{"id":760471,"date":"2026-02-18T14:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/760471\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:33:21","slug":"two-steelers-make-the-athletics-top-50-free-agent-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/760471\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Steelers Make The Athletic’s Top-50 Free Agent Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers may be unlikely to re-sign OG Isaac Seumalo<\/a>, but the pending free agent is the team\u2019s highest ranked ahead of free agency by The Athletic<\/a>. Seumalo came in at No. 20 on the website\u2019s list of the top 150 free agents, joining WR Calvin Austin III (No. 40) in the top 50.<\/p>\n

Other Steelers on the list are QB Aaron Rodgers (No. 57), RB Kenneth Gainwell (No. 103) and CB Asante Samuel Jr. (No. 132). The Athletic predicted a two-year, $28 million contract for the 32-year-old Seumalo.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s been a steady starter for the Steelers, Seumalo has dealt with injuries the last two seasons and the team could look to get younger on the offensive line. It\u2019s interesting that Austin is listed as high as he is on this list, and he\u2019s projected to get a three-year, $33 million deal. Austin had a mini-breakout in 2024 but couldn\u2019t repeat his success in 2025. There were some highs, like his game-winning touchdown against the Ravens in Week 18, but Austin finished the season with just 31 receptions for 372 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be a surprise if the Steelers let Austin walk and tried to bring some new blood into a receiver room that just hasn\u2019t been good enough the last few years. If his $11 million per-year contract projection is anything close to what Austin could fetch on the open market, the Steelers are probably better off letting him leave.<\/p>\n

If Rodgers returns for another season, it\u2019s likely to be in Pittsburgh, while Gainwell is an interesting case. He had a career year with over 1,000 scrimmage yards for the Steelers, and he was one of Aaron Rodgers\u2019 favorite targets as a check-down option. He also excelled when given opportunities on the ground, but with third-round pick Kaleb Johnson still in the fold, along with Jaylen Warren, and Gainwell projected to sign a two-year, $10 million deal, the Steelers may be better off spending elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Five million dollars per year really isn\u2019t a lot given what Gainwell brought to the team last year. At that price, I\u2019d probably be in favor of bringing back Gainwell to have some assured security behind Warren and someone who showed he can more than hold his own.<\/p>\n

Samuel provided solid cornerback depth and played well enough down the stretch that the Steelers should bring him back. He\u2019s projected to sign a one-year deal for $5.5 million, and the Steelers should be looking to keep him around. The same goes for CB James Pierre, who had a breakout 2025 but failed to make the top 150.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers may be unlikely to re-sign OG Isaac Seumalo, but the pending free agent is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,8483,8741,7,9314,14451,6,520,57,2360,426,4394,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-760471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-asante-samuel-jr","10":"tag-calvin-austin-iii","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-isaac-seumalo","13":"tag-kenneth-gainwell","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pittsburgh","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","18":"tag-steelers","19":"tag-the-athletic","20":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116092129103409674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}