Steelers Will Have Trouble Extending One Of Their Key Offensive Pieces Due To The Overpriced Free Agent Market

The Pittsburgh Steelers were lucky enough not to have any real key free agents following the 2024 NFL season. The most notable names out on the open market that spent the 2023 season in Pittsburgh include Miles Killebrew, Mason Rudolph, Levi Wallace, Markus Golden, and Montravius Adams. None of those players are essential for the Steelers to re-sign, but an argument could be made for Killebrew who was an All-Pro special teams player in 2023. Not having any key free agents is great for the 2024 offseason, but it does mean the front office should start to worry about players whose deals expire following the 2024 season. 

The Steelers signed guard James Daniels ahead of the 2022 NFL season. Daniels signed a three-year deal worth $26.5 million. His cap hit for the 2024 season is $11,166,668, which is just two dollars more than his cap hit for the 2023 season. Daniels absolutely deserves every penny of his contract, as he has been one of the Steelers' most reliable pieces along the offensive line since arriving in Pittsburgh. Daniels has started 32 games for the Steelers, missing just two games due to injury. 

Daniels played the sixth-most offensive snaps in 2022 while starting all 17 games, and he has allowed just one sack in his 32 starts with the Steelers. He is an important part of the Steelers offense, and he and Isaac Seumalo are two veteran leaders at each guard position. The Steelers have Broderick Jones at tackle coming off of his rookie year, and the team is expected to add a center and tackle through the 2024 NFL Draft. This means both Daniels and Seumalo's veteran leadership is extremely valuable to Pittsburgh. 

Daniels is going into the last year of his three-year contract with Pittsburgh. There have yet to be any conversations about extending him, but the front office still has plenty of time to do so. In the NFL, extensions usually occur during the offseason after the draft, or in the offseason before the start of free agency. Players can also be extended during the season, but it doesn't happen as often and the Steelers typically trend towards one of the other two options. 

Watching free agency unfold so far in the 2024 offseason, the market for guards has been booming. This, of course, is good news for Daniels and bad news for the Steelers. The Carolina Panthers alone spent over $150 million on two guards on the first day of free agency. The Los Angeles Rams also spent nearly $100 million on guards, giving $48 million to Kevin Dotson and $51 million to Jonah Jackson. Needless to say, it's a good time to be a guard in the NFL. 

If the Steelers want to keep Daniels, they will likely need to give him a large payday on a contract extension. After seeing the type of contracts guards got during free agency in 2024, Daniels may want to test his own market in 2025 to see if he can sign a deal in the same realm as Robert Hunt, who's deal was worth $100 million with Carolina. The Steelers should try to extend Daniels prior to the 2024 season, that way he can't increase his value on the field and he also doesn't have a chance to test his market in free agency in 2025.

Steelers Are In A Good Financial Situation To Extend Daniels, And Make Other Splashes

The Steelers are projected to have roughly $148 million in cap space during the 2025 offseason, with only 24 players currently under contract for the 2025 season. Regardless, they have plenty of cap space to give Daniels a lucrative and fair deal ahead of training camp in 2024. This way, they don't give him an opportunity to test the market following the 2024 season where they would need to fight to re-sign him. 

If the Steelers can extend Daniels, and use their 2025 cap space to make some splash moves to fill needs, they will be set up nicely for the long-term.