The Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 season only ended days ago, but the Steelers off season surgery list is already a long one. Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media for the final time and confirmed that several Steelers are already schecduled to under go surgery.
Steelers starting free safety Michael Mitchell, whose shoulder has been ailing for weeks, will undergo shoulder surgery, as will punter Jordan Berry, who injured his shoulder in the Steelers playoff loss to the Broncos. Ryan Shazier and Matt Spaeth will have knee surgery, while David DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert will have their ankles operated on.
- The Steelers did have some good news on the injury front, as neither Ben Roethlisberger nor DeAngelo Williams will require surgery.
Mike Tomlin also indicated that Maurkice Pouncey, Le’Veon Bell, Senquez Golson, Shaun Suisham and Mike Adams – all of whom spent the entire 2015 season on the Steelers injured reserve list, are progressing well and should be able to participate in training camp. Tomlin also confirmed that Cortez Allen, Kelvin Beachum and Roosevelt Nix, who went on IR during the regular season, were also recovering according to schedule.
Interestingly enough, the name of Bruce Gradkowski has not surfaced yet along with other Steelers on the mend, which could be an oversight on an ominous sign for the backup quarterback’s future, or lack there of in Pittsburgh.
Could Allen and Suisham Become Salary Cap Casualties?
While this is good news for the players in question, some of them may not be back with the Steelers, even if they do recovery fully.
According to the site Over the Cap, the Pittsburgh Steelers are about 9.2 million dollars under the NFL’s projected salary cap for 2016. While the term “Steelers under the cap” hasn’t been heard in Pittsburgh very often since the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached, the Steelers have the 6th least cap space of any NFL team.
- The Steelers do not have a lot of veterans that they can cut to gain easy salary cap space.
However, cutting Shaun Suisham after June 1st could shave the Steelers 2.4 million dollars in salary cap space. Likewise, cutting Cortez Allen after June 1st could give the Steelers an extra 4.4 million dollars in salary cap space. Offensive tackle Mike Adams could also have already played his last game for the Steelers, although cutting Adams would not impact the Steelers salary cap much.
