Steelers Now
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Preston Smith has been named the team’s top potential salary cap casualty for the 2025 offseason by Pro Football Network.
Smith, who joined the Steelers on a trade-deadline deal from the Green Bay Packers, is under contract through the end of the 2026 season, but he has listed salaries of $13.4 million in 2025 and $14.1 million in 2026.
None of that money is guaranteed, so the Steelers would not owe Smith anything and would not incur any dead cap penalty for releasing him. The Steelers currently have over $40 million in offseason salary cap space, so they do not have a pressing need to make extra space at this moment.
Smith played in eight games for the Steelers this season, recording 13 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, two quarterback hits and one fumble recovery. He served as the team’s No. 4 outside linebacker behind T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig. Smith also played some three-technique defensive line during obvious passing situations.
Smith was made inactive twice in the Steelers’ last three games, including the playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, as the team chose to dress special teams contributor Jeremiah Moon instead of Smith.
Smith, 31, had been the Packers’ starting edge rusher since 2019 before the trade. In nine games this season with Green Bay, Smith had 19 tackles, 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and four quarter back hits. He finished 2023 with 48 tackles, eight sacks, four tackles for a loss and 21 quarterback hits.
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound edge rusher was originally a second-round pick of the Washington Redskins in the 2015 NFL Draft. He played four seasons in Washington before joining the Packers in 2019 and has played 155 games over his 10-year career.
His most productive season came in 2019, when he recorded 12 sacks in 16 Ames. Smith had eight or more sacks six times in his first nine seasons and has 68.5 sacks in his NFL career.
