Super Bowl XLV MVP Hines Ward. (Photo from Sports Illustrated)
When the Pittsburgh Steelers walked off the field in Denver after losing to the Broncos in the AFC Wild Card round, it was well known that the team was heading into an offseason unlike any other in club history. The Steelers stood more than $ 22 million over the 2012 salary cap while needing to sign WR Mike Wallace, other free agents, and an entire draft class, as well as needing to get younger on defense.
The Steelers started the process with a couple of obvious moves, cutting WR Arnaz Battle and CB Bryant McFadden, and then proceeded to clear up around $ 20 million in cap space by restructuring the contracts of QB Ben Roethlisberger, CB Ike Taylor, LB Lawrence Timmons, LB LaMarr Woodley, and OT Willie Colon. While these moves cost ownership around $ 35 million in signing bonuses and pushed some future cap space, there was no on-field impact from the initial salary cap work. Then came this week.
Over the past two days,…
Source: Yardbarker: Pittsburgh Steelers
