Steelers Get Dead Salary Cap Hit as Cam Sutton’s Contract Voids

The contract of Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton automatically voided on Friday, meaning that the team will add a $2.1 million dead cap hit to their 2023 salary cap rolls.

Sutton’s contract, signed back in 2021, was a two-year deal designed with three additional void years at the end of it. Those additional years served to spread his $3.5 million signing bonus over five seasons, instead of just two. The team counted $700,000 of Sutton’s signing bonus against their salary cap in each of the last two seasons. Now that his contract has voided, the remaining $2.1 million will count in 2023.

The Steelers could have avoided the charge if they had been able to reach an agreement on a contract extension before the void date. His contract voiding does not otherwise restrict the Steelers from re-signing him between now and the start of the free agent contact period in March. The Steelers will also be eligible to receive a compensatory draft pick if Sutton signs elsewhere.

Sutton’s contract voiding will add another player to the team’s top 51 offseason salary cap list, reducing the club’s available amount of salary cap space by approximately $870,000. The Steelers currently have only about $100,000 in salary cap space, and functionally are over $20 million in the red entering the 2023 offseason. General manager Omar Khan does have several attractive avenues for opening up some cap space.

STEELERS NOW SALARY CAP TABLE