Tag: Steelers 2021 free agents

4 potential landing spots for James Conner in free agency

James Conner will test free agency in March. Steelers Wire previews potential landing spots.

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II said that James Conner will be a free agent in March, so it appears that the team has no intention to re-sign him.

Steelers fans know that Conner isn’t exactly the most durable back in the NFL. Since he was selected in the third round of the 2017 draft, Conner has yet to play a full season.

He enjoyed a breakout 973-yard, 12-touchdown season in 2018, when the Steelers had the top offensive line in the NFL, and Le’Veon Bell held out. Since then, Conner’s production has left much to be desired. He has not proven to be the bell cow Mike Tomlin touted him as this offseason.

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Some attributes that will help Conner find a landing spot are his ability to block and talent a receiver out of the backfield (963 career receiving yards).

I’d be shocked if Conner goes anywhere as a starter — he seems the best fit on a team with a rotational system.

Here are some potential landing spots for Conner in free agency.

4 Steelers who won’t be on the roster in 2021

This offseason is going to be like none other in recent memory when it comes to the salary cap.

Year after year, like clockwork, the NFL’s salary cap increases. The Steelers were counting on this annual inevitability to help ease the blow of Ben Roethlisberger’s $41.25 million cap hit. What they weren’t counting on was a pandemic that would crush revenues and force the league to lower the cap.

The final cap number won’t be known for another month or two, but it’s expected to be in the neighborhood of $175 million — or $26 million less than anticipated.

That pretty much eliminates Pittsburgh from signing their own free agents, or anyone else’s, for that matter. And it will mean asking some contracted players to take a pay cut — or be cut. The Steelers will need to do a lot of house cleaning to get cap compliant by the start of the new league year on March 17.

Here are four players that are candidates to be victims of the Steelers salary cap conundrum: