Stephon Tuitt is set to earn a little more than $1 million in the final year of his rookie contract. That’s not small change, but it’s less than what the Steelers will pay Tyson Alualu, a free agent they signed away from Jacksonville earlier this spring.
That won’t be the case for long. Tuitt is in line for a big payday soon. The Steelers would like to sign him to a long-term contract before the regular season begins. If they can’t get a deal done, Tuitt will hit unrestricted free agency next spring.
“I don’t really talk to my agent much,” a lighthearted Tuitt said Thursday afternoon on the final day of OTAs. “I don’t care about that. What I care about is staying in shape and being the best person I can be every day and enjoying what I’m doing.
“I’m not thinking about anything at all. I have a lot of football ahead of me. Just getting better every day is my goal. I’m probably a couple of steps away from being the No. 1 defensive lineman in the league, from having multiple sacks. It’s just preparing and becoming that guy, the guy the Steelers need me to be and help them get to the Super Bowl.”
Veteran Cam Heyward is the highest-paid defensive lineman on the Steelers and the fifth-highest paid player overall with an average salary of $9.8 million. Heyward signed a six-year, $59 million contract before the 2015 that included $15 million in guaranteed money.
Heyward is a defensive captain, and the Steelers aren’t likely to pay Tuitt more than Heyward, but he could get in the $8 million to $9 million a year range.
The Steelers have three contracts they’d like to get done this summer. In addition to Tuitt, they’d like to sign running back Le’Veon Bell and left tackle Alejandro Villanueva to long-term deals. Bell is set to make $12.1 million on the franchise tag if a deal is not done by July 15. The Steelers control Villanueva for two more years but would like to lock him up long term as well.
“Like any player who hears that information, it’s an honor that a team is looking for you to stay here a couple more years,” Tuitt said. “But at the same time it’s a business, and at the same time it’s preparing yourself for anything that can happen.”
Tuitt, who was drafted out of Notre Dame in the second round of the 2014 draft, has started 32 games over his first three NFL seasons. He has 11½ career sacks, including four last season. He is still waiting for that breakout sack season — his season-high was 6½ in 2015 — but the Steelers highly value his steady overall game.
Tuitt said he’d like to stay with the Steelers beyond his first contract.
“I would love it here,” he said. “It’s a blessing if they see me being here for the long term. I love the organization. We were a game away from doing something. When was the last time the Steelers went to the Super Bowl?
“I watch film. I talk to the older guys like Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel. I want to experience that feeling here. I want to know what that’s like, and I’m glad I have one more year to try to do that with them.”
Tuitt sat out OTAs and will miss minicamp next week as he rehabs a finger injury. He had surgery last month but expects to be ready for training camp.
Last season the Steelers looked to Tuitt to step up his game after Heyward went down with a pectoral injury midway through the season. He said that experience helped him grow as a player because he became the elder statesman on a young defensive line that played well down the stretch and helped the Steelers reach the AFC title game.
“It helped me grow a lot,” Tuitt said. “Not having that person to ask what the play is and you having to be the guy that knows the play, it was a lot of growth for me. From that point, I just grew tremendously. I helped lead the team to the AFC championship. We were becoming a dominant defense until, unfortunately, we played the Patriots. I learned a lot, grew a lot. I learned my teammates even more than I did before.”
If the Steelers are going to sign Tuitt, it might have to wait until later in the summer. The Steelers figure to turn their attention to Bell first because of the July 15 deadline. Last year the Steelers didn’t sign left guard David DeCastro until a few days before the first game against the Redskins.
Tuitt could find himself in a similar situation as the season nears in a few months.
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: June 8, 2017, 5:31 p.m.
