The Steelers and Bills have agreed to hold joint practices the next two seasons over the course of three days.
The Bills will visit Latrobe this summer, with the Steelers returning the favor and visiting the Bills' camp at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., in 2015.
The Steelers and Bills used to hold a joint practice/scrimmage back in the early 90s at Edinboro University and Pittsburgh also used to scrimmage against Washington.
The interesting thing about these scrimmages is that the Bills' general manager, Doug Whaley, is a former scout for the Steelers and Buffalo has a number of former Steelers on its roster.
@ The Steelers hope to sign a veteran free agent running back by the end of this week.
Maurice Jones-Drew is still the frontrunner, but he wants $3.5 million to play this season, more than the Steelers, who are currently less than $1 million under the salary cap, are willing to pay.
LeGarrette Blount will be in town later this week to meet with team officials once they get back from the owner's meetings.
The Steelers can free up some cash immediately with a restructure of Lawrence Timmons' contract, something that would be beneficial to both parties.
At some point, they'll also work out a new deal with linebacker Jason Worilds - though that's a little more difficult since it's a negotiation. It takes two sides to agree.
The team isn't in any hurry to extend quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is scheduled to make just over $12 million this season and has two seasons remaining on his current deal.
That's a bargain price for a quarterback of Roethlisberger's skill.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few blog reports predicting that the NFL will force the Steelers to be this year's "Inside The NFL" team. Several figure the scrimmages with the Bills will make for some interesting TV.
I'm curious what you think abouth that. As a fan I would love to see the trials and tribulations of Steelers training camp but at the same time I appreciate the monumental distraction it can be, particularly for a team in transition.
maybe the bills are the team to get hard knocks and the practices with the Steelers are an attraction and a nice little compromise between them and the league.
ReplyDeleteForcing a team to do a reality TV show is ridiculous.
I'm not referring to the Cuban story when I say this (because I think hes more full of sheeeet then he is successful) but I can see my interest in the NFL starting to wan. Forced reality tv is part of that problem.
It wouldn't bother me one way or another. The Steelers are pretty open at training camp anyway, so it's not that big of a deal.
ReplyDeleteI could see why coaches wouldn't want the TV cameras in their private meetings, though.
Blount signed with Pgh this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how much I love the Blount signing. I know he has problems holding onto the ball and I hope that is correctable, but I've always liked him since he came out and he's had some nice moments in his career.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely need to fix the fumbles though. I'm confident.
And yes I know Bell is the main guy, but Blount > Dwyer and I liked Dwyer a lot too.
That's one heck of a 1-2 punch the Steelers have in the backfield now. Makes you think its going to be back to pound the rock and throw off playaction.
ReplyDeleteThis has been one of the most active free agency periods for the Steelers in memory. It filled holes in RB, WR, DL, LB and S. Yet, they were conservative, did not overpay or overreach, no splash players, just solid players who for the most part are still relatively young. Some may not be starters, but it’s a long season and having solid backups can be the difference between an 8-8 season and the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteThe Steelers are in such a dire salary cap position that they signed more free agents last month than they did in any other March that I can remember.
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