Faced with the prospect of being released just two weeks before training camps open leaguewide, veteran tight end Mark Bruener has accepted a substantial salary reduction that will keep him with the Pittsburgh Steelers, for at least the 2003 season.

Details of the reduction were not yet available, but it is believed that Bruener's scheduled base salary of $2.05 million for 2003 essentially was halved. Steelers officials had sought a base salary of $750,000 but the two sides reportedly settled closer to $1 million.

	Bruener

It is not yet known if Bruener's salaries for the balance of his contract were affected. The eight-year veteran has base salaries of $2.395 million each for 2004 and 2005 and $3.06 million for 2006.

The cost-cutting maneuver was an unusual one for the Steelers organization, which typically restructures player contracts rather than requesting that a player accept a reduction. However, the team was very public about the request to Bruener, and about the consequences if he did not agree to the reduction.

ESPN.com reported two weeks ago that Bruener would probably accept the adjustment, since a new home in suburban Pittsburgh was nearing completion, and his wife had just given birth to the couple's fourth child. The Steelers needed the additional salary cap room to finish signing their draft choices.

The team's first-round pick in 1995, Bruener, 30, is regarded as one of the NFL's premier blocking tight ends, and he has historically been a key to the Steelers' running attack. However, he finished each of the past two seasons on the injured reserve list, missing seven games in 2001 because of shoulder surgery, and then another seven contests last year following a knee operation.

In the last two seasons, the former University of Washington star totaled just 25 catches for 164 yards and one touchdown. Prior to 2001, he had averaged 17.8 receptions, 168 yards and 2.3 touchdowns. He has never had more than 26 catches in a season and that career high came in his rookie campaign.

Over the first six years of his career, Bruener missed only six games total. He said at the Steelers' recent mini-camp that his surgically repaired knee is sound again and that he is ready for the beginning of training camp.

To bolster the position, the Steelers signed former Buffalo Bills starter Jay Riemersma in the offseason. They also re-signed young veterans Jerame Tuman and Matt Cushing. The indications in the offseason have been that Pittsburgh, which rarely has thrown to the tight end in recent years, will expand the role of the position in its passing game for 2003.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.