The Steelers Can Exploit The Lamar Jackson Disaster To Change The Face Of Free Agency In 2023

The Pittsburgh Steelers have changed the NFL a lot over the last six decades. Defensive backs can’t toss wide receivers to the ground or on their heads for that matter thanks to Mel Blount’s performance in Super Bowl X. James Harrison and the 2010 Steelers saved the league from itself by forcing the creation of the player safety initiative. Dan Rooney forced owners to adopt the Rooney Rule to give minority candidates the mandatory opportunity to interview for head coaching positions. The Pittsburgh Steelers are agents of change.

2022 saw a huge change to the NFL landscape and the Steelers did not usher it in. Free agency began in earnest in 1993 and has evolved slowly into bigger and bigger contracts and more player movement. Last season, the Cleveland Browns courted a quarterback who began the year by holding out and demanding a trade. In between, he was accused by dozens of women of at the very least being creepy and ended with a long suspension from the NFL.

During all this, the Browns rewarded Deshaun Watson with a fully guaranteed $230 million contract over five seasons. The Browns mortgaged their future by trading away multiple first-round draft picks to the Houston Texans and in the process broke the NFL. Being the Browns, they still finished in last place, but the free agency period is 10 days old and some of the biggest stars at the quarterback position are still without contracts.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are not at the root of this current major change but they can exploit it. The collective bargaining agreement does not allow players to renegotiate rookie contracts until they complete their third season in the NFL. Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert are eligible for contract extensions but don't have them. The Baltimore Ravens QB formerly known as Lamar Jackson is trapped in an epic power struggle between greed and collusion that is providing cover for the fact that there is no news or pressure to get new contracts done.

The Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals all made the AFC playoffs last season and while he is garnering all the attention, Jackson’s situation should at least be matched in coverage by the deafening silence coming from Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Last season, Kyler Murray and his agent pulled off a coup by getting his contract done and he was promised $189 million in guaranteed money as long as he agreed to sign his name and occasionally study his playbook, allegedly.

The Watson signing and the Murray mistake have given teams pause. Russell Wilson didn’t help either with his 2022 stinker of a season that followed his huge contract extension. Watson, Murray and Wilson are not at the top of the quarterback food chain. The NFLPA and their agents operating under the next-man-up philosophy along with the Broncos and Cardinals jumped on the Browns’ crazy train and three last-place teams may have reset the quarterback market and not in a good way.

Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett won't be in discussion for an extension until after the 2024 season, but it would behoove the Steelers to go all in with short-term two-season contracts to maximize their opportunities with Pickett. The Patrick Peterson deal is clear evidence they recognize the opportunity, but they can do more.

When MLB salaries began to get out of control in the 1990s the Cleveland Guardians signed all their young stars to long-term deals with early raises that all ended up being below-market deals. It made them a contender for a decade. The NFL has a better competitive balance than MLB but since Cleveland broke NFL free agency, Pittsburgh can steal their baseball team’s idea to game the new system. The Steelers should be in Alex Highsmith’s living room offering an early raise and a two-year deal.

Highsmith is a third-round pick so a substantial two-year raise allows him to enter free agency with the rest of his first-round draft class in year five. It turns a third-round pick into a first-round contract by rewarding him early and allowing him to cash in with the players who were first-round picks in his respective draft class. If done correctly the goodwill should allow for a raise that pleases the player and is affordable for the team.

A player like Highsmith, who has outperformed his rookie deal but is one more good season away from top-of-the-market money, would be a perfect test case. It gives a late-round pick the same security as a first-round pick gets by a team exercising the fifth-year option to retain them. The fifth-year option is usually a raise but it is rarely the market value they would earn as an unfettered free agent.

Highsmith is an outstanding player, and the Steelers would have a happier, richer version for the next two seasons. He is also a high-character guy who would recognize a good-faith effort to reward him earlier and they could benefit greatly by keeping him for an extra season at peak production.

They should not stop there either. The Steelers 2021 draft class features Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth who will be eligible for extensions after next season. They should lay the groundwork for both to have the opportunity to sign new short-term deals the moment they are eligible. Running backs have not fared well by waiting for a contract and the Steelers could demonstrate they learned from the Le’Veon Bell fiasco.

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Early raises for important young players that still allow them to hit free agency again early in their careers could revolutionize how the NFL does business. It could also give the Steelers a pipeline to keep promising young players for an extra season or two at affordable rates. Cam Heyward has said playing for the Steelers is a privilege and players like to be coached by Mike Tomlin it is an advantage they should be maximizing.

Cleveland’s football team broke the free agency market and if the current crop of quarterbacks who don’t have new contracts are any indication, the solution might not be forthcoming anytime soon. The Steelers can use the goodwill that the organization has in treating its players well and paying them sooner rather than later to fix it. The NFL has changed, and the Steelers and Omar Khan have to act fast.