The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t give up on the idea of re-signing Kelvin Beachum, but it’s more than likely he ends up playing somewhere else from 2016 onward, with the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens all trying to pull the left tackle in their direction.
It’s something of musical chairs game at left tackle right now. The Steelers have Beachum unsigned, but are probably only willing to give him a one year offer after he played in just six games last season, his last one being in mid-October, tearing his ACL. They have Russell Okung on their radar and also Ryan Harris of the Denver Broncos. Whoever signs first starts the ripple effect to push for all the other signings, among them Beachum.
So who is interested? The Seahawks, who might be losing Okung, like the others seem to be capable of looking beyond his injury and focus on his ability in the past, especially since moving to left tackle in 2013 after a rookie season at right tackle. The Jets and Jaguars both have visits set up for him, just like the Seahawks. The Jets do have D’Brickashaw Ferguson as their left tackle which might mean they plan on using Beachum on the other side of the offensive line, but it’s more likely they could be cutting him instead. Ferguson has a $14.1 million cap hit in 2016 unless something changes.
Beachum played his college football at SMU until being a 7th round pick by the Steelers in 2012. He has done extremely well when healthy since then, playing in 31 games in 2013 and 2014. He had six games under his belt last season before going down with an injury, completing his four-year rookie deal after making $2.1 million during that time. Obviously, the ACL situation is hurting his negotiating power and the contract he’ll end up getting, but there doesn’t seem to be too much worry about him missing time in 2016, and teams seem to believe in his optimism that he’ll be quite close to his former self once he gets back on the field.