Steelers Now
The contract details have been revealed for new Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Donald Parham, and he will come to Pittsburgh for a considerable bargain.
Parham signed a one-year deal with the Steelers late last week. That contract has a base salary of $1.17 million, with no signing bonus and no guaranteed money, according to the NFLPA.
The contract is a veteran benefit contract, which is designed to allow teams to sign veterans on one-year deals to cap-friendly contracts. His deal will count for just $1.03 million against the salary cap.
Parham will be added to the team’s offseason Top 51 contracts, but he will have a minimal overall impact on the team’s salary cap situation. His signing decreased the available cap space that Steelers general manager Omar Khan has to work with by just $190,000.
The Steelers still have an estimated $60 million in offseason salary cap space, based on a $279.5 million salary cap. The final cap figure for 2025 has not yet been announced, but it will be between $277.5 million and $281.5 million per team.
Not all of the money in Khan’s coffers can be spent right now. The Steelers will have some expenses between now and the start of the season that while known, are not yet on the books. Those include signing the 2025 NFL Draft class, offseason workout bonuses, the final two players on the 53-man roster (only 51 count in the offseason), a practice squad, players on the injured reserve, and a buffer for in-season moves. Those items will functionally reduce the team’s ability to spend by about $14 million. Because those items won’t hit the ledger until the summer, the Steelers can actually over-spend now and figure out how to get back under the cap later.
That’s where moves like releasing or signing Watt to a contract extension could come into play. The Steelers could also restructure the contract of players like Alex Highsmith and Pat Freiermuth to make more salary cap space.
Salary figures from Steelers Now sources, the NFLPA, and Over The Cap.
