What will be the easy cuts next year? What will be the difficult ones?

[RuthlessBurgher]

In order to keep some of our young, promising players, we will likely have to say goodbye to a few more Steeler greats one year after saying goodbye to Steeler stalwarts Hines Ward, James Farrior, Aaron Smith, and Chris Hoke. Here are the guys on our team who currently have a cap hit of greater than $2 million (I don't have the numbers for next year handy, so this will have to do). Some vets like Ben and Heath are in their prime and are having quite possibly the best years of their careers, so have nothing to fear. Some young vets like Woodley and Timmons just got their money a year ago, so they are safe as well. And at the bottoms of the list are the young-and-coming guys like Wallace, Brown, and Pouncey, who are looking for their own big paydays (or in the case of Brown, already got it). That leaves vets like Polamalu, Harrison, Hampton, Keisel, Taylor, Clark, Foote, Mendenhall, and Colon. All are over 30 except for Mendenhall. Some of their contracts are up at the end of the year anyway like Hampton, Foote, Mendenhall, and, of course, Wallace. So of the big money guys in the following list (from http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/cap-hit/), who is the easiest to say "Hasta la vista" and who would be really difficult to replace? Go ahead and rank 'em, folks!

[RuthlessBurgher]

Active Contracts 2012 Cap Hits
salaries by year
Depth Chart
2013 Free Agents

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Player	Pos.	Base Salary	Signing Bonus	Other Bonus	Cap Figure
Ben Roethlisberger	QB	900,000	5,200,000	3,795,000	9,895,000
Troy Polamalu	S	6,250,000	2,637,500	250,000	9,137,500
James Harrison	LB	5,565,000	2,000,000	1,465,000	9,030,000
Heath Miller	TE	4,274,000	850,000	1,946,500	7,070,500
Casey Hampton	DT	2,800,000	2,166,667	-	4,966,667
LaMarr Woodley	LB	700,000	2,600,000	1,640,000	4,940,000
Brett Keisel	DE	2,825,000	1,675,000	-	4,500,000
Ike Taylor	CB	825,000	1,812,500	1,641,666	4,279,166
Ryan Clark	S	3,000,000	750,000	500,000	4,250,000
Lawrence Timmons	LB	700,000	2,000,000	1,285,000	3,985,000
Larry Foote	LB	3,000,000	600,000	-	3,600,000
Rashard Mendenhall	RB	2,050,000	-	1,377,500	3,427,500
Willie Colon	G	700,000	1,200,000	950,000	2,850,000
Mike Wallace	WR	2,742,000	-	-	2,742,000
Antonio Brown	WR	540,000	1,724,358	-	2,264,358
Maurkice Pouncey	C	666,125	-	1,500,625	2,166,750

[lloydroid]

Easy, cuts, or let walks: Polamalu, Hampton, Mendy, Wallace.

Depending on if healthy: Harrison.

Probably willing to settle for a reasonable deal: Foote. He's been playing well and offers some leadership.

[phillyesq]

I think the easiest decision to make will be restructing and/or extending Ben.

It kills me to say it, but unless Harrison agrees to take a pay cut, he may become a cap casualty. The Steelers choice not to restructure him this offseason as they did with others makes it easier for them to sever ties next year, if they choose to do so.

Looking at the list of the top salaries for 2013, there are no easy decisions. There are some high paid guys that may not be playing up to their contract, but none that you would want to cut.

[papillon]

Polamalu - His ability to stay healthy is an issue at this point of his career. Would be difficult to cut one of the greatest, but might have to be done.
Harrison - The defense has stabilized since James has been reinserted into the defense, but is he worth 9 million per annum? If he makes it through the year and the defense is playing good football it would be difficult to justify cutting him.
Hampton - Almost certainly will meet the Turk and hopefully sign on for veteran minimum
Keisel - Same fate as Casey may await him, on the other hand he may hang them up on his own, he's a standup guy.
Taylor - If they draft a corner high in the draft, Ike's days are probably numbered.
Clark - There are no plans at safety at this point, so Ryan needs to stay
Foote - Tough call, but they let him go once when he was younger, my guess is that they will do it again.
Mendenhall - I think they resign Rashard and continue to make him the feature back; he's the best the Steelers have at RB.
Colon - Keep Willie, he's proven his mettle at guard.

Pappy

[Oviedo]

Polamalu - His ability to stay healthy is an issue at this point of his career. Would be difficult to cut one of the greatest, but might have to be done.
Harrison - The defense has stabilized since James has been reinserted into the defense, but is he worth 9 million per annum? If he makes it through the year and the defense is playing good football it would be difficult to justify cutting him.
Hampton - Almost certainly will meet the Turk and hopefully sign on for veteran minimum
Keisel - Same fate as Casey may await him, on the other hand he may hang them up on his own, he's a standup guy.
Taylor - If they draft a corner high in the draft, Ike's days are probably numbered.
Clark - There are no plans at safety at this point, so Ryan needs to stay
Foote - Tough call, but they let him go once when he was younger, my guess is that they will do it again.
Mendenhall - I think they resign Rashard and continue to make him the feature back; he's the best the Steelers have at RB.
Colon - Keep Willie, he's proven his mettle at guard.

Pappy

Good thoughts. Building on yours here are mine:

Polamalu--I think Troy may retire on his own. Football isn't everything to him. He needs to take a pay cut to stay.
Harrison - Unless he gets about 8 sacks before the end of the year I'm saying good bye. No way is his play even last year justify a $9M salary. Thanks but bye.
Hampton - Bye
Keisel - Because he is a stand-up guy he will stay for the vet minimum. Like Aaron Smith he won't want to go anywhere else.
Taylor -They will keep him but ask him to restructure. A Woodson like move to Safety may be in his future
Clark - Has changed my opinion of him. He is glue for the secondary
Foote - I agree tough call. He isn't as good as we need but we have no replacement and a rookie won't play. Vet minimum to stay.
Mendenhall - I also think they will keep him. He will thrive under Haley and the market for RBs with a previous knee injury isn't big
Colon - I said all along Colon could be a start at Guard. Looks like he is past his dumbass phase and starting to excel. Keep him and try to restructure.
Wallace-I'd love to keep him but if he wants more than $9M per year then he is gone
Lewis-IMO he is earning his next contract every game. They will not let him leave even if it means sacrificing Wallace. WRs are easier to replace than good CBs.

[BigRob]

Polamalu-- Retires on his own
Harrison - Bye
Hampton - Hampton is a Free Agent, but gone. Hence why they kept Ta'amu
Keisel - Stays, he would have a Job in a heartbeat in Baltimore or Indianapolis.
Taylor - Stays
Clark - Has changed my opinion of him. He is glue for the secondary
Foote - He is a Free Agent. IMHO he will be back at vet mininum.
Mendenhall - Free Agent. Gone
Colon - Stays
Wallace- Gone. They made their decision by signing Brown.
Lewis- Stays most likely with a nice contract.

[flippy]

I'm surprised how many are writing off Troy. Injuries happen. It's not like he lost a step. Just last year, he was the fastest guy in pads I've ever seen play a game. And he was as effective as he's ever been.

I'm also willing to give Harrison time to recover and get ready for next year.

Healthy Ben + Troy + Harrison = competing for SuperBowl. Those guys are potentially worth the mega salaries.

What's interesting is if you go down the list in order, it's like the players are ordered by how important they are in terms of helping us win championships.

[focosteeler]

Maybe its just me but I feel like we have a ton of Free Agents next year….

Foote -- vet minimum or gone
Starks -- cant hate on him, he is solid and comes cheap, but maybe it is time he goes
Sanders -- hopefully back, much cheaper than Wallace
Foster -- not sure he will probably shop around, would like to see him stay as our T/G backup
Legursky -- would like to see him stay as our C/G backup
Hampton -- depending on the Ta'amu fallout maybe a vet minimum if he will do it
Wallace -- probably gone. I would like to franchise him then trade him for something like a 2^nd rounder
Lewis -- new contract, so far has earned it
Will Allen -- depnds on Troy honestly if he comes for cheap I like what he has shown
Mundy -- can’t leave fast enough
David Johnson -- gone
Dwyer -- most likely back cheaper than Mendenhall
Redman -- again most likely back cheaper than Mendenhall
Mendenhall -- depending on Dwyer/Redman. Most likely gone unless he wants to stay for cheap
McLendon -- back, maybe they aren’t playing him so he won’t ask for more money
Sylvester -- not really sure, hasn’t shown much. Most likely gone depending on the draft
------------
As for the others….

Polamalu -- We will see how he does when he returns, because of who he is I would let him decide when to hang them up
Harrison -- at this point I’d say offer him a big pay cut, if he doesn’t take it then bye bye
Keisel -- keep the beard at least another year
Taylor -- keep him
Clark -- keep him, more important than Troy at this point, and we need him to mentor our 2 top draft picks next year……
Colon -- keep him, work out an extension