View topic - Poor-mouthing the Steelers

[thesteelhammer Profile]

Bouchette making excuses for the Steelers not getting some contracts done or bringing in any quality free agents.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09137/970756-66.stm?cmpid=steelers.xml

Bouchette on the Steelers: Team on a budget
Just because they've realized some recent savings doesn't mean they are flush with cap room
Sunday, May 17, 2009
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Steelers have their salary-cap savings from Larry Foote, Hines Ward and Ike Taylor. So, what will they do with their newfound money and cap room?

Don't be surprised if it turns out they do little.

They have nine starters entering the final year of their contracts: tight end Heath Miller, halfback Willie Parker, nose tackle Casey Hampton, defensive end Brett Keisel, tackles Max Starks and Willie Colon, free safety Ryan Clark, center Justin Hartwig and kicker Jeff Reed.

Most of those will finish the 2009 season without a contract extension and become free agents in March, and perhaps none will sign a new deal.

While the Steelers created more room with their recent moves, and the salary cap for each NFL team rose nearly $12 million since last season to $128 million, most of that cap room already has been gobbled up by higher salaries for 2009 to the point the Steelers were barely under the NFL cap before the draft. They also have their draft choices to sign.

One reason they don't have much wiggle room is the large increase in Ben Roethlisberger's cap figure. It was nearly $8 million last year, the first of his contract extension; it rises to more than $13.2 million this year. Other increases, although not as dramatic, include Keisel's climb of nearly $2 million to almost $5 million.

The Steelers have done a good job remaining not only competitive but winning two Super Bowls while managing the cap without wounding their future. They will be tested anew this year and next. They have paved the way to keep 20 of their 22 starters intact, but they may not be able to hold onto many or any of those nine who have one year left.

Kevin Colbert publicly proclaimed their desire to sign Starks to a contract extension, and Starks is open to a long-term deal. But with a guarantee of nearly $8.5 million this season as their franchise player, it does not seem plausible. The signing bonus alone would have to be enormous, in the $15 million range, for Starks to begin to entertain an extension. They tried last year after they guaranteed Starks a contract of nearly $8 million and could not do it. Why would anyone think they could pull it off this season?

They most likely will try to sign Miller and Reed to extensions as priorities, and perhaps Clark. They have no one behind either of those three who can measure up. Whether they can do so or not is another matter. The others may have to wait until after the season.

The unknown is whether a new collective bargaining agreement will occur before free agency in March. If not, players such as Miller and Colon will be restricted free agents rather than unrestricted, and each NFL team can tag two franchise players instead of one. That would, for instance, allow them to virtually keep four potential free agents -- Miller, Colon and two franchise players.

[CanadianSteel Profile]

Unfortunately in this league changes will happen. Hartwing, FWP, Hamton, Keisel and Starks could be gone
My opinion is we NEED to get Heath, Reed and Clark under contract long term. I would love see guys like Parker and Hamp stay as well but in the salary cap world it's just not possible