Le’Veon Bell may still be away from Pittsburgh Steelers training camp as it opened on Thursday, but the team will have its starting left tackle in the mix.
The team announced on Thursday that it has re-signed exclusive-rights free agent Alejandro Villanueva to a four-year contract.
We have signed OT Alejandro Villanueva to a four-year deal.
MORE: https://t.co/TdHjktz5Cj pic.twitter.com/fmc2qv4D7N
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) July 27, 2017
The terms of the deal are not yet known, but it’s safe to say he will receive a hefty raise.
There were reports earlier in the month that Villanueva would not report to camp without a new contract. Prior to Thursday’s news, he was set to earn $615,000 under the ERFA tender Pittsburgh handed him earlier in the offseason.
Needless to say, that was not a sustainable situation for a player in Villanueva who has done a tremendous job protecting Ben Roethlisberger’s blindside over the past two seasons.
An undrafted free agent out of Army, Villanueva served three tours of duty in Afghanistan before making a career change. He remains a tremendous story. He’s also now going to get paid handsomely for his tremendous on-field play over the past couple seasons.
Good for him.