Trade, sign, cut, extend

Click on the tweet if you want to read the whole thing.

 

Just get an offense that is not boring, I can live with that.
Let Austin walk and get 3 new WR's.

 

Good read. I don't know exactly how I feel about any moves on that list yet. I'll need some context besides how it looked last season.

 

I pretty much agree with all of it

All of the extends will be expensive

 

This makes me think of the pick 1 to marry, bang or kill.

 

I too agree with almost all of it, but not Rodgers. I can't see resigning a Qb that is terrified of getting hit. If they want to bring him in as a coach. I'm all for that.

 

LoL. Exactly

 

I already made that choice and married the one I wanted to both bang and kill.

 

NOTABLE FREE AGENTS: SIGN OR NOT

Aaron Rodgers (QB): SIGN

Kenny Gainwell (RB): SIGN

Calvin Austin III (WR): NOT

Isaac Seumalo (OG): SIGN

Miles Killebrew (ST): NOT

Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR): NOT

Connor Heyward (TE): SIGN

Asante Samuel (CB): NOT

Chuck Clark, S Jabril Peppers, S Kyle Dugger, LB Cole Holcomb, WR Scotty Miller, ALL NOT

VETERANS: CUT/KEEP/TRADE?

T.J. Watt (OLB): Trade

Cam Heyward (DL): KEEP

Jalen Ramsey (CB): KEEP

Patrick Queen (LB): KEEP

Jonnu Smith (TE): CUT

EXTEND OR PLAY IT OUT

Chris Boswell (PK): EXTEND

Broderick Jones (LT): EXTEND/OPTION

Joey Porter Jr. (CB): EXTEND

Keeanu Benton (DL): EXTEND

Nick Herbig (OLB): EXTEND

Darnell Washington (TE): EXTEND

Cory Trice (CB): CUT

Spencer Anderson (OL): PLAY IT OUT

 

I pretty much like everything except I would sign Miles Killabrew. I don’t see a future for Connor Hayward on this team.

 

Killebrew worries me coming off the knee injury. I'm at least hoping the Steelers go heavy on DB in the draft which would make Miles expendable.

Heyward is a jack of all trades, master of none player. Being Cam's brother alone will be enough to keep him in town IMO. Plus the Steel City Shove was pretty effective toward the end of the year.

 

I hope they keep the SPARTAN play -or Steel city shove as some call it--I like the fake out of it..

 

I am working on an off season and free agency thread with details and suggestions that make sense. I will finish it after the super bowl, but before the combine and free agency periods start. Just a hint, the WR spot will be addressed.

Coach McCarthy is putting the final touches on his staff. He knows who to develop and uses QB's and his offense typically ranks in the top 12 in the NFL. His offense will offer real change.

 

I say resrtruce Queen to a more cap fiendly #, or cut him. He is over rated.

Seumalo is too injured to be reliable. We need to cut him or offer him a cheap contract.

 

I should change my name to TrAdeUpWiThWaTT. Our first and Watt to move up to 10 and grab Caleb Downs.

This will never happen, but Watt just isn't the player he once was. Watching TJ last year reminded me a lot of watching Polomalu play his last season.

 

@mac daddyo

I would be okay with bringing Pierre back, as long as the contract isn't bloated. The Steelers need a youth movement at DB. I would love to see 3 draft picks in the secondary this year.

 

Well said.

 

Seumalo could be a good back up but I doubt at his point in career that he would accept that

As you stated he is not reliable to be a starter

Continuity is most important on an OL

 

Thanks to Turndown for putting the list together!

NOTABLE FREE AGENTS: SIGN OR NOT

Aaron Rodgers (QB): If around the same price as last season. I think he's a good mentor. Sounds like he has a good relationship with Howard. Probably will be true if we draft another project type this year too.

Kenny Gainwell (RB): I don't think so. He played very well for us last season. But I'm guessing / hoping that we end up with 3 NFL caliber WRs next season instead of one. So he's not going to get the production he had this year.

Calvin Austin III (WR): NOT

Isaac Seumalo (OG): I'd rather draft a young guy to fill in. If we're following the Philly model here, we won't be spending big money on guards. OL play for a long time, but he's 32. I'd take him at a home town discount, but not market price.

Miles Killebrew (ST): Vet minimum if he's healthy. Special teams demon who seems to get a block a year. But big injury.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR): NOT

Connor Heyward (TE): SIGN...agree with turndown here. Valuable on ST. Versatile and can get you out of a game at a couple positions. Good end of the roster guy.

Asante Samuel (CB): On a cheap deal. Bring him to camp to compete with hopefully a high draft pick.

Chuck Clark, S Jabril Peppers, S Kyle Dugger, LB Cole Holcomb, WR Scotty Miller, ALL NOT...I kind of feel like I do about Samuel with all these guys. Cheap deals with small SBs. If they want to come to camp to compete, OK. No big plans.

VETERANS: CUT/KEEP/TRADE?

T.J. Watt (OLB): Trade. If we can get something that helps us get a QB next draft (looks like the class this year isn't great), I'd do it. But it looks like it might not be the best year to do this. Crosby sounds like he's going to get traded. Also sounds like Garrett will try to do what he did last season....demand to leave to see if they give him more money. I think this gets easier cap wise next year...but if he has another season like this one demand will likely be less. But he's the face of the franchise and the only player on the team who's arguably elite (though he hasn't been recently). They keep him as a business decision and hope it's a good football decision.

Cam Heyward (DL): KEEP. Yep. I'd even give him the same incentives if it makes him feel better because he isn't going to hit them.

Jalen Ramsey (CB): KEEP There are two decisions here. If keep, also have to decide about whether or not to exercise his option. The option reduces the cap hit next season, but pushes more dead money into the future. I think the difference is something like $5MM. I like the versatility he brings, but he wasn't all that great at S (would have been better to keep Minkah if Ramsey is just a S IMO). Depends on what the rest of the cap situation looks like. Because he'll certainly be overpaid as a S.

Patrick Queen (LB): KEEP. Yep. Hopefully we see Wilson clearly take over this role this season. But he didn't / couldn't do it last season.

Jonnu Smith (TE): CUT Easiest cut. Just like Patterson last season. In some ways, Smith is the reason I don't want to sign Gainwell based on his production last season. I wasn't here when we traded for Smith, but I was saying "don't get fooled by his stats the year before, that was a very special circumstance, he's an older less-good version of PF". I think some team is going to pay Gainwell based on his production this season. But he won't be their WR2, so he won't get that production again IMO.

EXTEND OR PLAY IT OUT

Chris Boswell (PK): EXTEND Yep.

Broderick Jones (LT): EXTEND/OPTION I'm on team play it out, although I'd do a cheap extend. Hard no on the option. Only made the playing time tier (like Edmunds and Najee). I think he might have even missed that tier if TF didn't get hurt 2 seasons ago (that was the path Pickett was on). Looked a little better last season, but has mostly been disappointing. We knew he was raw when we drafted him. Hopefully a new offense / scheme will turn the light on for him. But the option is a big get for high value positions like OL (basically determined by the high LT salaries).

Joey Porter Jr. (CB): EXTEND Yep. Easy decision here. Very good CB. Best we've had in a while. I never understood why people (including the team?) thought Ramsey would be our CB1 last year.

Keeanu Benton (DL): EXTEND Probably. Had his best year. Not flashy, but not terrible. Just OK. Was hoping for more, but I'd do a reasonable deal with him.

Nick Herbig (OLB): EXTEND I hope that he'll want to do an extension. Wish we could do more to get the three OLBs on the field at the same time (I know we did do this last season).

Darnell Washington (TE): EXTEND I'd do this. Probably won't be expensive. But I really worry about what his usage is going to look like on a team that's bass 11 personnel. Will PF become TE1 in a more passing focused offense? With PF and JW, we have two TEs that are worth playing. How do we divide that time up? I like Washington better because I think he's more of a matchup problem. But what is MM going to think?

Cory Trice (CB): CUT I'm on team bring to camp and see what he has. But even then, can you trust him to be able to take the field? Too bad because he looks like he could play at least some snaps if he could ever stay healthy. But he can't.

Spencer Anderson (OL): PLAY IT OUT I'd maybe even extend him. He's good OL depth, which is worth having. Probably won't play as much TE eligible in a more modern offense though.

 

Joel, can I ask what you mean by "restructure"?

Usually when people use this word, they mean turn base salary into money that acts like a "signing bonus" so that they get that cash now and spread the cap hit for that money over the next (up to) 5 years. So the total money received by the player doesn't change, but the cap accounting does.

Personally, I wouldn't be a fan of adding a bunch of dead money on Queen's contract.

The Steelers also tend to only restructure guys who they intend to keep for a while. Usually early on in their contracts.

My guess is that you mean something more like "try to force him to take a pay cut"?

Cutting him seems like a pretty bad idea too. Even if we didn't want him on the roster, he's a viable NFL player and could be traded for some kind of draft capital. So we'd get compensation and the cap ramifications would likely be less severe.

 

i let mr. shoulder bump go. 249 tackles to wilsons 204 in a two year stretch but queen played nearly twice as many snaps. 2202 to wilsons 1224.