With up to 10 starters set for free agency, is 2020 a ‘last ride’ for Steelers as we know them?

There, technically, was a period of a few months earlier this year during which T.J. Watt was in the final year of his contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In a no-brainer decision, the Steelers exercised their fifth-year option on Watt in April, extending him through 2021. And Watt’s status as one of the league’s best players almost guarantees the Steelers will do everything they can to keep him in Pittsburgh long after that, too.

But can the same be said about a large number of Watt’s teammates? There are up to 10 starter-caliber players with expiring contracts whose tenure with the Steelers could end as soon as next month.

“I don’t even know who’s a free agent and who’s not and all that stuff,” Watt said. “I just know that I love playing with these guys we have in this locker room, and that we have a lot of work left to do.”

At 11-1 heading into Sunday night’s game at the Buffalo Bills, making a run at the franchise’s seventh Super Bowl title surely is enough motivation in itself. But this possibly being the “last ride” with the current roster also could buoy the Steelers down the stretch.

Eighteen players are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents later this winter, and another (tight end Vance McDonald) has a club option that would need to be picked up for 2021.

While that raw number of UFA’s isn’t terribly out of the ordinary, the number of key contributors is. Depending on how you define it, anywhere from six to 10 starters are in the final season of their contracts.

For an organization that prides itself on tenets such as continuity, holding on to homegrown talent and locking up its best players, having so many about to hit the open market is an anomaly.

Last offseason, for example, the only starter who became an unrestricted free agent was defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. The prior offseason, no 2019 full-time starters were free agents. In 2018, the lone starters who hit the market were offensive lineman Chris Hubbard (a backup who had been starting only because of injury) and safety Mike Mitchell (whom the Steelers were content to let go at age 31 anyway).

Monday’s game against the New York Giants might be the final opener as teammates for members of the 2017 draft class that is looking like one of the Steelers’ best in recent years.https://t.co/Yp24KBjqQJ

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) September 11, 2020

The point being, the Steelers typically don’t allow too many key contributors to play on “walk years.” But the uniqueness of 2020 conspired to create a contract situation that perhaps is unprecedented over 28 years of Steelers’ unrestricted free agency.

Most prominently, the Steelers just happened to be at the end of a cycle of a heavy class of free agents: The 2017 draft was a fruitful one, and the standard four-year rookie contracts are up for receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, running back James Conner, cornerback Cameron Sutton and Watt (who as a first-rounder had the fifth-year option).

Add to that:

• Another former first-rounder who has an option picked up and had a franchise tag applied (linebacker Bud Dupree)

• A former reclamation project who finally won a starting job in his fourth NFL season (injured right tackle Zach Banner)

• A pair of former undrafted players who began to accrue seasons at the same time (guard Matt Feiler and nickel corner Mike Hilton)

• A recent midseason trade acquisition (linebacker Avery Williamson)

• Two veterans who are finishing their second Steelers contracts — tackle Alejandro Villanueva and defensive lineman Tyson Alualu — and still playing at a high enough level they could warrant new deals in their mid-30s

In other words, the Steelers’ 2021 free-agent class is a big one in part because of some atypical circumstances.

And this year’s coronavirus outbreak meant nothing was business-as-usual in the NFL. Diminished revenues this season figure to lead to a diminished or “flat” salary cap next season, and that complicated the calculus of contract extensions.

The only such deal the Steelers got done this year was with Cameron Heyward, a player of such importance on and off the field his extension had to get done regardless of the financial implications of covid-19. But if it wasn’t for the pandemic, it is fair to assume the Steelers could have been more aggressive broaching summer contract talks with some of their other soon-to-be free agents.

General manager Kevin Colbert said as much during his most recent media availability in August. But left with so much uncertainty, the team was compelled to largely sit tight.

“But when we think we have a nice team, we’re going to make the best effort we can now,” Colbert said then, “and we’ll keep moving forward and try to be as competitive as we can in every season.”

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