The Steelers signed Donte Moncrief to a $9 million contract in March in hopes he would help ease the loss of Antonio Brown.
But after seven games, the Steelers have parted ways with one of their prized free-agent signings after just seven months.
The Steelers released Moncrief on Saturday and promoted running back Tony Brooks-James to the 53-man roster.
It was a rapid fall for Moncrief, who began the season as the starter opposite JuJu Smith-Schuster. Moncrief dropped four passes in the season opener at New England and then dropped another pass the following week against Seattle. The dropped pass against the Seahawks led to an interception when the Steelers held a second-half lead.
Moncrief never got back into the good graces of coach Mike Tomlin after that. In seven games, Moncrief had four receptions for 18 yards.
In essence, the Steelers paid Moncrief $1.25 million per reception. Under the terms of his contract, the Steelers paid him $5 million this season, including a 3.5 million signing bonus and his $1.5 million salary.
They will save $4 million on next year’s salary cap although they will absorb a $1.75 million cap hit.
It became an easy decision to cut Moncrief when the NFL’s compensatory pick formula is taken into account. By releasing Moncrief before the 10th game of the season the Steelers are all but assured of getting a third-round compensatory draft pick in March.
Compensatory picks are given to teams based on a complicated formula involving free agent losses and free agent acquisitions from the previous year. The Steelers had to release Moncrief before the 10th game because the Eagles released L.J. Fort earlier this year.
Fort played for the Steelers from 2015-18 and signed in March with the Eagles. But because he was released before the 10th game the Steelers also had to release one of their free agents from March to equal things out in the formula.
And make no mistake recouping a third-round pick is important for several reasons. For one, they thought from the beginning that losing Le’Veon Bell to free agency would result in getting one. That factored into the decision by general manager Kevin Colbert to trade the 2020 third-round pick, along with a 2019 first-round pick, in order to go up 10 spots in this year’s draft to select Devin Bush.
It became even more important after Colbert dealt his 2020 first-round pick in September for Minkah Fitzpatrick.
As an organization that builds through the draft, the Steelers wanted desperately to retain the third-round compensatory pick. They also have their second-round pick, two fourth-round picks and sixth- and seventh-round choices.
James-Brooks’ promotion was needed to add depth to a think running back corps. Benny Snell will miss Sunday’s game against the Colts and James Conner is expected to miss with a knee injury.
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: November 2, 2019, 8:38 p.m.
Updated: November 2, 2019, 8:40 p.m.
