The Steelers have identified the three players they consider their free agent priorities and, to what should be nobody's surprise, they are placekicker Jeff Reed, nose tackle Casey Hampton and free safety Ryan Clark.
The Steelers will make overtures to the agents of those players in the coming month leading up to the opening of free agency March 5.
Contract offers will not be made to cornerback Deshea Townsend and running back Willie Parker before the start of free agency, but the club will not rule out offering those players deals at some point as well. It's unlikely that either will return to Pittsburgh.
The Steelers have both a franchise and transition tag available and could use both.
Though the Steelers are tight-lipped about the order in which they are placing the three priority players, it is believed to be Hampton, Reed and then Clark.
Clark, however, could be the easiest of the three to sign, giving Pittsburgh the option of using its tags on Hampton and Reed.
If I were the GM I would be inclined to put the tag on Big Snack. He'll be well paid and he'll have an incentive to continue to play at a high rate for another payday. Meanwhile they can draft a replacement player and/or work out a 3 year deal with him.
ReplyDeleteA lot's been said about hampton not wanting the tag. But what would be the "consequences"? In his words, "it would be a problem"
ReplyDeleteI mean, would he threaten to hold out of never play again?
The problem is causes is in the locker room, depending on the popularity of they player. Hamp's pretty popular with the teammates.
ReplyDeleteOf course the players are told by the agents to say it's a bigger problem than it probably is.
Its all about the bonuses and guaranteed money to these guys. He wants more than $7 mil guarenteed obviously.
ReplyDeleteAt least we won't have to listen to him cry about camp. He won't be there.
I was thinking it was time to get rid of Reed but this year seemed to be a rough one for kickers all around the league and I think it will be better to stay with the devil you know. But they should try to get a top college kicker prospect into camp if they can. (I'm guessing it isn't that easy and there aren't as many decent kickers out there as a lot of people think).
ReplyDeleteDale - what do you think the chances are of the Steelers signing Reed but then also committing a roster spot to a Kickoff guy? If we had a dude that could consistently put the ball in the endzone it would help our ST coverage a ton. No Return = No TD.
ReplyDeleteTo keep an extra kicker is to give up a spot somewhere else. Plus, you have to keep him active on game days. That's a tough one to do.
ReplyDeleteDale, you're shutting me down! I'm proud of my long kicking kicka idea.
ReplyDeletewhen you give up 5 KR's for TD's. I'd rather have a kicker than Logan, who contributed...0 TD's.
ReplyDeleteIf we bring in a FA OL, how does that affect our draft? DB and DL (not necessarily in that order) in rounds 1 and 2? Where is PSUs Jared Odrick projected? Looks like he could be a really good 3-4 DE. Ive seen several analysts comparing him to Aaron Smith.
ReplyDeleteOdrick is looking like a mid-to-late first-round pick. We'll see how he works out at the combine.
ReplyDeleteAs for how it would affect their draft, they've been taking the best player available - even if it is not the top need position - in the first round and filling needs in the second.
If a top offensive lineman were available, they'd still take him.
Thanks for the reply Dale.
ReplyDeleteJust taking an educated guess, who do you think 3 possibilities are that would be BPA at 18?
The most popular picks in most of the mocks I've seen are OL Mike Iupati from Idaho or NT Dan Williams from Tennessee.
out of those 3, Hampton is the hardest to replace by far
ReplyDeleteI was actually hoping to see a new FS next season
I think Iupati will likely workout his way out of the Steelers' range based on his strong Senior Bowl week and what I expect him to do at the combine. Unless, he runs slower than expected and shows that he can't play tackle. He'll wind up going top 15.
ReplyDeleteAs for others, I'll wait until after the combine - yes I watch it all on NFL Network - to come up with anything definitive.