POLL: Post-Draft, Would You Keep Emmanuel Sanders?

but every time you replace a receiver they have to get used to ben and ben has to get used to them. it sets the offense back. the years are ticking away and if you don't think they make a difference, there's no selling you on the fact. all the wr's in the NFL are good or they wouldn't be here.

ward didn't make his living and status by just catching balls from ben, the qb didn't define what type of football player hines was or what he meant to this team. ward had a complete game. we saw our run game suffer last year without his blocking. it makes a difference. it's not all about looking pretty catching the football that makes a wr. good. it's not just the qb either, because he would be nothing without the rest of the team around him.

if you don't think AB would be a wanted commodity by the rest of the league thats just being argumentive without merit. until you see sanders in a starting role for a season, i'm not sure how you can make such a judgement. it's baseless. 1 season doesn't define a players whole career. that's like taking bens worst season and saying thats how he'll always play because he did that season.

 

i was simply showing our wr's during our SB seasons, win or lose SB's. that's why wallace,AB,and sanders were included. snack got the jist of my meaning. cedric did very little to help us get there,so saying we won with him is quite misleading. yes he was on the roster but did little to define that season.

we have one year contracts all over this team, you have to keep some of the core together or we are in full rebuild mode.

we signed mclendon after a team wanted him, yet he's rarely seen the field. NT's are a dime a dozen you could say. heck we have 4 of them in camp, yet we're using a backup DE in place of 3 of them. so why did we keep him? it's because he is very capable. so is sanders. so is worilds.

the steelers don't have the money for all of them this year and need to see what these guys are capable of as starters. they need to find out, did they're investment in them payoff. then the contracts will be offered accordingly, or not.

 

My vote at the time was to match the Pats offer but then Sanders' agent starting mouthing off that the Steelers better be prepared to offer a BIG CONTRACT after this season and I regretted the fact that we did match. My thinking was that we were about to go through Wallace 2.0 this upcoming season but at least with Wallace he had put some stats on the board. Sanders has done virtually NOTHING at this point in his career. He has shown flashes but has not been consistent enough either because of injury or just plain lack of focus and inconsistency. When you fumble a ball with no one around you that's a lack of focus plain and simple.

The story of Sanders career will be established this year and I've got a feeling the Steelers lose either way. If he has a breakout season and puts monster numbers on the board, he'll be looking for the BIG CONTRACT his agent has already given notice of and will, in all likelihood, be gone. If he continues to put up the pedestrian numbers he has thus far in his career he'll likely establish himself as just another warm body and the Steelers will not extend his contract and he'll be off to journeyman land.

 

this buys us a good season to see what our new rookie can do and plax and cotchery are not starting material anymore.

cotchery dropped a ball like sanders did too going in for a TD. he's a vet. it happens. you have guys flying at you from everywhere trying to take your head off, so yea, it's easy to lose focus once in awhile.

i think what has made a case for sanders with the team is all of our wr's played like that last year. you really can't define him from the others.

agents are paid to talk that way. the steelers will offer a fair price or move on.

this is where our other wr's come in. justin brown our 6th rd. pick and woods our UDFA and gilreath and moye. they need to show signs of taking what was sanders role on for next year as the 3rd and 4th guy. making it easier for us to part ways if it comes to that.

 

I understand that agents are paid to talk that way, but what bothered me was the fact that Sanders really had not accomplished anything of substance up to this point in his career other than being tendered by the Pats. It's one thing for an agent to begin the saber rattling after his client has put significant numbers on the board but it's quite another when they really haven't done anything on the field other than a couple of plays here and there. It makes them look presumptous and greedy and has an air of undeserved entitlement that doesn't sit well with most fans. Earn it and then go for the big contract. Don't talk big contract before you earn it.

 

wallace,AB and sanders were made to be bigger then life early on.

AB is the one that got paid yet has similar numbers to sanders. isn't it my turn would be a concern for sanders, because now you want me as a starter too.

i still say the front office did it wrong last year to cause some of this by just Wham, giving that contract to AB right after wallace turned it down. that started this ball rolling.

 

Can't argue with that. The FO may have created a monster in this situation. That's why I've come to affectionately call them the Young Money (Hungry) Crew.

 

this is their year to put up or shut up.

 

What Wilson came up with some huge catches in the playoffs. He absolutely contributed I can remember 3 huge third down catches among others.

 

Wilson's number through the 05 playoff run
18 01/08 @ CIN W * 31-17 1 0 3 104 34.7 54 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
19 01/15 @ IND W * 21-18 1 0 0 0 -- -- 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
20 01/22 @ DEN W * 34-17 1 0 5 92 18.4 30 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
21 02/05 SEA W * 21-10 1 0 1 20 20.0 20 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
TOTAL 4 0 9 216 24.0 54 2 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0

2 tds 102 yard game and a 92 yard game

 

Wilson didn't contribute anything. He's a WR. Ben contributed. Wilson was just around. You or I could've done the same thing.

 

I'm not saying that anybody can do it but wrs and rbs are replaceable. You think if we had the turnover at qb that we have had at wr we would still be competitive. How about lber or safety or for teams that don't have big Ben an oline. Those are the positions that you can't just plug guys into and still compete. The Steelers have gone through some wrs yet they keep winning.

 

I've always believed that if Holmes was on this team in 2010, that last drive turns out differently, more like 2008 and my name is rush2eight

 

What about mac's point with the OL? We have had terrible OLs with lots of turnover every year since '07, and have won anyway. We've been to 2 Super Bowls and won 1 of them. We've been 63-33. Does that mean serviceable players are good enough? Does it mean you can just plug anyone in? Many of our OL players have not even been serviceable! Does that mean serviceable players are not even necessary, and below average is fine?

Stop saying WRs are less important than QBs like you're making some kind of earth-shattering point. Everyone knows that already. Keep saying that WRs like Wallace, Holmes, Sanders, and Brown are easily replaced though, and keep saying stuff like "Santonio Holmes wasn't even my first choice for Super Bowl MVP" and "Well we replaced them with each other, so either I'm right and all of these guys can be replaced easily and immediately, or we got a lot of good receivers in a row, and what are the odds of that?" as your reasoning behind it. You're making a lot of progress.

 

We let Nate Washington go after 4 years of paying him minimum, so the Titans signed him for 27 million, and he's been playing solid for them: Sanders has made some good plays on the field just like Nate did when he was here, you never know what you have in a receiver until you see him playing on another team...

 

If you put any qb behind that line other then Ben we don't win 5 games. My reasoning is sound. You can't tell me we have hit homeruns on this many wrs in a row I'm sorry but that doesn't add up. Wr is a plug and play position. Why is it most rookies that explode onto the scene are wrs and rbs. A good qb can make any wr that can hang onto the ball look good. We could have brought in a FA or another rookie that does the exact same thing Sanders does for a lot less money. Steve Breaston would have been cheaper and he has a 1000 yard season under his belt as a 3rd wr in haleys offense.

 

Yes we have picked some good ones but my point is that we could have used the pick and the cash more then we needed Sanders. My other point is that wr is the easiest position to replace. I'm not saying being a wr is easy and evryone can do it but in this day and age wrs are a dime a dozen. Now when you get a special one you absolutely do everything you can to hold onto them but for the moat part wr A can be replaced by wr B and the offense not skip a beat.

 

But I don't remember Nate or his agent beating their chests saying that the Steelers better get ready to write them a big check after the upcoming season when he hadn't done anything up to that point to merit it. Nate went out and got paid, good for him. I don't begrudge anyone for signing as big a contract as they possibly can but when you start early with the "agent speak" when you haven't really done anything special yet it's distasteful to most fans. At least it is to this fan.

 

I always sorta liked Nate Washington. I thought of him as a pretty solid guy. I remember that one game in St Louis where he had three TDs and I got to work the next day and this guy was trying to throw his fantasy game to one of his buddies because his season was pretty much over but the other guy needed a win but Nate went out there and tore it up and he said "who in the crap is that guy!?" and I said "that's Nate the Great!" I think that's also the game where Willie Parker's career came to an end with us too wasn't it? Nate has played just fine for the Titans.

 

I understand losing two starters would hurt but we could have brought breaston in for the vet min and would have been fine. With the new rules to protect wrs it levels the playing field between good and average. There just aren't that many special wide out there. I would say there are three maybe four irreplaceable wrs playing right now the ones that come to mind are CJ, Fitz, A. Johnson, and AJ Green is quickly getting there. Even Fitz had a down year this year due to lack of a qb. A wr is only as good as the guy throwing him the ball and a rb is only as good as the line in front of him. I just don't see the point in paying average wrs a bunch of money and to me Sanders is nothing more then average. I can't point at one thing that separates him from the pack. The biggest problem would be timing between wr and qb because at the end of the day a route is a route and that's not just me saying that I've heard many wrs say that. I believe Wheaton has said that when asked about missing camp that it hurts timing but he knows the routes.

 

I voted match the offer. At the time I was willing to let him go and take the pick.I'm not gonna go into everything that lead me to feel that way but will offer this instead.

Sanders has talent and knowledge of our system and working relationship with Ben and the other WRs. With Wallace gone and Miller injuryed we almost had no choice if we want to be fighting for a SB this year and THAT is what I want. To fight for a SB Everyyear.

Even if Sanders leaves after the season it was still the right decision. We drafted Wheaton and he should be ready to step up next year in Sanders spot and help keep our Cap down.

Cajun-

 

My biggest problem with Sanders is to me he is a rental and no matter what is gone next year. I think there is resentment because he was drafted ahead of brown and imo is just as good as brown but brown got the big contract. Also the things brown said after Sanders signed the offer sheet has caused a riff between them. I support browns comments but he did pretty Mich call Sanders out. I think what separates brown and Sanders and mayturn brown into one of those special guys is brown has the work ethic of jerry rice. I hope Sanders has a huge year for the Steelers but something in my gut tells me he is not a number two wr. Even with Wallace taking coverage off of him when brown went down he didn't really perform. I really hope I'm wrong and he goes off and gets paid but either way this is his last year Olin the black and gold and I hope he doesn't have Wallace's attitude about it. I like Wheaton and think he will perform well this year but I'm calling now the other brown is going to surprise some people. He is still very raw but has tremendous athletic ability. I also think gilreath will bounce cotch this year. I'm going with AB, Sanders, Wheaton, gilreath and Brown as the Steelers wrs this year with Dunn being the x factor.