Steed Retires; Hawkins Signs 1-year Deal

The Stillers and Fat Joel Steed finally agreed on a retirement settlement. Steed, who had 2 years left on his outrageous contract, will be paid $1M per year for the next 2 years, which will count against the team's cap. Who knows why it took all the way till mid-July for this obvious agreement to take place�.after all, it was readily apparent that Fat Joel was in no shape whatsoever to be playing ball at camp. At any rate, this puts an end to one of the worst FA moves the team has ever made. Bidding against only themselves, the team lavished a fat-laden contact on a fat NT who makes no impact whatsoever. Let the lesson to be learned, be that you have got to spend your big FA bucks on IMPACT players, not replaceable fat boys who have such poor workout habits, that they bloat to immense proportions, thus putting extra strain on their knees. Before this web site existed, I belonged to an email forum, in which I vilified the team immediately after the fatty contract was lavished on Steed in spring '98. "Yes, but he clogs the middle�.he knows the 3-4�.he's a good plugger�.he frees up Kirk and Holmes�" Trust me, I've heard all the quibbling babble. Oliver Gibson is capable of doing closely what Steed did�.and for a heckuva lot less money. Like Wittman, Breuner, Gildon, and Emmons, Steed was lavished with big bucks when nobody else in the NFL wanted him, and his impact playmaking was nonexistent.

After my rant yesterday about Bill Cowher's love affair with Lil' Courtney Hawkins, you can only imagine my disgust and sickliness when later that day, I read on the 'net than the team signed him to a 1-year, $440K contract. Never in my life have I been angrier with myself for "calling a shot" that ended up occurring a scant several hours later.

I could MAYBE see this move, if we were devastated by injury, drug problems, and/or felonies at the WR position.

However, we have:

1. A rookie #1 pick, who was the 8th pick in the draft.

2. A 2nd-year man, who was our #1 pick last year.

3. A 3rd round rookie WR, Farmer, with considerable size and athleticism.

4. A 2nd year man, Johnson, who also has considerable size and supposedly had a strong mini-camp.

5. A 3rd year man, Shaw, who showed some nice moves and RAC skills late last season.

(Will Jackwell, of course, will be placed on either the PUP or IR.)

This is 5 WRs who make this a fairly adequate bunch. And we waste our time and money signing Lil' Twerp Courtney??

Just to clarify, I have always liked Lil' Courtney as a SLOT RECEIVER. This is what he was originally signed to do, and he did this job well. Hawkins could actually chip in as a 3^rd down receiver. My concern, however, is with Cowher's love affair with Lil' Twerp Courtney. If Burress holds out for any length of time, Lil' Courtney might very well zoom up the depth chart and start opposite Troy, with Cowhead claiming to reporters, "Courtney gives us a veteran presence who knows the offense, has a good feel for what we are trying to do, and has a good rapport with Kordell." Never mind, of course, his midget height, his 5.1 speed in the forty, or his 2 TDs in 2 seasons as a starting receiver.

Last time I checked, John Jackson was still a FA and being courted by NOBODY. Seems to me that he'd be a helluva lot more valuable and useful, at a position that is thin on talent, experience, and depth, than piddling around with Lil' Twerp Courtney.