(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Maurkice Pouncey has told teammates he is likely to retire after 11 seasons in the NFL, all of which were with the Steelers. Unless there's a change of heart, Pouncey's announcement could be coming soon.
The Steelers would save $8 million in cap space with Pouncey retiring. According to Overthecap.com, the Steelers are projected to be $34,011,664 over the cap, which doesn't include the $5.2 million in cap space they are going to save with Vance McDonald recently retiring. So, they are roughly $29 million over the cap with the estimated cap number at $176 million because of lost revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cap number in 2020 was $198.2 million.
If Pouncey does end up retiring, shaving off $8 million would certainly help. The Steelers would have $6,475,000 million in dead cap space with Pouncey retiring.
Pouncey has started 134 regular-season games and eight playoff games in his 11-year career with the Steelers. He is also a nine-time Pro Bowler and was named first-team All-Pro three times.
It will be interesting to see if Ben Roethlisberger retires if Pouncey decides to hang it up. Roethlisberger will turn 39 in March and has one year left on his contract. The two have always said publicly that they would retire at the same time when once decides to call it a career.
Update: Former Steelers' offensive lineman Ramon Foster said it's "fake news" that Pouncey will retire soon and a decision hasn't been made yet. We'll have to see in the next couple of weeks if Pouncey comes to a decision and retires.