All-Pro guard DeCastro 'getting close' to signing extension with Steelers

The Steelers have until Monday — their self-imposed deadline of signing players to contract extensions — to lock up All-Pro guard David DeCastro long term.

Apparently, it won't have to wait that long.

DeCastro told the Tribune-Review after Wednesday's practice leading up to Monday's season opener against the Washington Redskins that the two sides are nearing an agreement on an extension that will keep DeCastro with the organization into his 30s.

“We are getting close,” DeCastro said. “It all happened recently so we will see, but we are close.”

Two weeks ago, there wasn't much movement between the two sides. DeCastro referred to talks as “nothing, really.”

That has changed. DeCastro is expecting the deal to be finalized within the next couple of days.

“Hopefully in a few days I won't have to think about it again,” DeCastro said.

Guard Ramon Foster has been an advocate for signing DeCastro long-term, recently saying publicly to “pay the man.”

“If he is close, we are going to shout to the moon for him,” Foster said Wednesday.

DeCastro's agent, Tom Condon, did not return an email seeking comment.

The extension has been weighing on DeCastro more than he would like to admit. The Steelers picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal last year that typically ensures that the two sides will come to a long-term extension the following year.

The Steelers signed Cam Heyward in July last year after picking up his fifth-year option the year before. However, DeCastro's long-term extension has dragged on until the final week before the deadline.

If DeCastro doesn't sign, he will play out the season and earn a guaranteed $8.07 million this year. He will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and be free to sign with any team.

“My mindset has always been that it wasn't going to get done until the day before the game,” DeCastro said. “It is easier to look at it this way. I didn't want to think one way or another. I wanted to keep an open mind. I wanted to get it done. I love the people here and love the organization, but it is also a business.”

DeCastro has become one of the best guards in the NFL since being selected in the first round of the 2012 draft. It culminated last year when he became only the third guard in team history and second since 1938 to be named a first-team All-Pro.

What complicated what was expected to be a straightforward deal is that the Raiders signed Kelechi Osemele, who was a second-round pick of the Ravens then same year DeCastro was drafted, to a five-year, $58.5 million deal in March that included a $25.4 million bonus.

While the Steelers are unlikely to pay DeCastro that kind of money, the Bears might have set the real market earlier this week when they signed Kyle Long to a four-year, $40 million extension with $30 million guaranteed.

“That probably helped a lot,” DeCastro said. “We are similar players and similar age.”

DeCastro, 26, was drafted in the first round in 2012. Long, 27, was drafted in the first round in 2013.

DeCastro has made provisions in case a deal isn't reached by the deadline. He said he took out insurance last year and extended it this year to the start of the season.

“I was ready to put something into place if we didn't sign something,” DeCastro said, alluding to the contract being almost a done deal. “I think a lot more people worried more than I did. This game is hard enough to think about stuff like that, but that's easier said than done.”

If the Steelers sign DeCastro long-term, they would have their top four offensive linemen locked up through the 2018 season, including Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert through 2019.

With Ramon Foster, that core group (when healthy) will enter their fifth year together Monday.

“To have a core like that is good, and Dave is a big part of that,” Foster said. “I hope this thing fully plays itself out. If we can get at least three more of these, it is something that we should be able to at least (win) a ring.”

“We are getting better every year but we just have to stay healthy,” DeCastro said.

Mark Kaboly is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mkaboly@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MarkKaboly_Trib.