Pittsburgh Steelers: 5 Most Overpaid Players on the Steelers Roster

Every team has those contracts that they wish they could get rid of or undo—those players that are paid far too much for their services.

Even teams usually good at exercising fiscal restraint like the Pittsburgh Steelers have some contracts that make little sense.

Here's a look at five contracts the Steelers wish they could undo.

Casey Hampton: 3 Years, $21.3 Million

Casey Hampton is the most obvious choice. The Steelers seemed almost desperate to keep him during the offseason last year, giving the aging, declining and injury-prone nose tackle a three year, $21.3 million contract.

The years aren't the problem, the dollars are the issue. Hampton's salary could very well be used to sign a younger player at the position who could contribute more to the team's future. As it is, that money is tied up in a player whose conditioning issues constantly invite major injury.

Hampton is the only starter who can truly be considered overpaid. It is surprising that the team committed so much money to a player who's often in Mike Tomlin's doghouse.

Chris Kemoeatu: 5 Years, $20 Million

Chris Kemoeatu was given his deal in 2009, but he's drastically overpaid. He's a mediocre lineman with attitude problems and inconsistency issues that was given money in another near-panic move because he was one of the better linemen on a bad line.

The Steelers have struggled mightily to fix an offensive line that's been a running sore since 2006. They've done some good things (adding Maurkice Pouncey in the draft, hiring Sean Kugler to coach), but giving Kemoeatu a lot of guaranteed money on a long deal is a terrible idea.

He may play out this deal, but he's starting to get a lot of competition for a roster spot not to mention his starting job.

Will Allen: 3 Years, $4.4 Million

This is a small change deal compared with the first two, but Will Allen is getting over $1 million a year to do little more than play special teams and be a backup at free safety.

Allen is a decent special teams player, but the team massively overpaid when you compare his contract to that of Anthony Madison, a similar player. Madison made far less than Allen for about the same contribution.

Deals like this don't kill teams, but that's just extra money given to a guy buried on the depth chart that could be better used somewhere, anywhere else.

Arnaz Battle: 3 Years, $3.9 Million

This one is just like the Allen deal in almost every way. The difference? The chances of Battle doing anything on offense are so slim they aren't even funny.

When the Steelers committed a lot of money to Antwaan Randle El and Battle last offseason, my major concern was that they'd be stuck with these deals once the salary cap returned.

Well, they ditched Randle El and would be wise to unload Battle too with all of the young receiving talent on the roster.

Battle contributed little even on special teams in 2010, so basically he made a lot of money to fill a uniform and nothing else.

James Farrior: 5 Years, $18.25 Million

Don't get me wrong, I like James Farrior and he's a major contributor, but to give him a five-year contract at his age was a mistake. He is also making an awful lot of money for a player that will likely be slowly phased out in the next two years.

Farrior is due to hit the wall. He beats Hines Ward out on this list simply because Ward is making less money and his contract terms are more reasonable.

The goal of this contract was to have Farrior retire as a Steeler. That's a noble thing. But there's a lot of guaranteed money counting against the Steelers' new cap right now that could be restructured and used to get the team some help in the secondary or to deepen the offensive line depth.