Alejandro Villanueva avoids camp holdout, agrees to four-year deal with Steelers

The Steelers will have their starting left tackle when training camp begins

If there was any chance that Alejandro Villanueva was going to hold out of Steelers training camp, that threat officially ended on Thursday when the left tackle agreed to a new contract. 

The team announced that Villanueva has agreed to a four-year deal that will keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2020 season. According to NFL.com, the contract is worth a total of $24 million, an average of $6 million per season. 

Before reaching a deal on Thursday, it was unclear if Villanueva was actually going to report for training camp. As an exclusive rights free agent, the Steelers offered Villanueva a tender that would have paid him $615,000 for the 2017 season. However, Villanueva never signed the tender, which was woefully low for a guy who started 16 games at left tackle last season. 

In the end, negotiations went down to the wire and a deal finally got done on the same day that the Steelers were reporting to training camp. Villanueva was in Latrobe, Pennsylvania on Thursday to sign his new deal. 

Literally w/in 8 minutes - Brown pulls up in classic Rolls, Harrison drives fires truck up and Villanueva creeps through back to sign deal pic.twitter.com/ApMIgmWZbD

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) July 27, 2017

Villanueva played a key part on a Steelers offensive line that only surrendered 17 sacks last season, the lowest number of Ben Roethlisberger's 13-year career. 

The left tackle takes pride in making sure that Roethlisberger never gets knocked to the ground. 

"Protecting Ben is very important," Villanueva said, via the Steelers official website. "He is our quarterback. He is a guy we respect, love to play for, he is a guy that inspires us, drives the offense, the team. We understand the urgency to protect him."

Villanueva found himself looking for a new contract after only two seasons thanks to the unorthodox way he reached the NFL. The 28-year-old former Army Ranger originally signed with the Eagles in 2014, where he played defensive end. Although Villanueva didn't last long in Philly, he eventually ended up in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers decided to turn him into an left tackle. 

Over the past two seasons, Villanueva has played in all 32 regular season games for the Steelers, with 26 starts. 

In 2016, Villanueva was one of the best values in the NFL. Despite starting all 16 games, the left tackle made just $525,000 in base salary.