The Steelers on Monday released their first official depth chart of the season as they prepare for Thursday's preseason opener in Philadelphia.
There were a few surprises on the list, including holdout wideout Mike Wallace still being listed as No. 1 ahead of Emmanuel Sanders at receiver.
It was likely a measured move by the Steelers to show Wallace that - at least right now - there are no long-term hard feelings regarding his holdout, which will reach its third week on Wednesday.
We could see a change in that moving forward.
Rookie offensive tackle Mike Adams is still listed behind Trai Essex at left tackle on the depth chart despite the fact that Adams has been used ahead of Essex on the field the past three days.
Sanders, meanwhile, is listed as the team's No. 1 return man ahead of rookie Chris Rainey.
Defensively, because the guys on the PUP list aren't listed, Chris Carter is the starter at right outside linebacker, ahead of rookie Adrian Robinson. On the other side, it is veteran Brandon Johnson listed as second behind LaMarro Woodley.
8 comments:
Who's play has jumped out to you the most so far (positive or negative)?
any credence to the suggestions that decastro is struggling physically against his opponents?
When can Wallace deal with other teams?
DeCastro is doing well and will be the starter, you need to consider the drills that D or O players get "beat" on, some are made to favor one side of the ball or the other. DeCastro has looked good in many drills and Pouncy has indicated he is farther alng than he was aa a rookie, depth chart aside, and baring injury, you can go ahead and pencil in Adams and DeCastro for many years to come. I have been heavily touoting Adams on hear since the draft, and like I have said all along, Adams is by far the most gifted tckle athletically on the team, I am confident Kugler can coach him up farther and get the most out of him, we are going to have one of the top o lines in the league in the next year or two...and I can not believe I am saying that based on the last few years, our front office has done a great job drafting talent and developing that talent.
The Steelers can keep wallace through next year if they choose to use the franchise tag. The ball is in Wallace's court, he can be a Steeler long term if he chooses to be, but it will be a reasonable contract in the 5 year 45-50 mil range. If he plays for the tender this year and gets franchised next, he would still be a bit of a bargain, but the cap hit of 11 million next year is most likely more than the Steelers would pay. I am still hopeful it gets resolved and think that it still is possible, either way he will play for at least a portion of this season,
I expect if Wallace truly intends to sign his RFA tender and report before camp ends, it won't be any sooner than about the middle of the month(so, another week). That would still give him three full weeks of camp, I believe. Not fantastic, but you can probably still achieve a lot in three weeks if you're motivated, particularly as far as the physical stuff goes. Mental? Ehhh....let's just say if anything will suffer, it'll be that IMO.
If his holdout goes any longer than that....chances are he ain't signing the tender until Week 10.
FWIW, Ward held out until Aug. 16th back in the day, signed his tender and had his LTD done about a week later, IIRC. He looked fine that year with only 3-ish weeks of camp, although it's worth noting he wasn't learning a new offense.
Bottom line is that Mike needs to grunt or punt. If he gets in there within the next week he can probably still assimilate a lot of the offense and rebuild timing(hell, he only runs three routes, right? :)) Any longer of a hold out than that and it'll likely seriously delay how quickly he assimilates all of Haley's new stuff. At that point he may as well just cool his heels until Nov. I know he's had the playbook for a while, buuuut....
Dale,
Can we start some speculation that Wallace isn't confident he can repeat his previous performances, with a little loss of speed and another year older? He has one more season until a big pay day if he can continue burning ever younger secondary pieces.
On another note,
It looks to me as though this hold-out is good for Wallace's future with the Steelers, because if he wanted
to play somewhere else for a monster-deal, he could just play for the 2.7 and go get paid. Instead, he is holding out because he obviously prefers to get paid in Pittsburgh, for eventually most likely less than he could get if he reaches the open market next offseason.
I just found it odd that no one has pointed that out about the hold out actually showing loyalty to the Steelers.
is Joe Jones trying to use a jedi mind trick on me?
LaMARRO??
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