Overreactions from Steelers Nation: Highest-Paid Defense?
Welcome to my weekly edition of “Overreactions from Steelers Nation” a weekly column where I poke fun at fans, reporters, and so-called experts while trying to figure out if some of these hot takes are real – or just for attention.
The Pittsburgh Steelers offseason officially began as their season ended on last week following a 31-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
In that game, the Steelers fell behind to the Bills 21-0 midway through the second quarter. The defense gave up three passing touchdowns, and another rushing, to Buffalo QB Josh Allen. Several of those touchdowns occurred on big plays, ceding lots of yardage as well as featuring missed tackles by Pittsburgh’s defense.
The poor showing had many fans (and pundits) questioning recent defensive outings by the Steelers, particularly in the postseason.
In 2021, the Steelers defense gave up 42 points to the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2020, the Cleveland Browns posted 48 and in 2017, the Jacksonville Jaguars ran up 45.
With a defensive-minded coach in Mike Tomlin, fans are asking “What gives?” After all, this is the league’s highest-paid defense.
Or is it?
After hearing the “highest paid” comments following Monday’s loss, the first thing that popped into my brain is that the highest-paid players haven’t always been on the field for the Steelers D.
Aside from the previous seasons where Ryan Shazier or Joe Haden were sidelined, the highest-paid argument should be reserved for the offense. The Steelers’ offense turned the ball over four times against Jacksonville and five times against Cleveland. Despite limiting the turnovers to one fumble against Kansas City, the offense went three-and-out in five of its first seven possessions, ending in a punt.
While turnovers bit Pittsburgh in the butt against Buffalo as well, the defensive unit that showed up on Monday is far from what was fielded in Week 1. The highly paid argument sails out the window immediately with the loss of LB T.J. Watt, who accounts for $29.3 million of the team’s salary cap as the highest-paid player on the roster.
Cameron Heyward, the next highest-paid player on the team, accounts for $22.2 million. Heyward, who played Monday, missed six games this season while nursing a groin injury. Heyward admitted to playing injured for all of 2023.
Minkah Fitzpatrick is next on the list, accounting for nearly $8 million. Fitzpatrick missed seven games due to various reasons this season.
Their replacements are far from the same spending category. Where Watt, Heyward, and Fitzpatrick are among the league’s highest-paid players at their position, their replacements simply cannot be due to who was available and of course, the salary cap that limits being able to stock one’s roster with all-stars.
Veteran Markus Golden, who started in place of Watt on Monday, had a cap hit of $1.09 million in 2023. Rookie Nick Herbig, who shared time with Golden, doesn’t even earn $1 million yet.
Heyward’s replacements are also bottom earners. Rookie Keeanu Benton accounted for $1.3 million while Isaiahh Loudermilk made just over $1 million for the first time in his career this season. (His third in the league.)
The safety position was equally bare, with Trenton Thompson earning just under $300,000 and veteran Eric Rowe signing for even less to help replace Fitzpatrick at times. And both players combined don’t total what Keanu Neal ($1,540,000) or Damontae Kazee ($1,916,667) hit the cap for in 2023.
But that’s not the only area where the Steelers were worn thin due to injuries, as the inside linebacker corps was ravaged throughout the year. All three free agents signed in the offseason missed time. Cole Holcomb ($2,720,000), Elandon Roberts ($2,332,500), and Kwon Alexander ($896,944) made way for Mykal Walker ($448,889), Myles Jack ($221,066) and Mark Robinson ($898,089).
Take into consideration that Holcomb is one of several noted above who have a lower salary cap number in 2023 to spread out the remaining money and guarantees throughout their respective contracts, and the divide becomes worse between the starters and their backups.
We could make a money argument with Levi Wallace too, who was a Week 1 starter earning significantly more ($5,482,500) than his replacement Joey Porter Jr. ($1,748,790). (Though we should probably let that one slide since Porter proved to be the better player in this case.)
While the Steelers defense, when healthy, is among the league’s top-paid units, the Week 1 valuation to what was deployed in Buffalo differs greatly.
My calculations show that between the Week 1 starters – or those who also contribute and log significant time in subpackages – is around $91 million.
Whereas the cost of the unit deployed in Buffalo is in the ballpark of $54 million: a substantial difference of $38 million!
Granted, the bulk of that is absorbed by T.J. Watt’s contract, as it should be. The total figure will continue to climb too. The Steelers 28 defensive players in 2023 counted a reported $104.3 million against the cap in 2023 with that number ballooning to $131.4 million in 2024. (Though various roster moves could make that number fluctuate from now through the offseason.)
Regardless, it’s naïve to make claims that the Steelers had the highest-paid defense week-in and week-out in 2023, especially in their Wild Card game against the Bills. They did the best they could with who was available, but in the end, those players were available because 31 other teams didn’t see any value in signing them.
This makes the contributions by Coach Tomlin, getting this team into the postseason, even more impressive; despite the result of losing another playoff game not being the desirable outcome.
