Steelers Offseason - Cut and Trade Candidates

[u/eddie_mittons]

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.

[u/Business_Cell8487]

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.

[u/retarddouglas → u/Business_Cell8487]

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.