Stillers Sign Logan

The Stillers signed FA safety Mike Logan from the Jags, to a 3-year deal worth $3.1M plus a $750K bonus.

The Stillers had been talking for weeks about upgrading the safety spot with more speed, and they were able to sign Pittsburgh-native Logan away from the rival Jags.

The move has the following pluses/minuses:

• Logan brings competition to the FS job, and should he beat out Brent, then Brent will provide solid backup help and play in the nickel.
• Logan�s signing all but spells the end of Scott PantyShields, a 2^nd round pansie who flopped in his first 2 seasons.
• Logan can also return kicks.
• Logan�s contract is fairly cap friendly.
• If DeWayne and Chad depart as FAs next year, Logan will be here, along with Lee, Brent, and whomever else.

• Will Jackwell, long a Cowher favorite, is probably entrenched in the kickoff return chores.
• Logan is not the second coming of Ronnie Lott. We�ve played Jax twice a year, every year, since Logan�s been in the NFL. Ask yourself: Do you recall anything heroic or spectacular that Logan did ? Ok, do you recall anything that Logan did?
• If DeWayne and Chad depart as FAs, we�re still in a world of hurt. Logan is a safety, not a CB, and we�ll still be in dire need of starting CBs.
• Safety is about the LEAST concern on this defense. Once Brent took over the starting job from Shields, our safety play was strong. More pressing for this defense, is finding a real DE, a NT, a suitable OLB to complement Porter, and a real ILB who can stuff the run. All of these needs are far more dire than slightly upgrading (best case) Brent with Logan.

Overall, this was a nice signing in terms of adding some ability at little cap cost. Still, to me, it does nothing in terms of significantly improving this team�s chances of making the playoffs. At best, he�s an ever-so-slight upgrade over Brent, who had a very good �00 season in both pass defense and run support. This move is akin to if we signed a slow TE who catches 27 passes per year, as opposed to Bruener�s 19 catches per year�the improvement to the overall team�s chances to make the playoffs would be marginal, at best. Like the Hartings signing and the re-signing of Doughboy Bettis, the Logan signing adds little oomph and little improvement in terms of becoming a playoff-caliber team.