NFL: AFC Wild Card-Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
Jan 9, 2016; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant (10) warms up before the AFC Wild Card playoff football game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Home » Blog » Bryant’s Contract Will Toll Following Suspension

Bryant’s Contract Will Toll Following Suspension

Jonathon Natsis News NFL

It’s never good news to hear that one of your best offensive players will sit out the entire season, but the Steelers can take a silver lining from the year-long suspension to be served by Martavis Bryant.

Following some initial confusion regarding Bryant’s contract situation, it now appears that Bryant’s deal will toll through the 2016 season, essentially “freezing” his contract for the entirety of this year and picking up where it left off to commence the 2017 league year.

Disciplinary suspensions of this kind are always without pay, meaning neither Bryant’s salary nor signing bonus, however insignificant in the grand scheme of the whole roster, will apply to Pittsburgh’s salary cap this upcoming season. 2016 will not count as an accrued year on Bryant’s deal, meaning his rookie contract will be valid through 2018.

For that reason, the typically unforgiving Steelers front office seems content to keep Bryant around, much like the Cleveland Browns did with Josh Gordon.

There has been some talk that the Steelers would have been better off had Bryant’s contract continued to run through the suspension, because he would then be returning to action with one year left on his deal, and a very real understanding that he was clinging to his last lifeline.

In the meantime, the Steelers will need to make do without their deep threat as part of a team with Super Bowl aspirations. Steelers brass have already thrown their support behind big-bodied sophomore Sammie Coates, with general manager Kevin Colbert declaring the team “feels good” about its newest offensive weapon.

A third round pick in last year’s draft, Coates struggled to earn playing time behind a very deep receiving corps, but was ultimately pressed into action when Antonio Brown was kept out of their divisional round loss at Denver due to a severe concussion suffered the week before in Cincinnati.

Coates made a couple of nice catch-and-runs against arguably the NFL’s best defense, instilling faith that, in time, he too can become a productive member of this offense.

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