Monthly Archives: June 2014

Antonio-Brown

Antonio Brown Is Number 23 On NFL’s Top 100

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The NFL Network continued their Top 100 players countdown last night, and Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown came in at #23 on the list. Ben Roethlisberger was 31 on the list last week.

Antonio Brown saw the biggest jump out of the players who ranked this year, going from unranked last year to #23 this year. Brown’s production exploded in 2013, so he deserves to be high on the list (arguably higher). Brown was 2nd in receptions last year with 110, and 2nd in total yards with 1498 (ahead of Calvin Johnson).

While the Top 100 rankings mean absolutely nothing, they do perhaps show that Brown is getting recognition from his peers. AB was as humble as always when interviewed about the Top 100. “I don’t want to be the judge of it…I’m excited for 2014. You can just look at my resume, and I’m going to continue to improve it.” When asked how he puts up numbers with the tall receivers, Brown wasn’t gift wrapping a sound bite.  “I’ve got a unique skill set…I don’t want to really talk about myself. I’m just honored to be on the list, and I want to continue to build, and you guys continue to watch.”

You can watch the video on the NFL site here: Antonio Brown NFL Top 100

Brandon_Flowers_(American_football)

Chargers Sign CB Brandon Flowers To One Year Deal

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The Chargers have signed cornerback Brandon Flowers to a one year deal. The specific terms of the deal haven’t been made publicly available, but the deal is reportedly worth up to $5 Mil. Early reports of the financial details indicate that the contract included a guaranteed base salary of $1.5 Mil, a guaranteed signing bonus of $1.5 Mil, and up to $2 Mil in potential incentives.

The Steelers were reportedly “interested” in Flowers, but the report never really passed the sniff test to me. Sure, the Steelers were going to keep their eye on the situation, but certainly they weren’t going to be one of the cornerback’s active suitors. Flowers had a substantial drop in his production last year. Many referenced Ike Taylor in the Flowers discussion, but based on his play last year, William Gay is the closer comparison.

With just under $6.5 Mil in cap space, the Steelers have ample room to shop for value free agents. Spending up to $5 Mil for a zone nickel corner (which Flowers looks destined to be) is not on the Steelers fiduciary to do list this summer.

Adam Podlesh

Patriots Waive Former Steelers WR Reggie Dunn

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Reggie Dunn, the speedster wide receiver the Steelers signed as an undrafted free agent last spring, has been waived by the Patriots. He has gone unclaimed on waivers and is free to sign with the team of his choosing. Dunn spent all of training camp with the Steelers last year before being released during the final round of roster cuts.

The former Utah kick returner saw time on the Packers, Browns, and Dolphins practice squads last season. He was with the Patriots since they signed him to their practice squad in January.

Alan-Faneca

Alan Faneca Inducted Into Louisiana Sports Hall Of Fame

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Former Steelers guard Alan Faneca was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame last weekend. Faneca was drafted by the Steelers in the first round of the 1998 draft, and remained with the team through 2007. After leaving the Steelers, the 9 time pro bowl and all pro left guard saw short stints with the Jets and Cardinals before ultimately retiring in 2011.

Since retiring, Faneca lost over 100 lbs. He says he always planned to lose weight after he retired from football, and attributes the weight loss to cardio and marathon running. Here is a brief interview where the former Steelers lineman talks about becoming a marathon runner.

[xyz-ihs snippet=”fanecamarathon”]

Faneca played for LSU from 1994 to 1997, and amassed 210 pancake blocks during his time on the Tigers line. He had originally committed to Alabama, but changed his mind the morning of signing day after a call from the LSU recruiter.

“He dropped a lot of four-letter words,” Faneca recalled via Nola.com. “I’d have to say he cursed me out. After I hung up the phone I looked around my room and it was all purple and gold. There must have been 20 items. . . T-shirts, posters. . . I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing? I’m screwing up.’ I thought about it, woke up on signing day and said I’m going to LSU.”

20 years and a super bowl ring later, he’s inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Here’s another brief video of Faneca taking questions before his induction, and recalling the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The retired guard told reporters that it would have been a let down to go anywhere besides Pittsburgh.

[xyz-ihs snippet=”fanecainduction”]

Terry-Bradshaw

Too Many Are Quick To Judge Terry Bradshaw

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Terry Bradshaw has been taking a lot of heat this week. It seems that a large portion of the Steelers fanbase, and some in the media, are upset that the Blonde Bomber didn’t attend Chuck Noll’s funeral. According to Starkey and Mueller of 93.7 The Fan, Terry Bradshaw “in no way showed up to the viewing or the funeral to pay his respects”. To further add fuel to the fire, Starkey shared a quote from former Steelers public relations man Joe Gordon about Terry Bradshaw. The message he shared about Bradshaw from Gordon read, “He’s the most insincere person I’ve ever known.” Why Gordon would offer that…I have no idea.

There’s another part to the story. Steelers legend Jack Lambert, who is notoriously private, didn’t attend the funeral. Lambert did reportedly make private arrangements to meet with Chuck Noll’s wife. Here’s the skinny on that:

“He [Jack] called Joe Gordon over the weekend and said he wanted to sit down and talk with Marianne Noll, Chuck’s wife. So Sunday, it was arranged that Jack Lambert would talk with Marianne Noll at 1:30, and sure enough, Joe Gordon showed up at the funeral home, and at 1 o’clock, Jack Lambert was sitting outside in his truck, presumably having driven in from Kittanning, which I think is where he lives up there, sitting in his truck waiting. And he had a chance to have an audience, have a nice talk with Marianne Noll for about 15 to 20 minutes and then left and drove back home before anybody else came.”

That’s such a Jack Lambert move. Rogue yet classy. Honestly, it’s so Jack Lambert it’s exactly how you might imagine the hall of famer paying his respects if you hadn’t heard the story. While the two have nothing to do with each other, sharing what Lambert did feeds some of the negativity for Terry’s lack of attendance.

People grieve in different ways, and however Terry Bradshaw chose to pay his respects/send his condolences, is really no one’s business. This and other stories circulating about the former quarterback paint a picture of indifference about Chuck Noll’s passing, and that’s just not the case.

After his one man show “Americas Favorite Dumb Blonde” in Pittsburgh last weekend, the former quarterback said some words of condolence about his former coach, and sang a tearful song of tribute to him. You can watch part of that in the video below (the song’s not included in the video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d7i7hixl0Q

Ultimately, I think many people expected to see all the Steelers greats from the ’70s dynasty serving as pallbearers at Coach Noll’s funeral, with Terry Bradshaw standing across from Mean Joe (who was a pallbearer). It may be easy for us to pass judgement on Bradshaw for being absent, but as spectators, we should all try to reserve judgement on those who have suffered a personal loss.

Ben-Roethlisberger

Ben Roethlisberger Is 31st On NFL’s Top 100 List

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The NFL Network continued it’s Top 100 series this week, and for what it’s worth, Ben Roethlisberger came in at #31. The rankings are based on a poll of current players. The premise is that the player’s peers vote based on their perception of how well he played last year, and how well he’ll do in the upcoming season.

Last year, Big Ben was ranked 61st on the NFL’s Top 100 list. Perhaps they polled less Ravens players this year, or perhaps the group they polled just paid more attention to Roethlisberger’s game than the previous year’s polling sample. I’m kidding around of course. I have no idea what thought process they use to determine their rankings. Rob Gronkowski ranked 41st, and he only played in 7 games this year, some of which he was limited in.

For what it’s worth, here’s how he ranked on the Top 100 over the past few years.

2011: 41

2012:  30

2013: 61

2014: 31

Here are the other quarterbacks who have been in the Top 100 so far this year:

Matt Stafford: 100

Colin Kaepernick: 81

Tony Romo: 71

Nick Foles: 70

Joe Flacco: 58

Not that these rankings mean anything, but looking at it objectively, I think they ranked Ben pretty accurately this year. Not all agree with me, though.

https://twitter.com/PlayerRater14/status/479443265993715712

What do you think? Did they get it right this year, or did they miss the mark?

 

 

Le'Veon Bell

Report: Jason Worilds Has Not Turned Down An Offer From The Steelers

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Last week Ed Bouchette of the Post Gazette wrote that Jason Worilds turned down a long term contract offer from the Steelers. In his morning blog, Bouchette wrote, “Turns out, the Steelers made Jason Worilds a multi-year contract offer awhile ago, sources say. His side did not accept it. I have no idea what that offer was, but I am told that offer stands and they will go no higher, that he either takes it or plays this season for the $9.7 million one-year deal he signed as their transition player.”

The post received lots of attention from national media, and many a story was churned out about it. I’m going to refrain from going off on a tangent about how the sports writing ecosystem works, at least how it pertains to the Steelers. I’ll just say that a lot of it is more about clicks than facts.

Back to Worilds and his offer…or lack there of. Today Trib reporter Mark Kaboly writes that Worilds had no such offer from the Steelers. Here’s what Kaboly wrote about the matter.

“I was told that Worilds was not offered a contract by the Steelers and that there have been no talks between the two sides since Worilds agreed to the transition tag three months ago. It was recently reported that Worilds rejected a contract offer by the Steelers, which remains on the table.

“An absolute lie,” the person said.

It is not unusual for there to be two different stories during contract negotiations. In fact, it’s the norm, so take it for what is worth. Worilds would not comment on his contract situation when I asked, and that’s about status quo for him. Worilds is a very quiet and guarded individual that would never talk about something as sensitive as his contract situation.”

Perhaps both reporters are indeed talking to team sources with knowledge of the subject. There is no indication from either writer who their source was, or if it was even a source who is affiliated with the team, or with player representation- and that’s completely fine. It’s par for the course.

Worilds and his camp hold all the cards in contract negotiations, and have since he accepted the transition tag. Who knows what’s really going on behind closed doors in terms of negotiations, but the transition tag certainly poses an obstacle for the Steelers while trying to work out a long term extension. It may very likely be that the team will let Worilds play out this season as a “prove your worth” year, and wait until 2015 to either transition/franchise him, or negotiate a long term deal.

Cortez Allen contract

Second Round Pick Stephon Tuitt Signs Rookie Contract

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The Steelers last remaining unsigned rookie has signed his contract this morning. Second round pick DE Stephon Tuitt is now under contract. I figured the front office was going to push to finalize this deal before everyone goes on summer vacation when mini-camp breaks.

While the specifics of the deal are not available yet, I can give you a pretty accurate projection. Here are the estimates I made a month or so ago.

[table]

Player, Total Value, Signing Bonus, 2014 Cap Hit

Stephon Tuitt, “$4,607,953”, “$1,733,000”, “$853,250”

[/table]

Since then, all but four 2nd round picks have signed their deals. I can say that Tuitt’s signing bonus estimate might be a tad high, and his cap number may end up being a little lower than the $853K I originally predicted.

derek moye

Steelers Sign RB Jordan Hall, Release Deion Belue

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The Steelers have signed former Ohio State running back Jordan Hall. CB Deion Belue has been released to make room on the roster.
https://twitter.com/steelers/status/479244675577311232

Hall is 5’8, 196 lbs and ran for 536 yards last season. He also had 5 kick returns for a total of 122 yards. It’s worth noting that in 2010 and 2011, he had a combined 44 kick return attempts for a total of 1,186 yards. A medical redshirt, Hall’s 2013 production was hampered by a nagging knee injury. In 2012, he had a partial PCL tear, not long after coming back from surgery to a freak cut he suffered to his foot. Last August, Urban Meyer said Hall was the best running back on the team.

Here is Jordan Hall in OSU’s opener against Buffalo last season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knS4Uf5daG4

The Steelers were awarded Belue off of waivers last month. The rookie cornerback was waived by the Dolphins, who signed him as an undrafted free agent shortly after the draft.

Hall’s contract will be for 3 years, and will likely include little to no signing bonus money. Belue’s was also a 3 year deal.

steelers

[Video] Jason Worilds Took Part In Individual Drills Today

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Steelers outside linebacker Jason Worilds spent nearly all of OTA’s rehabbing his injured leg. Some people speculated it was a hamstring injury, others a calf injury, but whatever it was- it kept him from meaningfully participating in the voluntary practices.

Worilds was in attendance for today’s opening of mini-camp, and was able to participate in individual drills.

https://twitter.com/MarkKaboly_Trib/status/478998563922255872

During the latter part of practice today, Worilds was back to the sideline rehabbing his leg. As a side note, the same was said for DE Nick Williams, who was able to participate in the first part of practice, but adjourned to the sideline to rehab his knee.

The following brief, low budget video taken by Kaboly gives us a glimpse of Joey Porter coaching up Jason Worilds and the linebacker group in individual drills today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aBsCmbztYE

The next video clip is another look at the linebackers running drills. Timmons shows excellent use of his hands as he tears through the bags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDSUDu_qN8E

Day 2 of mini-camp is tomorrow, and the last day is Thursday. After that, the team will be on break until July 25th when training camp begins.