5 Biggest Free Agent Contracts of the Past 3 Years

[Steeler Nation]

The NFL’s legal tampering period begins on Monday March 14th at 12:00PM EST. This is when agents and teams can engage in contract negotiations for pending free agents. With the Pittsburgh Steelers in an unusual spot, having roughly $27 million dollars in cap space, many expect the Steelers to be uncharacteristically big spenders this year. Let’s take a look back at some of the biggest contracts the Steelers have given out in recent history.



#1 CB Steven Nelson 3 year/$25.5M

Pittsburgh Steelers




The biggest contract ever given out by the Steelers played out well for them for two seasons. Nelson paired with Joe Haden on the opposite side and Minkah Fitzpatrick on the back end, helped create one of the best pass defenses in the NFL for two straight seasons. Unfortunately during the 2021 offseason, Nelson was let go by the Steelers and later signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.



#T-2 LB Mark Barron 2 year/$12M

AP


Barron was supposed to be the veteran player to help usher in the Devin Bush era in Pittsburgh and his time was rather lackluster. He was unable to play up to the standard as he once was. Often looking out of place, the Steelers released him after one season.



#T-2 TE Eric Ebron 2 year/$12M

Getty Images


The hope was Ben Roethlisberger would be able to help Ebron reach his 2018 output of 13 touchdowns. Instead Ebron’s time was up and down showing glimpses of greatness but also the dropped passes that plagued him in Indianapolis. In 2021 Ebron found little playing time behind newly drafted Pat Freiermuth and ended up on injured reserve due to a knee injury. There is no indication the Steelers will bring him back.



#4 FB Derek Watt 3 year/$9.75M

Beacon Journal


Rather than a fullback, Watt has been tasked with being the Steelers special teams ace. He has fulfilled that role up until this point but we will see if the offense changes any now that Roethlisberger is retired.



#5 WR Donte Moncrief 2 year/$9M

Post-Gazette


In two starts Moncrief was benched. 8 weeks into the season his time with the Steelerswas already over. In his first game he had 3 catches on 10 targets but 3 drops. In week 2 his first target was dropped and he was yanked from the game. This may be one of the worst signings under the Mike Tomlin/Kevin Colbert era.



What do you think #SteelerNation, will the Steelers follow their typical pattern of signing mid level value free agents or will they be big spenders for a change? Drop a comment below!

Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..

 

[slashsteel]

I actually don't know. I wasn't happy last year. I thought they had chances to upgrade both sides of the ball and fell short on those O and D -lines. They left a little more cap money on the table which I found to be odd. So I am wondering if this is their new approach? Are the Bob Nutting their free agency? Fast forward to present day. With only resigning two on the eve of the tampering period they aren't showing aggressive. So far it looks like their same non aggressive ho hum approach. All the way down to waiting until after the draft after the initial free agency period to name their new GM. Because we can't be shaking up the comfy approach to mediocrity? Then we are getting vibes that they might only be targeting scrub QBs to bring in to compete with Rudy?

I can always be wrong but so far I haven't seen anything that makes me think it isn't business as usual. Their normal not good enough approach.