The signing of Jacoby Jones and release of Dri Archer on Thursday were yet more moves to an ever changing roster this season and ones that impacted the Steelers salary cap both this year and next.

Last week we took a look at the teams current salary cap situation. This week we turn our attention to the Steelers cap position for 2016 and it very quickly becomes clear that a little dead money from the release of Archer is the least of their problems.

First the good news …

The Steelers will open the 2016 season with the least amount of dead money they have had on their books in sometime. As it stands the Steelers are set to carry $765,187 in dead money next year, a figure that should not be expected to increase much at all over coming months, barring some unforeseen and surprising cut to an established player.

Now the bad …

The Steelers will face a number of challenging decision as they begin the new year with one of the lowest amounts of cap space in the league. As of today only the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints have less cap space available next year and based on number of players under contract, the Steelers have less cap room than the Patriots in all reality.

In the table below we have detailed the players and contracts that make up the Steelers 2016 salary cap. For this purpose we have worked off an expected league wide salary cap of $150 million. It is possibly a slightly conservative estimate for next year but is a good starting point to work from.

Additionally we have predicted a cap rollover of $4 million from 2015. The Steelers are currently $4,495,418 under the 2015 salary cap after the recent release of Archer, signing Jones and promoting Doran Grant in place of Tyler Murphy to the active roster. These changes take a small piece out of the cap with each move and it seems fair to assume there could be a few more such moves over the coming months, but it is reasonable to think the Steelers should be able to roll most of what they have left now into next year.

With only 38 players currently under contract for 2016, the Steelers will sign a number of futures signings and practice squad players at seasons end to bring them up to the 51 players that count for financial purposes. The minimum salary for these players will be $450,000 next year, which means for the Steelers, these extra 13 names will cost an additional $5,850,000.

Taking all these figures into account, the Steelers are set to begin the new financial year with $4,047,516 in cap space before they get to work.

With 31 players facing free agency next year, the Steelers current amount of cap space is clearly not going to be enough for all that is required, but it should not be too difficult for the front office to dig their way out of the financial hole they find themselves in.

Set to cost $3 million against the cap in 2016 and carrying no dead money, Jacoby Jones will be a certain cap casualty before the new league year begins. Signed to a two year deal by the San Diego Chargers this off season, before being released last week, the Steelers picked up his contract when they claimed him off waivers. Thankfully the dead money from the bonus remains in San Diego, but given how heavily weighted the deal was to the second year, there is no chance Jones will remain in Pittsburgh at that price.

While much will depend on the second half of the season, cuts to Cortez Allen and possibly Shaun Suisham could yield decent savings. If both are designated June 1st releases they would create cap savings of $6.4 million that would be more than enough to pay for the 2016 draft class and provide a carry over into the season.

Restructuring, something of a go to move for the front office, will be unquestionably revisited next year with Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Heyward, Maurkice Pouncey and Mike Mitchell the candidates that could offer the most cap space with a restructure.

Lawrence Timmons enters the final year of a contract that cries out for an extension (or cut depending on your point of view) that, due to restructures in the past, comes with a cap hit of over $15 million. If the Steelers consider he is worth one more multi year contract it would be very easy to bring that cap hit down to around the $10 million or less range. David DeCastro is another player who is likely to be extended before the 2016 season kicks off and one that could save the team a few million in cap space too.

Over the coming weeks we will look at each position group in more detail to see how they fit within the salary cap and break down the financial implications facing significant players. We will see how the salaries of players under contract compare with others around the league and examine the cost implications of resigning some of the key names from this list of impending free agents: