CB Isaiah Green was released yesterday to make room on the roster for the addition of Levi Brown. Green was added from the Practice Squad on September 17th, but has been inactive for the games the team has played since then.
The biggest concern about trading for Levi Brown was the considerable salary cap hit and likely “can kicking” to make room for his salary this year. Those concerns can be put to rest. Bob Labriola reports that Brown’s contract was reworked with the Cardinals before the trade. His contract will be for the veteran minimum, and will only count $840,000 $715,000 towards the 2013 Steelers salary cap, prorated across the next 13 weeks. A trade that drew negative criticism by the media this morning, should be drawing praise tonight.
Updated- By my calculations, the prorated portion of Brown’s salary is $546,765. Due to displacement, the Steelers available salary cap should only go down by $189,412, because of Green’s release yesterday.
For those who might be wondering what the salary cap implications of the Levi Brown trade look like, here is a breakdown of the 2013 numbers.
As of last night, the Steelers have $1,858,498 in available cap room. By acquiring Brown, the team will take on $3.63 Mil for this year’s salary cap. There is no signing bonus money liability involved for the Steelers, so if he doesn’t work out after this season, the team can part ways without further financial obligation.
According to Adam Schefter, the deal is for a late round pick, which, if true, is better than what initial reports were speculating. Possible options to make room for Brown’s salary cap hit include restructuring Troy or Ike Taylor’s contracts, or extending Ryan Clark. It will be interesting to see what moves the team makes to clear the cap space for this transaction. I’ll post the details as soon as they’re available.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/385432834715836416
Multiple news outlets are reporting that the Steelers are finalizing a trade deal with the Arizona Cardinals for LT Levi Brown. The terms of the trade have not been disclosed yet, but the deal is said to be final pending a physical and is expected to be announced later today. Levi Brown is the Cardinals starting left tackle. He’s 6’6″, 324 lbs., and was selected by the Cardinals with the 5th overall pick in the 2007 draft. Brown was the starting right tackle protecting Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XLIII. Brown is a tackle who I’d characterize as having an up and down career. He has had a somewhat rough preseason and start with the Cardinals this year after missing OTAs, but this tells you what the Steelers think of Max Starks, and perhaps Mike Adams lately for that matter.
The Rams have released former Steelers tackle Max Starks today. I would speculate that 80% of Steeler Nation is wondering if the team will give Max a call due to the team’s poor depth of talent, and recent struggles of the offensive line. Before his brief time with the Rams, Starks spent training camp with the San Diego Chargers and played with them throughout preseason, before losing the starting battle to King Dunlap. Starks struggled at times during his brief stint with the Chargers and Rams, though, he wasn’t exactly a top tier tackle during his last season with the Steelers, either. While I find the possibility of Max being signed by the Steelers to be pretty slim, you have to wonder if he wouldn’t bring more value to the roster than someone like Guy Whimper.
Max’s vet minimum salary is $840,000. If signed, he would count somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000, depending on when he were signed.
According to multiple media outlets, Ben Roethlisberger suffered a subluxation of his right index finger during the loss to the Minnesota Vikings. A subluxation is a partial dislocation of the finger joint.
The injury came early in the fourth quarter during a touchdown pass to Jerricho Cotchery. During the play, Vikings DE Everson Griffen got a hand up to bat the ball, and made contact with Roethlisberger’s hand after the ball was thrown. Ben told reporters today that the injury wasn’t serious. He went on to say that he will practice today if Coach Tomlin allows it, but that seems highly unlikely.
Here is a gif of the play where his finger was injured.