Steelers predicted to cut ties with $10 million defender ahead of free agency
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Steelers predicted to cut ties with $10 million defender ahead of free agency originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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With free agency rapidly approaching, the Pittsburgh Steelers might not be done cutting players yet.
The only significant cut we've seen so far this offseason is tight end Jonnu Smith, who the team parted ways with last week.
But Steelers Depot's Alex Kozora predicts another cut is coming and it will come in the form of linebacker Malik Harrison, who is entering the final year of his $10 million contract.
"Inside linebacker Malik Harrison, while not a terrible contract, isn't worth the money he's making," Kozora wrote. "Another cut."
We whole heartedly agree with Kozora here.
While a good special teams player, Harrison only played 40% of snaps on defense in 2025 and did not offer much with those snaps. He posted 41 tackles (two for loss), zero sacks and zero passes defensed.
Harrison is good when asked to blitz, but he's just an average-at-best run defender and is a total liability in coverage, as evidenced by his Pro Football Focus grades of 46.9 in coverage and 62.5 in run defense.
With Harrison set to account for a cap hit of $6.7 million in 2026, it makes all the sense in the world for the Steelers to cut ties, as they can replace him with a much cheaper option.
In doing so, Pittsburgh would save $4.7 million in cap space while incurring a dead-money charge of $2 million.
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