When Stephon Tuitt suddenly retired June 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers found a capable replacement on the defensive line three weeks later.
In his first major outside signing as general manager, Omar Khan inked veteran Larry Ogunjobi to a one-year, $8 million contract.
The Steelers were fortunate Ogunjobi was still on the open market at that time of the offseason. A foot injury that Ogunjobi sustained in the NFL playoffs scuttled a three-year, $40.5 million free agent deal that he signed in March with the Chicago Bears when he couldn’t pass a physical.
With the Steelers, Ogunjobi helped solidify a defensive line that also was minus Tuitt the previous season. He had 48 tackles, 1.5 sacks and tied for fourth on the team with seven tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hits despite being unable to practice late in the season because of injuries.
Ogunjobi is set to become a free agent again in a few days, and Khan signing the 28-year-old defensive tackle to another deal will be a priority before the new league season opens at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
He is one of five defensive starters who can test free agency.
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“There’s a concern,” team president Art Rooney II said in January. “Yeah, we have some guys we’d like to keep, and so we have some work to do on free agency.”
Ogunjobi is one of three defensive linemen eligible for unrestricted free agency. Chris Wormley, 29, and Tyson Alualu, 35, also will become free agents after playing primarily as backups in the defensive line rotation last season.
Wormley underwent knee surgery late in the year, and Alualu lost his starting job early in the season to Montravius Adams and could be contemplating retirement.
The Steelers have just two veteran starters under contract in 33-year-old Cameron Heyward and the 27-year-old Adams. Heyward, though, has a contract that carries a cap hit in excess of $22 million. That ranks second on the team and makes him a candidate for one more restructuring on a deal that carries through 2024.
Adams carries a $3.23 million cap hit, and the Steelers could save $2.5 million by releasing a player that logged just 26% of all defensive snaps in 2022.
The Steelers had the NFL’s highest-paid defense last year, and they currently rank second behind the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2023 cap allocation at $126.9 million. That could make it difficult for the Steelers to do much more than try to retain Ogunjobi, who likely will seek an increase on his 2022 salary and try to recoup the money he lost when he couldn’t pass his physical with the Bears.
The NFL Draft is the more tried-and-true option for the Steelers to restock their defensive line. After spending a fifth-round pick on Isaiahh Loudermilk in 2021 and a third-rounder on DeMarvin Leal last year, they could use either the No. 17, No. 32 or No. 49 pick to fortify the defensive trench.
The Steelers haven’t used a first-round pick on a defensive lineman since 2011 when Heyward came aboard. The last time they took one in the second round was 2014 when they drafted Tuitt.
A positional look at the Steelers defensive line situation heading into free agency:
Under contract: Cameron Heyward ($22,256,250 cap hit in 2023); Montravius Adams ($3,232,500); DeMarvin Leal ($1,178,840); Isaiahh Loudermilk ($1,020,072); Jonathan Marshall ($940,000); Quincy Roche ($940,000); Renell Wren ($870,000)
Restricted free agents: None
Unrestricted free agents: Larry Ogunjobi ($8 million salary in 2022); Tyson Alualu ($2.5 million); Chris Wormley ($2.3 million)
