The Steelers and tight end Darnell Washington have reached agreement on a four-year, $42M extension

What was the longest time the Steelers stuck with a QB before moving on after Bradshaw?

The QBs drafted in the first 3 rounds after Bradshaw:

B. Brister - 7 yrs
M. Kruczek - 4 yrs (while drafted high, he was only really a backup)
M. Malone - 7 yrs
N. O'Donnell - 5 yrs
K. Stewart - 8 yrs

Crazy part is that the one QB they kept the second shortest was also the one that took them to a SB. I guess Cowher decided after that loss it was time to start over.

(The recent Pickett pick set a precedent. But you have to wonder if it really was Pickett forcing himself off the team.)

 

I thought the Jets offer was too much for the Steelers to match, the 90s sucked for the Steelers in losing free agents.

 

I don’t have to wonder

The Coward admitted he ran when he was told he wasn’t being handed the starter position and would have to compete

That fact is easy to find for all but the one fan

 

Thing is Blast, no team is waiting 6 years in today's NFL for a Qb to develop.

 

It is a fair question despite the foolishness coming from the Penn State fan who hates Pickett for having gone to Pitt. Pickett reacted angrily when the team handed the starting job to Wilson rather than giving him the opportunity to win it back. Tomlin wanted to roll the dice on Fields, so the Steelers took the excuse and moved Pickett rather than telling him to shut up and wait his turn. As I suggested on the thread about Colbert's comments, I do wonder if they saw his lack of durability as an issue going forward. Injuries have sidetracked Pickett ever since, not that Fields was any better.

 

So brave of a certain poster to share his difficulties with the concept of telling the truth with the board. I hope he finds his way.

 

IIRC, O'Donnel moved on from us, not the other way around.

I think that was when we were still in 3-rivers and cash poor. And that we couldn't match the offer the Jets made.

I think we would have kept him if we could have afforded the price tag.

 

Yep. Mid to late 90's were years of roster purging for Steelers. We lost a lot of good players to teams with more cash on hand. Examples: Searcy, Lake, C. Brown, Thigpen, K. Greene, E. Green, etc.

 

Chad Brown was the first big one because of money

He went to Seattle and was scheduled to go somewhere else the next day

The Seattle owner put a check for $7M in front of Chad and Chad took it

In those days you did not walk away from that

 

Yup. If memory serves, they replaced Kevin Greene by moving Chad Brown outside, then replaced Brown by moving Jason Gildon into the starting lineup.

 

Things started getting better around 2001 when Steelers moved into Heinz Field. We were able to get James Farrior in free agency... and probably some others I can't think of at the moment. Signing Farrior to a contract would not have been possible in previous years.

 

It was TJ Watt's contract.

Interested to hear how this cash on hand theory works. It was still a salary cap, right? Or am I forgetting something about how FA in the 1990's worked?

I remember that the Steelers just didn't want to pay those guys that kind of money; not that they did not have the money. Did I forget something?

 

Ok can someone tell me why we have so much money tied up in the TE position when between both of them they may catch 60 passes?

 

Freiermuth has had more than that by himself

Washington has tremendous talent and is up and coming

Washington in the red zone should equal touchdown mismatches

I hope that explains it

 

Farrier and Jeff Hartings were the two most underrated free agency scores the Steelers made in the 2000's.

 

I never underrated either

I’m not sure anyone did

 

I don't think we as fans underrated them but outside of that they don't get nearly enough credit for being the right pieces at the right time.

 

In that perspective yes