mesaSteeler
01-08-2010, 05:58 AM
Pittsburgh Steelers Salary Cap Analysis: Top 10 'Bang For The Buck' in 2009
http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2010/1/8/1239866/pittsburgh-steelers-salary-cap
by Blitzburgh on Jan 8, 2010 1:02 AM EST
This is always one of my favorite posts to write each year. It's just fun and opens up good debate. I think it also is a nice place to start as we get ready to talk about what the Steelers may or may not do in 2010 Free Agency.
Disclaimer to start - as is always the case with NFL salary data, there are likely discrepancies with some of these numbers. We're not trying to run a spreadsheet and keep the team under the cap here though. Just get a general feel for which Steelers players provided far greater output on the field compared to the amount of financial resources that were allocated to them by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008.
It's also worth noting upfront that I only considered players that had a salary cap hit of under $2 million in 2009.
2009 NFL Salary Cap: ~$127 million
Pittsburgh Steelers Total Payroll: ~$122,558,333
Pittsburgh Steelers Median Salary: ~$800,000
TIER 1 SALARY BRACKET
List of Steelers contributors with cap hits under $1 million median in 2009:
* Patrick Bailey ($392,280)
* Charlie Batch ($510,000)
* Joe Burnett ($348,875)
* Jason Capizzi ($317,280)
* Tyrone Carter ($843,014)
* Carey Davis ($378,824)
* Dennis Dixon ($435,613)
* Nick Eason ($474,188)
* Trai Essex ($876,240)
* Ramon Foster ($312,666)
* Keyaron Fox ($810,000)
* Andre Frazier ($688,740)
* William Gay ($501,708)
* Tyler Grisham ($310,500
* Ra'shon Harris ($218,823)
* Tony Hills ($493,780)
* David Johson ($321,066)
* Doug Legursky ($317,280)
* Keenan Lewis ($470,000)
* Stefan Logan ($314,680)
* Shaun McDonald ($460,000)
* Sean McHugh ($756,240)
* Ryan Mundy ($317,280)
* Scott Paxson ($392,280)
* Keiwan Ratliff ($460,000)
* Daniel Sepulveda ($582,280)
* Matt Spaeth ($654,304)
* Darnell Stapleton ($468,908)
* Frank Summers ($348,416)
* Limas Sweed ($775,613)
* Kraig Urbik ($507,666)
* Mike Wallace ($495,166)
* Greg Warren ($788,946)
* LaMarr Woodley ($816,240)
TIER 2 SALARY BRACKET
List of Steelers contributors with cap hits less than $2 million (roughly 2.5x the median salary:
* Chris Hoke ($1,681,240)
* Santonio Holmes ($1,845,200)
* Ziggy Hood ($1,118,535)
* Travis Kirschke ($1,305,200)
* Rashard Mendenhall ($1,493,740)
* Mewelde Moore ($1,931,240)
* Jeff Reed ($1,979,574)
CONCLUSIONS:
1. First of all, successful teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers rely on getting huge returns on their investment with their draft picks. Unless you are a high 1st round pick, your rookie contract simply isn't going to be that huge. So when players like Santonio Holmes and LaMarr Woodley get in to the later years of their rookie contracts, the hope is that they've already proven themselves to be bigtime players and contributors for the team while they're not yet cashing huge paychecks.
2. Take a look back at my 'Bang For The Buck' post from last year. The thing that really stands out to me is the difference in players I put in 'Tier 1' between this year and last. There were 21 players who earned less than $1 million last year. In 2009, that number grew to 34 players. I hypothesized not too long ago that the Steelers were forced to rely on younger, cheaper players more heavily this year in order to free up cap space to pay the team's top earners (Big Ben, Troy, Snack, et al).
3. Even though the salary cap rose in 2009, the Steelers median salary decreased for the reason I just mentioned - there were more inexpensive, young players on the roster this year.
4. Conversely, there were fewer players in 2009 that made between $1-2 million than there were in 2008. This year, there were 7 such players, and all but one (Ziggy Hood) played huge roles for this team. In 2008, there were 12 players in that pay bracket, and as a number of their salaries escalated in 2009, even more additional money needed to be freed up. This also, I believe, explains some of the personnel decisions that were made last spring and summer.
Ok, time to rank these guys. I'm not going to sit and think about this incessantly so please jump in and tell me where you may agree or disagree. Starting with the honorary mentions - a job well done and plenty of Return On Investment - but not quite worthy of the top 10.
Honorable Mentions
* Mewelde Moore - Moore might reasonably be coined 'Mr. Value' for all that he does for the Steelers, but his salary rose from $1.1 million in '08 to nearly $2 million this past year. His numbers also plunged this year across the board - rushing yards, yards per rush, receptions, etc. That's partly though because his playing time diminished as a result of Mendenhall establishing himself nicely and staying relatively injury free all year.
* David Johnson - Most years, a 7th rounder like Johnson would have an awful tough time making the Steelers roster. He did though this year and did okay for himself - particularly in the beginning of the year. Johnson caught a few passes and held his own blocking in both the passing and running game, but I thought his performance tapered off down the stretch. Perhaps another year in the Steelers strength and conditioning program will better prepare him for the rigors of a full 16 game NFL schedule. For the price though, not to mention where he was drafted, Johnson earned his keep in 2009.
* William Gay - I wrote all last summer that I was extremely concerned about the transition from Bryan McFadden to William Gay. As I studies the salary cap situation more carefully, I understood more clearly why the team had to make that decision. Money. For the price, it was worth rolling the dice with Gay and thrusting him in to a prominent role on the defense in his third year. Obviously Gay had his struggles in 2009, but he wasn't exactly playing with the league's best safetys. He also made numerous solid plays against the run and the pass. The Steelers must decide if they want to see how he'll progress next year at the CB position, or if he might be better utilized at FS. He seems to be better moving forward and struggles when forced to move backwards. I was hard on Gay all year, but all things considered, he was still a valuable commodity for the Steelers this year considering his modest price tag of $500k.
http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2010/1/8/1239866/pittsburgh-steelers-salary-cap
by Blitzburgh on Jan 8, 2010 1:02 AM EST
This is always one of my favorite posts to write each year. It's just fun and opens up good debate. I think it also is a nice place to start as we get ready to talk about what the Steelers may or may not do in 2010 Free Agency.
Disclaimer to start - as is always the case with NFL salary data, there are likely discrepancies with some of these numbers. We're not trying to run a spreadsheet and keep the team under the cap here though. Just get a general feel for which Steelers players provided far greater output on the field compared to the amount of financial resources that were allocated to them by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008.
It's also worth noting upfront that I only considered players that had a salary cap hit of under $2 million in 2009.
2009 NFL Salary Cap: ~$127 million
Pittsburgh Steelers Total Payroll: ~$122,558,333
Pittsburgh Steelers Median Salary: ~$800,000
TIER 1 SALARY BRACKET
List of Steelers contributors with cap hits under $1 million median in 2009:
* Patrick Bailey ($392,280)
* Charlie Batch ($510,000)
* Joe Burnett ($348,875)
* Jason Capizzi ($317,280)
* Tyrone Carter ($843,014)
* Carey Davis ($378,824)
* Dennis Dixon ($435,613)
* Nick Eason ($474,188)
* Trai Essex ($876,240)
* Ramon Foster ($312,666)
* Keyaron Fox ($810,000)
* Andre Frazier ($688,740)
* William Gay ($501,708)
* Tyler Grisham ($310,500
* Ra'shon Harris ($218,823)
* Tony Hills ($493,780)
* David Johson ($321,066)
* Doug Legursky ($317,280)
* Keenan Lewis ($470,000)
* Stefan Logan ($314,680)
* Shaun McDonald ($460,000)
* Sean McHugh ($756,240)
* Ryan Mundy ($317,280)
* Scott Paxson ($392,280)
* Keiwan Ratliff ($460,000)
* Daniel Sepulveda ($582,280)
* Matt Spaeth ($654,304)
* Darnell Stapleton ($468,908)
* Frank Summers ($348,416)
* Limas Sweed ($775,613)
* Kraig Urbik ($507,666)
* Mike Wallace ($495,166)
* Greg Warren ($788,946)
* LaMarr Woodley ($816,240)
TIER 2 SALARY BRACKET
List of Steelers contributors with cap hits less than $2 million (roughly 2.5x the median salary:
* Chris Hoke ($1,681,240)
* Santonio Holmes ($1,845,200)
* Ziggy Hood ($1,118,535)
* Travis Kirschke ($1,305,200)
* Rashard Mendenhall ($1,493,740)
* Mewelde Moore ($1,931,240)
* Jeff Reed ($1,979,574)
CONCLUSIONS:
1. First of all, successful teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers rely on getting huge returns on their investment with their draft picks. Unless you are a high 1st round pick, your rookie contract simply isn't going to be that huge. So when players like Santonio Holmes and LaMarr Woodley get in to the later years of their rookie contracts, the hope is that they've already proven themselves to be bigtime players and contributors for the team while they're not yet cashing huge paychecks.
2. Take a look back at my 'Bang For The Buck' post from last year. The thing that really stands out to me is the difference in players I put in 'Tier 1' between this year and last. There were 21 players who earned less than $1 million last year. In 2009, that number grew to 34 players. I hypothesized not too long ago that the Steelers were forced to rely on younger, cheaper players more heavily this year in order to free up cap space to pay the team's top earners (Big Ben, Troy, Snack, et al).
3. Even though the salary cap rose in 2009, the Steelers median salary decreased for the reason I just mentioned - there were more inexpensive, young players on the roster this year.
4. Conversely, there were fewer players in 2009 that made between $1-2 million than there were in 2008. This year, there were 7 such players, and all but one (Ziggy Hood) played huge roles for this team. In 2008, there were 12 players in that pay bracket, and as a number of their salaries escalated in 2009, even more additional money needed to be freed up. This also, I believe, explains some of the personnel decisions that were made last spring and summer.
Ok, time to rank these guys. I'm not going to sit and think about this incessantly so please jump in and tell me where you may agree or disagree. Starting with the honorary mentions - a job well done and plenty of Return On Investment - but not quite worthy of the top 10.
Honorable Mentions
* Mewelde Moore - Moore might reasonably be coined 'Mr. Value' for all that he does for the Steelers, but his salary rose from $1.1 million in '08 to nearly $2 million this past year. His numbers also plunged this year across the board - rushing yards, yards per rush, receptions, etc. That's partly though because his playing time diminished as a result of Mendenhall establishing himself nicely and staying relatively injury free all year.
* David Johnson - Most years, a 7th rounder like Johnson would have an awful tough time making the Steelers roster. He did though this year and did okay for himself - particularly in the beginning of the year. Johnson caught a few passes and held his own blocking in both the passing and running game, but I thought his performance tapered off down the stretch. Perhaps another year in the Steelers strength and conditioning program will better prepare him for the rigors of a full 16 game NFL schedule. For the price though, not to mention where he was drafted, Johnson earned his keep in 2009.
* William Gay - I wrote all last summer that I was extremely concerned about the transition from Bryan McFadden to William Gay. As I studies the salary cap situation more carefully, I understood more clearly why the team had to make that decision. Money. For the price, it was worth rolling the dice with Gay and thrusting him in to a prominent role on the defense in his third year. Obviously Gay had his struggles in 2009, but he wasn't exactly playing with the league's best safetys. He also made numerous solid plays against the run and the pass. The Steelers must decide if they want to see how he'll progress next year at the CB position, or if he might be better utilized at FS. He seems to be better moving forward and struggles when forced to move backwards. I was hard on Gay all year, but all things considered, he was still a valuable commodity for the Steelers this year considering his modest price tag of $500k.