With Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert in Morgantown for the West Virginia pro day - they've been quite busy this offseason visiting pro days - the Steelers were still moving forward in free agency.
That included re-signing long snapper Greg Warren and having running back Beanie Wells in on Friday to meet with team doctors.
The signing of Warren is a good one. Solid long snappers are hard to find and the team didn't want to go into 2013 having an open tryout for that position.
As for Wells, he would seem to be a similar back to both Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer. And the Steelers were just kicking his tires a little bit - a smart move for a back who has the knee issues that Wells has had.
Something tells me that if the Steelers were so inclined to make a move to sign Wells, it might come at the expense of Dwyer or Redman.
Tender offers can be pulled and players who have signed their tenders can be released. It wouldn't make much sense to have three power backs on the roster.
@ It appears both Keenan Lewis and Ryan Mundy are close to leaving.
Lewis is reportedly working on a deal with New Orleans, while Mundy is doing the same with the Giants.
if the tender is pulled after it has been signed by the player, does it count towards the cap?
ReplyDeleteGotta get my kid to work on his long snapping. What a gig!
ReplyDeleteI cannot remember an offseason where the Steelers lost this much young talent. Hasn't the key for the Steelers been drafting and then resigning young players BEFORE they blow up? Would it have been so impossible to offer Wallace or Lewis a decent deal sooner so we could tie them up before we could no longer afford them?
ReplyDeleteI know hindsight is 20/20 but this just strikes me as having been a bad offseason for the team that better self scouting might have prevented.
They did make Wallace an offer. He turned it down.
ReplyDeleteAs for Lewis, they weren't sure what they had because he hadn't started. And they didn't have the cap space to do it.
Lewis is close to signing with the saints. They have less money than we do. It's just a stupid move by the steelers brass to let him walk. Say what u want, but he's young, talented, affordable and played better than Ike last year when he was healthy. Extremely disappointed to say the least
ReplyDeleteYeah the lack of attempt to retain Lewis makes literally no sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Dude played lights out for us last year and we make no effort at all. Did we even make him an offer? Everyone makes a big deal about Richard Sherman but truth is Lewis is better. Didn't have many int's but solid coverage every game I watched. Also better than Cortez Allen. Didn't Boldin smoke Cortez Allen Last year twice in the same series that led to a td? I think so
ReplyDeleteDale, always enjoy your work and your blog. Question for you about Keenan Lewis. I saw your tweet where you said that the Steelers would not have been able to match his deal at 5 years, $26 million. But I also saw where his hit for this year was only $2.2 million.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to me that the Steelers could have easily accomodated that type of hit, even with all their recent signings. Is that not accurate?
Dale, everybody knows they can "create" cap space at any time they wish. They had the cap space to sign plaxico, Greg warren, bruce grodkowski, William gay ect.. It's a bs move to let him walk, enough said.
ReplyDeleteWait and see what Lewis does after the season is over; some people are reacting like we just lost Revis. Ask the Jets how they did by giving the best DB tons of money.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to create more QB pressure and I hope we get a stud DL man.
Dale, how do you feel about Mingo?
This is why we are who we are. We do not overpay players. 5 years and 26 million is too much for Lewis. He was #1 in passes defended because he was thrown at the second highest in the leauge. QBs would rather throw at him than Ike. I liked Lewis and would have been happy to keep him, but not for that kind of $$ for a #2 corner with 0 pics and 0 impact plays. He and his bud Wallace were here to cash in, I think the locker room just got a whole lot more cohesive. Best of luck in NO, I will be interested to see what kind of season they both have.
ReplyDeleteBen needs more help not Ike. Forget Lewis, how about getting a decent running back.
ReplyDeleteI still think they should have cut Ike to keep Lewis.
ReplyDeleteStill, Dick LeBeau came to me in a dream and said "who cares? he's just a corner anyway..." so I'll go with that.
Pass rush, O-line health, and drafting the ND tight end are more important than those guys anyway.
Just looking deep into the pages of free agency, to try to find some cheap fits.
ReplyDeleteThe first names that stuck out to me were the two Raiders Huff and Heyward-Bay. Not sure how much either would cost though, yet they were both released, so money may not be as big an issue.
Scrumming deeper into the more realistic signings, I wonder if even Rex Grossman would have been a better look than Gradkowski?
Mohammed Massaquoi? I wouldn't mind it. I'd take him over Cotchery. I don't see the point of Cotch, when Burress is clearly the veteran of the WR corps.
Chris Hope? I'd like him as a back-up to Troy & Clark.
LaRod Stephens-Howling? I wouldn't complain.
And is there any chance Harrison could come back on a cheap deal? Didn't releasing him already grant him money due?