Mar 5, 2021 5 min read

Well, that crisis was averted.

No, we’re not referring to Ben Roethlisberger’s contract. That was always going to get done, regardless of the hand wringing and teeth gnashing that went on with the national media and some local talk show hosts.

Roethlisberger wanted to come back and the Steelers wanted him to come back. They just needed to figure out a way to make it work best financially for the team.

The crisis that was averted was the Steelers’ salary cap situation. As recently as last week, there were still stories on national sports sites that claimed the Steelers were one of the teams still in cap trouble for 2021.

Lo and behold, that is no longer the case. Assuming the cap comes in at $185 million or so, the Steelers are no longer among the teams over that cap. And the cap could come in slightly higher than that.

They did so without releasing a single player. Go figure.

Now, this won’t be enough cap space for the Steelers to sign their two biggest pending free agents, linebacker Bud Dupree and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, but it should be enough to sign some of their other free agents.

First on that list will be Zach Banner, whom the Steelers see as their potential starting left tackle, nose tackle Tyson Alualu and perhaps even cornerback Cam Sutton.

If the Steelers want to make any other immediate roster moves, that’s when they will have to start talking about other potential roster moves.

But they still have some remaining contract restructures they can make – Stephon Tuitt and Chris Boswell – and some players they can extend and thus lower their 2021 cap hit – cornerbacks Steven Nelson and Joe Haden, guard David DeCastro and tight end Eric Ebron would be candidates. Again, they could make those moves without releasing anyone.

So, the doom and gloom? Save that for another time. It’s not warranted here.

• There will be players released across the NFL in the coming weeks. And what you typically see are players who were signed to bad free-agent contracts getting cut loose.

See the Miami Dolphins for the latest example. Last offseason, the Dolphins signed linebacker Kyle Van Noy, a good but certainly not great player, to a 4-year, $51-million contract.

Last week, a report surfaced that the Dolphins were going to release Van Noy after one season. The 69 tackles and six sacks he provided in 2020 aren’t enough to justify his $12.75-million average salary.

Of course, anyone with a brain could see that coming. Van Noy, 29, entered the 2020 season with 17.5 career sacks in seven previous seasons. To expect him to suddenly be a double-digit sack player or pay him like one was silly.

But that’s what happens in free agency. Teams sign players to silly contracts and then wind up releasing the player after a year or two when they realize they overspent.

• If Van Noy could get $12.75 million on the open market, then the people expecting Dupree to be affordable for the Steelers should take note.

Even coming off a torn ACL, Dupree is still going to get paid – a lot.

• Nice of the Gov. Tom Wolf to allow fans back into stadiums and events. Of course, it’s too late for most high schools.

But we avoided all of those superspreader events that would have taken place by allowing parents to watch their kids compete, some of whom were doing it for the final time.

• There have been a lot of comparisons of Alabama quarterback Mac Jones to Tom Brady making the rounds. That’s how you know we’re officially into the pre-draft silly season.

Players either get built up beyond expectations or they start to get torn down as information starts to leak out from teams trying to pump up or deflate a player’s draft outlook.

Here’s the question I have for those comparing Jones to Brady. Are they comparing him to Brady, the greatest quarterback of all-time? Or, are they comparing him to Brady, the 2000 sixth-round draft pick?

• College pro days kicked off Friday with Kansas City holding its workouts. In the coming weeks, NFL teams will be jetting all over the country to various college campuses to check out draft prospects.

And this year, those pro days will have way more meaning than most. Some players opted out of playing last season. Others played only a handful of games. With no NFL Scouting Combine, this will be the only chance teams have to see some of those players.

Pitt’s pro day will be March 17. West Virginia will hold its March 18. Penn State’s will be held a week later on March 25.

All three schools are expected to get good turnouts since they all have multiple prospects.