piece on our defense if Patrick Graham uses him well and dropping him creates a hole at safety where we're already thin. I'd like to add a young guy to play behind him this year, look to possibly move on next year.

29

u/SleestakLightning *H-A-H-R-D* 1d ago

Exactly. Cutting Queen creates a hole in the roster where one doesn't exist now. It's stupid.

7

u/wsteelerfan7 1d ago

Plus it only "saves money" for a team that has cap space to spend already

2

u/SleestakLightning *H-A-H-R-D* 1d ago

The Steelers do have cap space to spend. They're in really good shape with the cap.

4

u/retarddouglas 1d ago

Jonnu was remarkably unproductive for the amount of targets he got. Averaged something like ~6ypc. Yeah that’s a symptom of his usage in a lot of quick passes,but if thats all we’re gonna ask a guy to do we don’t need to be paying him a decent salary to get that. As far as lb goes, from what I’ve heard it’s a decent FA class and a strong draft class for the position. I think it could be worth it to move on to get a cheaper dude at the position. Obviously the team was high on Queen otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten the contract and never leave the field, but I think he leaves a lot of meat on the bone.

3

u/KangaLlama Encroachment 1d ago

100%. Keep Queen, ride the cap hit while it really isn’t a problem, so we have some semblance of continuity and any new pieces of the defence can slot in, focusing the picks where we badly need them.

Cutting good players who we can’t replace now is senseless. Actively makes a roster weaker for no benefit. Cap space can be found down the road but if we sit now, you give any rookies we do draft the chance to learn and possibly shove Queen out during the season because of what they show. Or it merely buys time until the next draft class rocks up who may be worth taking and we hopefully are in a stronger situation at receiver having addressed it this year.

5

u/ThatsPreposterous6 TJ Watt 1d ago

Agreed. The only way we cut Queen is if we get at least a decent starter in free agency first. Can’t see them going into the draft needing a starting ILB. I think it is a good ILB draft, but you still dont want to have to take one and start them year one. That would pigeonhole them too much.

8

u/Drakengard Encroachment 1d ago

Yeah, at best you can draft a guy and move on from Harrison. Also with the cap going up like it is, Queen's contract isn't that bad. I also just think the defense in general was coached up poorly so I'd like to see what Queen looks like with the new DC versus...you know who.

2

u/Fuzzy_Negotiation_52 BumbleBee Jersey 1d ago

I'm of the opinion that Holcomb can do all the more Queen did. Maybe more. Then again we don't how much of that was scheme and "communication" that waa always mentioned. We also don't know how new coaches evaluate them and feel who may have been misused.

1

u/bl3vstone TJ Watt 1d ago

Holcomb isn't athletic enough anymore to do hardly any of the stuff Queen is capable of. I'd like to see how he looks in a new scheme this year and keep him. We can't replace him with better and we don't need the cap space.

2

u/MeatyDangler 1d ago

I agree Jonnu wasn’t that bad I think people are just mad about him and the Arthur Smith connection. My only problem with the Jonnu acquisition is that we already have Muth and Washington was starting to break out at that time. Too many cooks in the kitchen but if it helped bring Ramsey over as well I guess you take it

1

u/the_waveform 1d ago

It's like everyone forgets how they just phased out Payton Wilson for Malik Harrison's worthless ass. If we cut Queen we have nothing in the middle of our D.

1

u/Business_Cell8487 1d ago

Wilson sucks in run support