{"id":767901,"date":"2026-02-22T02:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T02:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/767901\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T02:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T02:07:15","slug":"potential-colts-salary-cap-casualty-could-be-wr-fit-for-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/767901\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential Colts Salary Cap Casualty Could Be WR Fit for Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"MichaelIndianapolis Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. tries to work downfield with a reception against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Indianapolis Colts already have one wide receiver that is currently scheduled to be in the free agent market this offseason, and they may be adding another.<\/p>\n

According to a report this week by James Boyd of The Athletic<\/a>, the Colts could be looking at wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. as a potential salary cap cut, while fellow receiver Alec Pierce is already set to be one of the highest-priced free agent wide receivers in the class.<\/p>\n

Pittman has a $29 million salary cap hit scheduled for the 2026 season, and Boyd wrote in The Athletic this week that there\u2019s \u201cno way\u201d the Colts will pay him that. Of the total, $22 million is non-guaranteed signing bonus, and $2 million is a roster bonus that is due mid-March. None of that is guaranteed, so the Colts can walk away from Pittman\u2019s deal right now without owing him any further money.<\/p>\n

Releasing Pittman would cause the Colts to incur a $5 million dead cap hit from his leftover signing bonus, so his release would save them $24 million against their salary cap. With both Pierce and starting quarterback Daniel Jones both still unsigned, the Colts may need the cap space, even through they\u2019re currently 10th in the league with $35 million available. Jones alone could account for most of that.<\/p>\n

Instead of cutting Pittman, the Colts could also negotiate a contract extension with him, turning most of that $29 million into a signing bonus that could be spread over the length of a new contract.<\/p>\n

Pittman, 28, has spent his entire six-year NFL career with the Colts after joining them as a second-round pick the 2020 NFL Draft. 6-foot-4, 223-pound wide receiver, Pittman has been highly productive, with 5,254 career receiving yards, despite a string of extremely inconsistent starting quarterbacks over his time in Indianapolis. His best season came in 2023, when he racked up 1,152 yards and four touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have a massive need at the wide receiver position, with just three players under contract from last year\u2019s team: DK Metcalf<\/a>, Pro Bowl special teamer Ben Skowronek<\/a> and former third-round draft pick Roman Wilson<\/a>, who finished the 2025 season with 12 catches and was a healthy scratch for most of the stretch run.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Indianapolis Colts<\/a> Michael Pittman<\/a> Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Indianapolis Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. tries to work downfield with a reception against the Pittsburgh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,7,2004,392,2381,4983,11808,6,57,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-767901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indianapolis","11":"tag-indianapolis-colts","12":"tag-indianapoliscolts","13":"tag-michael-pittman","14":"tag-michael-pittman-jr","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116111845804770016","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767901","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=767901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}