The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

[tripwire]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

The salary hit by cutting him is huge for 2014. Unless they make a "football" decision and eat the hit, i don't see this as a good move financially. I can see them restructuring his contract for 2014, and then cutting him for 2015, when his cap savings climbs rapidly up to $5.5 million. As was already said, Worilds will not wait until after June 1st, and i wouldn't blame him for seeking more money with another franchise.

If the Steelers want to get serious about fixing this cap mess, they will need to make some big name cuts for 2014,

Ike Taylor saves them $7 mil
Troy P saves them $8.25 mil
Heath saves them just over $6 mil
Levi Brown saves them $6.25 mil

The Steelers will be at about $9 mil over the cap for 2014. These 4 cuts of aging vets saves them over $27.5 mil, and sets them up for the rebuilding process that is required.

How else how are they going to resign guys in the next 2 years like Pouncey. Heyward, DeCastro, Foster, Adams, Allen, Beachum, and most importantly, Big Ben?

Big mess.

[LambertandHam]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

The salary hit by cutting him is huge for 2014. Unless they make a "football" decision and eat the hit, i don't see this as a good move financially. I can see them restructuring his contract for 2014, and then cutting him for 2015, when his cap savings climbs rapidly up to $5.5 million. As was already said, Worilds will not wait until after June 1st, and i wouldn't blame him for seeking more money with another franchise.

If the Steelers want to get serious about fixing this cap mess, they will need to make some big name cuts for 2014,

Ike Taylor saves them $7 mil
Troy P saves them $8.25 mil
Heath saves them just over $6 mil
Levi Brown saves them $6.25 mil

The Steelers will be at about $9 mil over the cap for 2014. These 4 cuts of aging vets saves them over $27.5 mil, and sets them up for the rebuilding process that is required.

How else how are they going to resign guys in the next 2 years like Pouncey. Heyward, DeCastro, Foster, Adams, Allen, Beachum, and most importantly, Big Ben?

Big mess.

Levi is gone. I'd be surprised if Ike and Clark aren't gone as well. Pouncey is in this weird area, since he is going to be coming back from major knee surgery.

[TheRealHST]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

Im surprised and thankful that the team has a chance of making the playoffs. Its been a very strange year. I will be more in depth about this season after its over

[LambertandHam]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

So guys, with the season over, and a field goal away from sneaking into the playoffs at 8-8, how would you judge this year?

For me, too many missed opportunities. Easily winnable games against the Raiders, Titans, Dolphins, Ravens turned into losses. Player wise, you're going to have Pouncey and possibly Velasco coming back off major injuries, along with a lot of hard personnel decisions.

On the plus side, AB was a stand out this year. Talk about a guy coming up big, he is a legit #1. Bell also is the real deal, even with him missing the first three games of the year. The offensive line settled down, even with guys like Cody Wallace playing center.

When it comes draft time, there are a couple big WR's in the first round. Defense is a concern, especially in the secondary and NT.

[BurghFan]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

So guys, with the season over, and a field goal away from sneaking into the playoffs at 8-8, how would you judge this year?

For me, too many missed opportunities. Easily winnable games against the Raiders, Titans, Dolphins, Ravens turned into losses. Player wise, you're going to have Pouncey and possibly Velasco coming back off major injuries, along with a lot of hard personnel decisions.

On the plus side, AB was a stand out this year. Talk about a guy coming up big, he is a legit #1. Bell also is the real deal, even with him missing the first three games of the year. The offensive line settled down, even with guys like Cody Wallace playing center.

When it comes draft time, there are a couple big WR's in the first round. Defense is a concern, especially in the secondary and NT.

That pretty much sums it up. Injuries and poor play really took their toll early though once we got Miller and Bell back and found some semblance of stability on the offensive line, the team really started playing better. Come draft time, the Steelers should definitely go FS or CB with their 1st pick. Assuming Plax will be back next year, maybe get a big receiver in the 3rd or 4th round. Another option to rounds 2-3 could be LT. One thing they really need to figure out though is how to get through a season without having to completely reshuffle the offensive line due to injuries and/or poor play as it seem like they have to do every year. Probably gonna be a lot of personnel changes too. Keisel is probably gone, possibly Woodley too since he can't seem to stay healthy and with the ermergence of Worilds. Hopefully Polamalu will restructure his deal to lessen his cap hit.

[steelerfan]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

Plax will not be back. I don't think he would have made the team this year if he hasn't been injured. When you are buried that far down the depth chart, you have to play special teams. Obviously, that's not going to happen with him.

I'd love a CB in round 1, we'll see. You guys have pretty much nailed the "need" areas.

[tripwire]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

The offense has been trending upwards for awhile now. That oline finished strong, and Ben looked light he finally bought into Haley's system. I say they keep Haley, sign Pouncey, cut Levi and the huge savings that come with it, and hope they all stay healthy. Sanders might be too expensive to keep around, but i think Wheaton steps in there and does well. Heath could go either way, but saving 6 million might too much to pass up.

The D is a mess. Where to start? They need an NT first and foremost. You cannot play 3-4 without that position being a strength. Maybe target Nix in the draft? CB and FS is also a big need, as is the OLB position depending on what happens with Worilds and Woodley. ILB is also a need as they have very little talent to play next to Timmons.

I think this draft is ALL about the D. I would only keep Troy P, and that's if he takes a big paycut. Every other aging vet on D should be sent packing.

Interesting times ahead.

[LambertandHam]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

That pretty much sums it up. Injuries and poor play really took their toll early though once we got Miller and Bell back and found some semblance of stability on the offensive line, the team really started playing better. Come draft time, the Steelers should definitely go FS or CB with their 1st pick. Assuming Plax will be back next year, maybe get a big receiver in the 3rd or 4th round. Another option to rounds 2-3 could be LT. One thing they really need to figure out though is how to get through a season without having to completely reshuffle the offensive line due to injuries and/or poor play as it seem like they have to do every year. Probably gonna be a lot of personnel changes too. Keisel is probably gone, possibly Woodley too since he can't seem to stay healthy and with the ermergence of Worilds. Hopefully Polamalu will restructure his deal to lessen his cap hit.

Woodley's issue will be his cap hit/dead money. I'd rather sign Worilds at this point, but I can't see him returning when a team will offer him a better deal.

[BlackNGold]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

I don't think its as bad as some seem to think.

They have 43 guys under contract right now for next year at just over $131M. The cap is expected to be right around $127M.

The no brainer is releasing Levi Brown to save $6.25M. That gets them under the cap.

There's already been talk of restructures to save some cash. For Timmons', turning his base salary into bonus money, trims $3.9 million. They can do the same with AB and pick up another $3.9 million.

So already there's about $14.5 million off the cap, with the only release being a player who's never played a down.

There's no RFAs this season, so don't have to worry about clearing space for tenders.

They're also likely to extend Ben's contract to save more $. From what I've read on this, sounds like a 6yr deal (really 4 new years since he still has 2 left) at $100 and $110M with a $30M bonus.

Now going off Ian Whetstone's numbers. This lowers his base salary in 2014 to $2.1M, which knocks off another $4M.

So in total that's $18.5M at this point and only 1 cut of someone insignificant.

And there are still some other moves the team could make - asking some vets to take pay cuts (possibly Taylor) or releasing them (maybe Woodley).

[BlackNGold]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

The offense has been trending upwards for awhile now. That oline finished strong, and Ben looked light he finally bought into Haley's system. I say they keep Haley, sign Pouncey, cut Levi and the huge savings that come with it, and hope they all stay healthy. Sanders might be too expensive to keep around, but i think Wheaton steps in there and does well. Heath could go either way, but saving 6 million might too much to pass up.

The D is a mess. Where to start? They need an NT first and foremost. You cannot play 3-4 without that position being a strength. Maybe target Nix in the draft? CB and FS is also a big need, as is the OLB position depending on what happens with Worilds and Woodley. ILB is also a need as they have very little talent to play next to Timmons.

I think this draft is ALL about the D. I would only keep Troy P, and that's if he takes a big paycut. Every other aging vet on D should be sent packing.

Interesting times ahead.

While I agree a NT would help things, I don't know about spending a 1st Rd Pick on one. Especially at 15. With so many teams running 3WR sets and spreads he's on the field for what, 20 to 25 plays per game? The last couple years Pitt has been in their Nickel Package more than anything. Its borderline been their base D lately.

[tripwire]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

While I agree a NT would help things, I don't know about spending a 1st Rd Pick on one. Especially at 15. With so many teams running 3WR sets and spreads he's on the field for what, 20 to 25 plays per game? The last couple years Pitt has been in their Nickel Package more than anything. Its borderline been their base D lately.

NT is the most important position in LeBeau's 3-4 scheme. They were shredded against the run this year due to no longer having a Hampton around occupying 2 blockers so that the LB's can make a play.

This D is nothing without a big body in the middle.

[BlackNGold]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

I just don't think it makes any sense to spend #15 on a NT who would see the field less than half the time when there would be better players available at positions of need that could contribute much more.

As I said before I don't think NT is as important as it once was. I don't really think we need one and it's not the reason for the decline in Pittsburgh's run defense.

When Steve McLendon was in the game, Pitt's opponents only managed 2.26 yards per carry. What teams did was spread the defense out and force Pitt into their nickel and dime defense where McLendon came off the field. That's when they ran the ball effectively and exploited Pittsburgh's weakness at OLB and ILB where they were missing two keys to the run defense in Harrison and Foote. Teams did this when we had Casey too but it didn't work because Harrison and Farrior/Foote were all stout against the run.

So McLendon isn't the problem. If he was weak against the run, then other teams wouldn't be using formations to get him off the field before they started running the ball. So even if they did draft Nix, they'd do the same thing and he wouldn't be on the field anyway. Not to mention, he also has a history of knee problems if I remember correctly.

[LambertandHam]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

It's starting to become the changing of the guard. Woodley is gone, Clark is likely gone, Ike took a pay cut to stay...

I hate to see longtime Steelers leave, especially ones I grew up watching, but we do need to get younger and free up cap space.

[tripwire]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

It's starting to become the changing of the guard. Woodley is gone, Clark is likely gone, Ike took a pay cut to stay...

I hate to see longtime Steelers leave, especially ones I grew up watching, but we do need to get younger and free up cap space.

Yup, but they desperately need some influx of talent soon. With only about 6mil left to spend, looks like the Mitchell signing is all we'll see for the current market. They have nobody to replace Troy, Ike, and Foote on their current roster, and have still not replaced Hampton.

It is a changing of the guard, but nobody to hand it off to. They better pray they have a killer draft. I'm not optimistic about the next couple of seasons. I feel this D will regress even more.

[BlackNGold]

Re: The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

We actually have almost zero depth on the DL right now with Woods and Hood out the door. We are definitely going DL in the draft, maybe earlier than I originally thought.