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Friday, March 03, 2006

Next cuts are the deepest

With Tommy Maddox and Willie Williams now former Steelers, the question is, who's next?

Rumor has it that it will be Chukky Okobi.

The Steelers would like to do something to lower center Jeff Hartings' cap figure of just over $8 million in 2006, though Hartings has balked at taking a Jerome Bettis-like pay cut.

But the Steelers would clearly prefer to keep the 33-yar-old Hartings over Okobi, who's base salary jumps to $2 million this season.

One way to do that would be to extend Hartings' contract for at least one more season, while lowering his base salary in 2006.

The Steelers would then release Okobi and draft a center early this year as Hartings' eventual replacement.

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