Steelers get busy

The Steelers made a flurry of moves on Monday, the biggest of which was the release of veteran defensive lineman Brett Keisel.

While the move itself was not surprising, the timing was somewhat of a shock.

Keisel, 36, obviously wasn't in the team's long-term plans. But it was assumed the team would cut ties with Cam Thomas before it would release Keisel.

That didn't happen.

Keisel signed a two-year deal to return to the team last August but suffered an triceps injury that ended his season in November.

The prevailing thought was that the Steelers would see how well Keisel's rehab was going before releasing him or Thomas.

By releasing Keisel, the Steelers cleared $1.5 million in salary cap space.

@ The Steelers weren't among the teams that began speaking with agents about players over the weekend in the early negotiating period.

But that doesn't mean they weren't busy.

Monday, the team re-signed outside linebacker Arthur Moats to a three-year deal and then tight end Matt Spaeth to a two-year deal.

Neither signing is as sexy as some of the others happening around the league right now, but they are key moves for the Steelers.

Moats will be counted on, at the very least, to provide depth on both sides at outside linebacker.

Spaeth, meanwhile, is a key component of the team's run blocking scheme.

@ The Steelers went into Monday with about $7.5 million in cap space by my figures. After the release of Keisel and signings of Spaeth and Moats, they have . . . about $7.5 million in cap space.

This, of course, assumes Spaeth and Moats signed for veteran minimum deals with signing bonuses in the $250,000-$500,000 range.

@ The Steelers released a statement from GM Kevin Colbert on Monday basically saying they have been in contact with safety Troy Polamalu's people but there's nothing new to report on his status.

Meanwhile, reports are beginning to surface that Polamalu is likely to retire by the end of the week.

We'll see if that's the case, but here's hoping it's true.

If Polamalu doesn't retire, the Steelers will likely be forced to release him. Nobody wants to see that happen.

The Steelers are gently pressuring the 8-time Pro Bowler to make that move. But they want to give him time to make this life-changing decision. He deserves that much.

@ As expected, the Steelers also tendered offers to restricted free agents Robert Golden, Antwon Blake and Will Johnson.

Since there has been little movement on restricted free agents in recent years, all should be back with the team in 2015.

@ BTW, I wrote last month that it's silly to look at last year's results and try to determine which games are going to be difficult.

Case and point will be the San Francisco 49ers, who are undergoing a major upheaval right now.

That looked like a tough game on paper - and still could be - but the 49ers are set to lose a lot in this offseason.