PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Steelers have a new deal with one of their key players, and it's not Hines Ward.

Nose tackle Casey Hampton, a former Pro Bowl player coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for all but six games last season, signed a $22.75 million, five-year contract Monday that runs through the 2009 season. The deal includes a $6.975 million signing bonus, one of the largest in club history.

"We think his best football is ahead of him," team president Art Rooney III said.

Hampton was in the final season of a contract that would have paid him $989,065 in base salary this season, but that was reworked so the Steelers could count a prorated share of his signing bonus against this season's salary cap.

Last week, Hampton said he hoped to work out a new contract before the Sept. 11 opener, as the Steelers have a policy of not negotiating during the season. Wide receiver Antwaan Randle El and safety Chris Hope are among the other Steelers players who can become free agents after this season and are talking with the club about new contracts.

The Steelers didn't want to allow the 6-foot-1, 320-pound Hampton to go on the free-agent market because a growing number of teams are again using the 3-4 defense, which Hampton is well-suited to play.

Hampton's size and unusual quickness for a lineman his size make him one of the NFL's top run defenders. He made the Pro Bowl in 2003.

"I'm built for this type of defense and it's fun for me to play," Hampton said. "I don't get a lot of recognition, but my linebackers and those guys make a lot of plays and it makes me feel like I did well."

Hampton also said he wanted to keep playing for team owner Dan Rooney and coach Bill Cowher.

"The owners are always around us. We see them and talk to them," Hampton said. "I know a lot of guys on different teams and they say the owners don't even know their names. Coach Cowher takes care of us; the city's a football city. You couldn't want to play somewhere else, so it was a no-brainer for me."

Hampton, a former University of Texas player, needed season-ending knee surgery after the sixth game last season. He was replaced by Chris Hoke, an undrafted free agent who didn't play during his first three NFL seasons but was an excellent fill-in as the Steelers went 15-1 during the best regular season in club history.

Because Hoke played so well with Hampton out, the Steelers waited to see if Hampton would bounce back quickly from the knee operation before discussing a new deal. He showed up for camp weighing about 10-15 pounds less than his playing weight during recent seasons.

"This is as light as Casey's been since his rookie year," said Cowher, who praised Hampton for his play in Saturday night's 17-3 exhibition victory over the Dolphins.

Hampton also had no problem recovering from a torn anterior cruciate knee ligament he sustained at Texas, and his agent, Brian Overstreet, said there have been no setbacks in this recovery, either.

"It's like a flat tire," he said. "You patch it up and it's as good as new."

Hampton had no problem handling the 14 40-yard dashes all players are required to run on the first day of camp, despite on-field temperatures of 90-plus degrees on Aug. 1. He couldn't complete the drills two years ago.

Hampton also took part in all the Steelers' two-a-day practices, even though Cowher gave him the option of sitting out one of the practices to prevent putting too much stress on the knee.

Hampton, who turns 28 on Sept. 3, had 10 tackles and seven assists last season before getting hurt. He has four career sacks in four seasons, though he is seldom used as a pass rusher in the Steelers' system.

Art Rooney III said the Hampton negotiations did not affect team negotiator Omar Khan's ongoing talks with Ward, the four-time Pro Bowl receiver who held out for 15 days before reporting last week.

"We're often in a situation where we're dealing with more than one contract situation at a time, so it's nothing unusual," Rooney said.