Marvelous:
In the bad old days, pre-Heinz, the Steelers typically drafted well, developed any number of solid to impact players and then saw those men fly, on the wings of FA, to franchises all around the league.� That�s over and has been for sometime; in the Heinz Era, the Steelers have extended Scott, Washington, Faneca, Porter, Zereoue, Aaron Smith and now Marvel.� Excluding Washington, those are all Contract 2 players; add impact 2nd Deal FA like Hartings, Logan and Farrior and, well, that�s exactly the way that durable contenders are constructed.�
While the Steeler FO is in front of the curve here, local media mavens are not.� Using their matchless math wizardry, of the same sort that sought to make a maelstrom out of the miniscule difference in the Batch and Maddox contracts, Mr. Bouchette has Smith as the 3rd highest paid LOT in the league while Mr. DiPaola has Marvel just behind Jon Ogden, Chris Samual and Tra Thomas.� If one is true, the other is not though, obviously, both may be false.� Well, let�s do the numbers:
- Both Orlando Pace and Walter Jones are LOT and both are laboring under the franchise tag.� That�s 5.7M for O-linemen (not distinguished by position) that figure being their 2003-only hit.� Now, in the likely event that these players eventually sign long-term deals (somewhere), those should eclipse Smith�s package.� In fact, Pace is asking for 85M over 7 years; reportedly, the Rams have countered with about half that amount.� Recently, Jones turned down a 5 year, 31M offer from the S�Hawks; this deal included 13.1M upfront and would have been the 2nd richest at the position, just behind Ogden.� Your elite LOT are looking for 7M/year and up; indeed, Tony Boselli�s package in his last year in Jagland (2001) approached 9M.
- Last winter, Luke Petitgout re-signed with the NYG for 6 years at 30M including a 9.75M signing bonus (SB).� Wayne Gandy�s deal with the Saints is 6 years and 30M though, since Gandy is 32, his SB was �just� 5M.� Kyle Turley did a deal with the Rams for 5 years for 26.5M in �new� money; this includes about 12M in bonuses.� Flozell �Hotel� Adams did a 5 year, 25 M deal, including 10M in a signing bonus.� These highly capable but as yet sub-elite OT are paid in the range of 5M/year.
Okay, with the (7) OT listed above, we�re looking at a minimum of �(10) players at the position that�ll cost their teams more than will Smith.� There may be more, those men are listed here because their info is easy to find; after all, they each did their new deals just this past winter.� Here are four more figures to consider:
- Marvel Smith is 24 years old (though he�ll be 25 when the season begins).� The age range for the OT cited above is 27 to 32.� Where was Petitgout 3 years ago, or Adams 4 years ago, when both players were then 24?
- In NFL funny money, the only number that sticks is the SB, or similarly guaranteed cash.� For the younger OT above, the numbers are 9.75, 10 and 12; Smith�s guarantee is 6M and, should he fold, that�s about supportable.
- Of the 26M in Smith�s deal, 2M will be counted against the 2003 cap.� That leaves 24 M spread over 5 years or a mean of 4.80M per season.� For reference, Gandy�s 2002 hit was 4.14M; that (relatively) modest differential should easily be subsumed within the annually escalating cap.
- Naught from naught, but Alan Faneca will average a 4.81M hit over the next 5 years while Hartings will average 5.165M/year over the next 4 seasons.� From that point of view, Smith will be just the 3rd highest paid O-linemen on the Steelers.� Evidently, Mr. DiPaola is of the opinion that 3 of the 4 league-wide highest paid blockers must work in the �Burgh.
3rd, 4th, 11th, whatever; the cost of doing business is always going up and, wherever Smith�s deal ranks now, it�s highly likely that�ll be down scale in a few years.� That is because Smith will be 30 going into the last year of his contract while some of those teams who have made big (or bigger) OT deals contemporaneously will be scrambling to replace their 33 to 38 year old starters.� There�s always going to be a new deal and, generally, for a larger amount; this is exactly why the PS FO is correct in asserting a Contract 2 core.
Of course, all that means diddly if Marvel stinks it out.� That could happen but consider that Russ Grimm must surely have signed off on this transaction.� IMO, Grimm is the best position coach employed here; conceivably, he is the best O-line coach in football.� If Grimm feels that Marvel can take the weight, well, that�ll do (for now anyway).�
Smith was drafted in 2000; he was widely regarded as the #2 LOT in that class (though a distant 2nd behind Chris Samual).� To be frank, I was surprised that the Steelers took Smith since they did have Gandy at LOT.� In contrast, the PS had a hole at ROT and that 2000 class was deep on the power side with prospects to include Stockar McDougle, Chris McIntosh and Todd Wade.� Wade was my guy then but so it goes.� �
Smith was a finesse OT from a finesse conference who came to play on the power-side for a team that (then) featured a power game par excellance.� He had his struggles but he did survive and, on balance, the O-side has thrived.� Now, Smith is to be the blind-side protect guy for a team that absolutely must throw to succeed. ��Purportedly, that�s his game and, should he play at a Jackson or Gandy like near Pro Bowl level, well, the Steelers will have a bargain.� If not, not. �