As we get deeper into the free agency period, nothing has happened to date with Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden.
And in this case, no news is good news.
McFadden was in Arizona early this week, but has not come to a contract agreement with the Cardinals.
The longer he waits, fewer jobs there are available out there.
That said, I still don't expect to see McFadden back in Pittsburgh unless the Steelers are willing to do something drastic, such as release veteran cornerback Deshea Townsend.
But releasing Townsend would be a very unpopular move in the locker room, where he is one of the leaders.
It would also be very non-Steelers-like.
They just don't have a ton of cap space and unless McFadden is willing to accept something less than what he could get elsewhere - as guard Chris Kemoeatu did – he won't be back.
33 comments:
When the season ended...I wanted Bmac back....but I am ready to let him walk.
I like BMac a lot, but I think I'd be upset if the Steelers released Townsend. Someone wrote an article once about how underpaid he has been throughout his career (Dale it wasn't you was it? If so my apologies) He might be the most underpaid player in the history of the NFL. Seriously.
I like DeShea and what he is all about. And I know Dale was really stating that as a remote/unlikely possibility, but I thought I'd give Townsend his credit and what he means to the team.
Also, SteelHack, assuming you are the same one from the Steelers MB, I like your posts on there. I am too lazy/busy to try and register for the board, but I read it often. You are one of the better posters on there and I read and appreciate your posts often.
No, Patrick wasn't me. But no big deal.
I just don't see where else they could possibly get the money from, unless they can get three or four guys to re-work contracts.
Dale, how amenable do you think Hines will be to restructuring? I know he's a great teammate, but he's got to be thinking about his 1000 yard season last year. I hope he's willing to do what's best for the team so they can get a deal done with Harrison and possibly BMac.
I'm really surprised Philadelphia has not contacted McFadden, or visa versa. The Eagles just released Brian Dawkins and traded Lito Shepard. Further, Jim Johnson's defenses is really built around his secondary, which has to cover man to man to allow his all out blitzing scheme to work. McFadden would seem to be a good partner for Asante Samuel at CB there.
Patrick, you said about Townsend: "He might be the most underpaid player in the history of the NFL. Seriously"
Wrong, right now the most underpaid player in the history of the NFL is James Harrison by a landslide
Patrick, you said about Townsend: "He might be the most underpaid player in the history of the NFL. Seriously"
Wrong, right now the most underpaid player in the history of the NFL is James Harrison by a landslide
well anounymous that may be true at this exact moment in time and last season but he's obviously going to get an extension and possibly be ridicuously overpaid.
DeShea never had that BIG contract
Deshea was never really a full time starter either
Don't get me wrong. I'm a B-Mac fan and want him to stay. But he wasn't a pressure corner and the corners are only as good as our safety's. By no means is he a ball hawk. He plays good ball but I think Ike is a better corner IMO. Steeler fans love our players and want them to stay forever.. He's not Rod Woodson and I think we will be ok if he lands on another team.
Zeke
Hines has only one year left on his deal. Kind of tough to restructure that. There won't be any savings unless he's willing to take less - which he won't be.
To restructure, you need somebody with a long-term deal. Ben's about the only guy with one of those at this point.
I see Heath Miller's contract is scheduled to be up after 2009. Are the Steelers hesitant to sign him long-term because the likelihood of an uncapped year will keep him here through 2010? So no need to pay more than what is necessary?
The restructuring of contracts is more difficult this year because of this being the last capped year. You can't push the money around the same way you could in the past. And like Dale said, Ben's about the only one who makes sense to restructure at this point. So since restructuring won't help in most of these cases, you could instead sign a guy like Hines to an extension.
Hines is set to make a salary of $5.8 mill. this season & his total cap hit is $7.8 mill. So if we were to give him a 3 year extension (just guessing), we could drop that cap figure by 3 mill. or so fairly easily. You've also got Brett Keisel - salary - $3.250 mill., cap hit $4.998 mill. He's another guy in the last year of his deal who'd make sense to extend & open up a little cap room this year.
(cap figures are estimates from steelersdepot.com)
you'd have to extend Hines to bring down his cap number for the year, but yeah restructuring wouldn't work.
It is too bad that we have to lose a good player like Bmac because the FO mishandled the Max Starks situation so badly. Maybe committing 8.5 mil to a mediocre player was a bad idea huh? And 2 mil to Colon? Now we will have to use a top pick on CB who may or may not be a bust instead of signing a proven vet, in his prime, to fair deal.
That is what happens when you draft no oline and you have no options at the position. You give the player all the leverage and get hosed.
Hines isn't going anywhere.. trust me. He will take less money to stay here and retire. He wants all the steelers records for wr. He learned something from the BUS.
How exactly did the front office mishandle the Starks situation?
He wasn't going to sign a long-term deal last year because he had no incentive to. He wasn't going to sign for backup money here.
$8.5 per is pretty much the going rate right now for starting left tackles.
Vernon Carey got $42 million over six years. That's $7 million per season for the math-challenged.
Jon Stinchomb got $28 million over 5 years - $5.6 million per average - but $16.5 million is guaranteed.
$2 million for Colon is 1/62nd of the team's cap in 2009.
Dale, when I asked about Hines and restructuring, I meant could he and the Steelers agree on a 3-4 year deal that would allow him to retire here and reduce his cap numbers?
I think it's in his best interest to do so, and they gave him a nice contract in 2004. I just don't want to have to say, "Hines Who?".
I suppose that's a possibility, but Hines also has an ego. He does realize, though, that his value to make outside money from commercials and such is here in Pittsburgh.
They've also got to worry about signing Holmes.
There's a lot of fish to fry in the next couple of years.
This is a very important draft for the Steelers.
They mishandled the situation by not drafting or signing any other LT's for the eventuality that Starks would demand the ridiculous money that he is.
Starks isn't getting that money because he is worth it he is getting it because we have no one else to turn to. Maybe instead of using picks on random QB, Matt Spaeth, Anthony Smith and Willie Reid we should have taken a tackle? The rest of the NFL seems to realize the value of the tackle position in the draft. And don't tell me this oline is fine because we won the SB. There is TONS of evidence that this line blows.
You are correct. The Steelers are paying Max because they have no other alternative . . . not because that is his value. It is a bandaid to the larger problem of having neglected to properly id and develop o-line talent. Steelers have a below average and thin o-line unit that they have addressed by increasing their salaries out of necessity not well reasoned choice.
i completely agree they created this situation. however, they have also made some very good picks the last several years. we can't be too critical of a team that has won 2 super bowls recently. i believe the steelers will trade up in this draft and reach for a lineman. we'll see how it goes.
Dale,
As free agency stretches on I'm hearing nothing from Leftwich, who was supposedly looking for a starting gig. At what point will he be looking to get back on the Steelers squad before we sign Batch & don't need him any more? And any rumblings about guys like Trai Essex drawing any interest at all around the league?
Thanks Patrick...You are my #1 fan...LOL
Leftwich's situation will likely settle in the weeks leading up to or just after the draft.
As for the offensive tackles, they took Colon three years ago. He's starting.
At that point, they had Colon, Trai Essex, Starks and Marvel Smith. How many offensive tackles are they supposed to have.
How were they to know that Smith's back would give out at 30? Can't plan for those kind of things.
Had Smith's back not given out, they would have signed him to a new four or five-year deal last offseason. But it didn't.
Also, who exactly would you have had them take last season? After the initial run on offensive tackles, they were already into guys they had graded as second-day picks by the time they drafted Mendenhall.
Dale,
What you're saying regarding the OT's makes sense. And the Mendenhall pick was great. But I wish they would have taken the best OT available with the #2 pick and see how things shake out at camp. But, like I said before, they've won 2 superbowls recently, so it's hard to be too critical.
@marc
I would have liked to have taken an OT with our second pick, but there were none there. Another OT didn't get taken until like the 4th round. The Steelers were not going to reach for a 4th Rd Tackle with their second pick in the draft. There was just no value there. Reaching for need gives you Troy Edwards.
regarding drafting a tackle:
I wont complain about drafting Mendy and Sweed who both seemed to be BPA. But we should have taken a tackle in the 3rd round instead of useless Bruce Davis. For example, Anthony Collins from KAnsas was a guy still there
Releasing Townsend would be a travisty.You never hear alot from this player becuase he is so good at what he does.He deserves more credit and money than he is given.
Can't complain about Mendenhall & Sweed picks. All the top (and even a few not-so-top) OTs were gone, and these two guys fell into our laps from heaven. Give Sweed a break. No receiver excels in his first year. This guy's a playmaker & Tomlin will get his head straight.
Agree that having Ward & Holmes come up over the next couple years will make things tough. Ben is obviously going to have to restructure that contract of his. Hines needs a few more 1,000 yard seasons to have a shot at the HOF (assuming he's got no more SB MVP awards in him), and I don't think any team (including the Steelers)is going to throw a ton of money at him when he's a 34-35 year old free agent receiver. Let's hope he'll be able to see the situation for what it is.
They didn't have a third-round grade on Collins, so why take him in the third round just to have one? Is he better than Hills? Who knows.
Don't assume that just because he started for a horrible Cincinnati team that he's any good.
They could have traded up in the first round to get a tackle last year.
Sweed looks like a project and not what you'd expect from a second round pick and to say no 1st year wr does well is not true. Desean Jackson was drafted just before Sweed and when the ball is thrown to him he actually catches it.
You see the Eagles receivers? Somebody has to catch the ball on that team. Jackson got 900 yards with Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown, and Hank Basket as McNabb's other options. Who's can say Sweed wouldn't have had 900 yards on THAT team?
Sweed was a rookie #4 WR and a #5 pass-catching option (behind the 3 WRs & Heath Miller) on a team that might throw more than it used to, but still throws less than most teams. Oh, and the #1 & #2 options on the Steelers happen to be off the charts great.
Look, I'm not saying Sweed didn't embarrass himself at times, but the guy can get open and ought to improve. More than one person had him as the #1 rated receiver.
As for the OTs, everyone wanted a tackle in last year's draft and lots of teams were trading-up for them. How much would you want to overpay with draft picks and which one would you take? Jake Long, the #1 pick? Ryan Clady?? They had no chance at those guys. You want to trade up for Chris Williams & Sam Baker? We already had one OT who needed back surgery. Gosder Cherilus had a lousy season with one of the worst teams in NFL history. The only guy you can argue they had a shot at that's any good is Otah, but who's to say they could have got him?
I'm way more pissed about the lack of a short yardage back (I'll be ready for Mayview the next time I see Gary Russell get stuffed running up Kemoteau's back) than I am about Sweed.
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