This Steelers writer seems to believe the Roethlisberger trade request rumors may be credible

Just reading the Gerry Dulac chat today and based on a couple of his comments, he seems to imply that there could be more validity to the Ben trade rumors than we give Ian Rappaport credit for. Dulac is not Rappaport and is a well respected sports person in Pittsburgh. He implies that the source was somebody inside the organization and was NOT a Pittsburgh media person. He also says that some of the report was what he had been told by other sources within the organization but that he responded differently to it. There may be just a flicker of a flame to all of the smoke that's been flying around. At the very least, it should be an interesting off-season to see which direction the Steelers decide to go with Ben. Anyway, here's what he said in the chat:

JPEEZY: The Ian Rapaport report surely got people around here in an uproar. He never said his "Steelers Source" was actually employed by the Steelers. Rumor is that it was a local media guy that fed him the info.

Gerry Dulac: When someone says a "Steelers source," they usually mean someone connected with the team. It's usually not someone merely with knowledge of the team. And it was not a local media guy who fed him the info.

soft serve: Do you believe ANY of the Ian Rapoport report? Any time is see "sources believe" I cringe.

Gerry Dulac: Yes I do. I know portions of what he said to be the same as several things I was told. He just chose to treat them/react to them differently.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...transcript/stories/201311130152#ixzz2kdKigdNb​

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I tend to believe there is some truth to it. By some truth to it I think it was more along the lines of a get rid of Haley or trade me request by Ben. No matter how hard those two try and play nice in press conferences etc they are not on the same page.

 

This is what I was telling someone yesterday. I just said that IF Ben made ANY such request it was probably within the context of "me or Haley". I also threw in for good measure that maybe he's sick of a useless line as well. I DON'T think Ben wants to leave but I DO think Ben wants Haley gone so bad he can't stand it.

 

It would surprise me if the team or Ben were not at least exploring their options. Ben is going to be owed a HUGE $$$ figure that I'm not sure we can afford. If Flacco is worth what he got, what will Ben get....In addition, and I hate to be the one to say this, but you have to at least consider the fact that Ben "MIGHT" be some of the problem with our offense. That is not to be an insult or anything, but despite changing the entire OLine, the RB core, and the WR/TE group, and our OC, we still have the same issues with our Oline. You have to wonder what the coaches see on the Sideline wide and endzone wide tapes that we don't see. Sacks maybe that could have been avoided if he just made the correct read? I'm not trying to throw Ben under the bus or even push that we move on, that is not my agenda, but we must at least be willing to consider the possibility that there may be an issue there.

 

It would be intersting to see which portions.

 

Ben has taken a huge number of unnecessary sacks over the years. I think the reasons behind them are twofold. He refuses to give up on a play which is an admirable quality and I don't think he's particularly fast at reading defenses. It seems to me that defensive coordinators are almost challenging him to make the hot read and deliver it accurately. How many times over the years have we been in a critical 3rd down situation and Ben takes a sack? Frequently in those situations it's blatantly obvious everyone is coming on a blitz and instead of tossing a to a hot read Ben tries to dodge or run away. Ben is great qb, but after 11 years he definitely has his kryptonite.

 

You are being completely reasonable. I am a fan of Ben and thankful for what he has meant to this organization. I still think he is at minimum one of the Top 10 QB's in the league, but he is a pretty hard guy to build an offense around considering the way he plays. It is almost like Ben has been at his best on plays when everything is SNAFU - kind of hard to build an offense around SNAFU.

 

before giving him an extension all the options has to be weight and put on the table then they can make a decision

 

I agree w/you. One of the things about the line this year is I almost felt like Colbert and the coaches were like "See here's your shiny new OL - we've done what we're supposed to do!" When in consideration the way you would like to manage an OL (most groups for that matter like LB, DL, etc.) is you would like to integrate a new guy or two with guys who were already there. In addition, poor evaluation of how guys fit into what they want to do - i.e. Mike Adams is okay at run blocking...not so much at pass coverage but you put him in the money position of LT.

 

Ben and his agent wants a big money contract extension, and if he doesn't take a much smaller dollar amount contract he will be gone, our cap bank is closed, no money there to give him another huge pay day, that's just not going to happen.....

 

my opinion : that rumour was the first chapter of the negotiations

 

Given that description, I don 't see how he could be described as a great QB.

 

How do we know that the "talent" is the problem??? Urbik has turned out pretty well in Buffalo,a nd he was aguy the Tomlin staff didn't even think could make the team. My guess: If the Steelers released Decastro, Gilbert, and Adams tomorrow, they'd all land jobs elsewhere and look great next season.

 

I dont believe ben wants to leave the burgh

 

Like I said before, where there's smoke......you know the rest

 

me too but if he ask 25 milion a year ?

 

IMO I don't think they will end up doing anything with Ben until after the 2014 season. I also don't see the Rooneys paying Ben or anyone else $25mil/yr.

 

Another article ...
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...riving-wedge-between-steelers-roethlisberger/

 

maybe there is an internal discussion , i start to wonder if arians stay in touch with ben and what they are saying each other