Mar 8, 2025 5 min read

By Dale Lolley

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

The NFL’s silly season begins Monday when the “legal tampering” period begins.

Teams can negotiate contracts with the agents for pending free agents beginning at noon Monday, though the contracts can’t be signed until the new league year begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Though teams can talk to a player’s representative, they can’t have any contact with the player until the new league year begins.

It’s an interesting way to do things, but it does cut down on some of the off-the-books negotiations that used to take place in the days leading up to free agency.

For example, back in 1996, the Jacksonville Jaguars announced a contract agreement with Steelers free agent offensive tackle Leon Searcy for five-year, $17-million contract about 60 seconds after free agency began.

Does anyone really believe that deal hadn’t been worked out ahead of time?

Those kind of things might still happen. After all, every agent under the sun was in Indianapolis a week ago when the NFL Scouting Combine was taking place. If a team’s decision-maker and an agent for a potential free agent happened to run into each other at one of the many steakhouses in Indianapolis, who’s to say they did or did not talk about more than the fine weather we had there that week?

But rules are rules. And information will begin to pour out about agreements pretty quickly starting at noon Monday.

Just remember that until pen is placed on paper, nothing is official. And there are pending physicals that need to take place to make any deal official.

With their adjustment to linebacker Cole Holcomb’s contract Thursday, the Steelers have approximately $63 million in salary cap space.

They’ve been quite active in free agency the past few years, adding players such as Patrick Peterson, Larry Ogunjobi, Elandon Roberts, Isaac Seumalo, Patrick Queen and DeShon Elliott.

And they did that in seasons with less cap space available than what they now have.

Expect the Steelers to be quite active trying to acquire a wide receiver and cornerback, if not a defensive lineman, as well.

Per the NFL, the Steelers have the sixth-most amount of available salary cap space heading into free agency. And they have the ability to release players or restructure contracts to create even more cap space.

When you compare that to the other teams in the division, it shows just how aggressive the Steelers can be.

For example, Thursday, Cleveland had to again restructure the contract of quarterback Deshaun Watson – who will never play for the Browns again – to clear up $36 million in cap space. The move simply gets the Browns to basically net zero in cap space this year, while also increasing Watson’s cap hit in 2026 to over $80 million. They’re also on the hook for $53 million in 2027, $18 million in 2028 and $9 million in 2029 for a player who will have played his last game for them in 2024.

No wonder Myles Garrett wants out.

Baltimore, meanwhile, has only $12 million in cap space and has key free agents, such as offensive linemen Ronnie Stanley and Patrick Mekhari, with nobody waiting in the wings to replace them. The Ravens could get creative and re-sign both, but they won’t be adding anyone of note.

And Cincinnati, which has $52 million in cap space, placed the franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins, meaning half of that available space will be eaten up by him. The Bengals also have a massive contract with wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase looming, and he’ll want more than the $35.5 million that the Raiders paid Maxx Crosby earlier in the week, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL.

The Bengals can’t be as active in free agency as they need to be to fix their defense. And that was before they gave Trey Hendrickson, perhaps their only good defensive player, permission to seek a trade.

The Steelers, meanwhile, have the ability to add way more than they stand to lose.

Quarterback has been and remains the Steelers’ biggest issue. Sorting that out with a long-term answer will allow the Steelers to continue to go toe to toe with Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in the AFC North is critical.

Jackson and Burrow are two of the top four quarterbacks in the league. Their presence gives the Ravens and Bengals a chance year in and year out, just as Ben Roethlisberger’s presence did for the Steelers for nearly all of his 18 seasons.

But the Ravens and Bengals also are now in the spot where both of those quarterbacks are making big money and eating up a large chunk of their salary cap. If the Steelers can build their roster to the point where it is better than the ones in Baltimore and Cincinnati – and they’re not far off – they can make a major move in 2025 if they get at least league average play out of their quarterback.

Dale Lolley hosts The Drive on Steelers Nation Radio from 4 to 6 p.m. daily and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.