It appears the Steelers will make a move today to sign offensive tackle Max Starks to help solidify their offensive line.
But with the team just $750,000 under the cap, the team may have to get creative to make the signing work.
Obviously, somebody also has to go.
The guess here is that player will be Bryant McFadden.
The Steelers like what they've seen of rookies Curtis Brown and Cortez Allen. And William Gay and Keenan Lewis have been solid while McFadden has been out of action the past three weeks – including the last two as a healthy scratch.
Recently signed Jamon Meredith is also a possibility, though, as we've seen, the Steelers apparently can't have enough offensive linemen.
24 comments:
Ever sine you said on sunday he was healthy I've been thinking McFadden's time is up. Bring the rookies on the field!
Still would prefer to see Essex gone. Meredith, well he at least hasn't stuck up the field with us, unlike most of our linemen, so he's cool
Essex might be the best guard on the team. Plus he can backup at tackle. No way they should cut him
Cut McFadden, he can't even play more than a couple games without getting hurt
Essex can play all five offensive line positions, I'd be shocked if they cut him.
William Gay and Keenan Lewis have been playing smart football. I can't believe I'm typing this, but Lewis looks like a starting caliber NFL CB. McFadden is expendable. I hope the Steelers agree with Dale.
Steelers cut Chris Scott to sign Starks. Good move.
Wow, I never thought I'd be so happy to have Max Starks back. It just shows how bad this o-line is when he's a massive upgrade.
Any idea what it is about Starks that coaches hate? He always seems to be in the dog house with the coaches even though the front office loves the guy.
I won't be surprised if Chris Scott isn't re-signed to the PS shortly. Glad to have Max back. Whatever his preceived faults, he seems to get the job done when he's in there.
any chance Starks plays this week?
I know shuffling the entire o-line around isn't a good idea, but I think our best 5 (when Starks is ready) would be:
Starks - Kemo- Pouncey - Gilbert - Scott
we'll see what kind of shape he is in. there has to be a reason why no other team picked him up. i wouldn't expect some vast improvement just because he is back.
the more i think about the titan's game, the more i think the steelers will get torched. the titans have one of the top o-lines in the league along with 2 quality RB's, a veteran and accurate QB, and decent WR's.
with a struggling d-line the steelers will need to stack the box to stop the run leaving their CB's vulnerable. additionally, i see the titans utilizing a lot of play action.
Why wasn't Starks signed 3 weeks ago instead of Meredith. Wouldn't that have been the smarter move? Now it's gonna take Starks a while to get up to speed, when he could already be ready. I dunno. Signing Meredith made little sense. Less now. What was the point? Maybe Starks is an upgrade. Maybe not. But Ben is gonna have to endure a couple more weeks of beatings until we find out. Didn't have to be this way.
And most of those players mentioned are vested vets. Their salary became guaranteed the first week of the season. You can cut them, but you're still paying them.
doubt he sees much, if any playing time this week. glad he is back.
i'm hoping the coaches aren't going to do something stupid like playing him at right tackle and leaving scott at left tackle.
but that wouldn't surprise me because i would imagine ownership had a say in getting max back.
they didn't sign him earlier because Tomlin "was sticking with what we have"
I guess there goes that.
That guy loses credibility every time he makes one of his bold statements.
At least the defense doesn't look old.. Oh wait, it does.
Let's stop the hand-wringing over the "beatings" Ben takes shall we?. He doesn't have to take them. He and BA could decide to implement a game plan that relies on running more, quick passes, short drops/routes, spreading defenses out and running the ball, getting rid of the ball when the first read isn't open and max protecting when they decide to throw deep. It's not rocket science.
for what it's worth, 2 starters look old (smith, farrior).
keisel was doing fine, i thought, until he got hurt. and they have a #1 draft pick behind him as a future starter.
harrison, coming off surgeries, was rounding into form before he just got hurt.
the 2 biggest disappointments are the yound LB's they just re-signed.
regarding smith, his backup should be better than he is right now. a #1 draft pick in his 3rd year should be starting.
regarding farrior, i have no idea what they were thinking. we all saw his skills declining, yet they keep foote as the backup to rotate in. are the younger backups that bad?
injuries compound the problem, but they happen to everyone. i don't think the defense is sub-standard because of their age, but rather lack of development from the younger players and simply poor play from their "young stars."
adamg...i'm not "hand wringing" certainly some of it is ben, some play calling, some lack of talent on o-line. not real hard to see all that the last few years. starks is an upgrade in one of those three areas
keisel did look good early. heyward is playing better than hood right now. maybe hood needs some more plays to get where he was last season ? not sure why he seems to have dropped off a bit (injured?)
if starks can come in and play decent, and tomlin finally gets on arians about play calling, and ben hits redman for the wide open dump off instead of looking downfield and getting sacked,(or leads wallace-or hits wide open brown in end zone) they might score more points. but these are all problems that have occured the last few years and we all know there is no fullback in arians offense.
can't make it to the super bowl every season. it might be one of those years of transition (some great long time players getting phased out) smith has had a great career. farrior was a heck of a fa pick up. nobody lasts forever though
Patrick,
Gilbert won't be at guard. I don't think he's had a single rep there all year. I know when he was drafted it was speculated that he'd fill the RG spot -- by me inluded -- but I think he's been playing well at OT and I believe he can be the LT of the future. He's been playing at least as well as the know-what-you're-getting J. Scott, and so I see no reason play Scott at all, with Starks back.
Starks - Kemo - Pouncey - Foster - Gilbert
+ Scott, Legursky & Essex (8)
I think Foster's better than Scott anyway, so this is our best 5... That's our best 5... I just made myself sad.
Scott had to be the one to go because he was also signed for next season, so it gave them some cap room for next season as well. He also had PS eligibility.
Joe, wasn't trying to single you out specifically, but just tired of the abuse the OL takes because the QB and OC don't seem to want to do anything that would mitigate the opponents' ability to tee off on the pass rush without worrying about anything else.
I remember back in the 70s the 5 man Steeler OL regularly was asked to pick up 5-6 man blitzes with no help and did it week in and week out. It seems the OL is still asked to do that even though they are often overwhelmed by it. It's just crazy not to adjust.
^ yes it is crazy. at least they made some halftime adjustments in the running game last week!
as has been blogged here, how can wallace just be forgotten in second halfs ??
many are complaining about all the dl's drafted, but they look to be solid players for the next years. if we didn't have them and had drafted a bunch of o-line players, the same people would be outraged we hadn't addressed the d-line !
Patrick - you are an idiot. Your best 5 starting lineup is stupid
Adamg--
Amen. It doesn't have to be as bad as it is. Ben Arians needs a little humility.
Maybe Ben needs to land on IR to learn that he has to get rid of the ball sometimes...it just might take something like that to get the concept through his skull.
The steelers need to put their best 5 Ol on the field and need in a week to see Starks in at Lt and keep Gilbert at RT. Scott has PS eligelibty but would the Steelers ask Keep Turner who i hear the Steelers really like.
Interesting to see McFadden mentioned as the potential one to go. It seems like they have another move to make since Mendenhall will not be able to play...
If Mendenhall can't go, Dwyer will dress instead of being inactive.
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