HOW DID WE GET IN THIS POSITION?

Don't need a crystal ball for Hampton.

 

I still like him on the team. I thought he played well last season and I thought he played damn well the year before. The big Samoan couldn't find his way on to the field and then couldn't stay out of the drunk tank. You want us to cut Hampton?

 

The other problem is we haven't patched up areas through free agency at all. The last significant free agent we signed from another team was ryan clark and that wad in 2006. He is our only starter on this team that was acquired through free agency or trade from another team. Our other super bowl teams in the 2000's had 3-4 key players which came from other teams. That's not a ton but its enough. Just think we had drafted a lot better back then and we still had more key contributors that didn't come from our drafts. We also rarely missed on early round draft picks and now it looks like our percentage is a lot lower.

 

Laugh all you want boys and girls, It is reckoning time
here in the Steel City, Get out your crying towels
We better have a stupendous draft to be competitive.

 

If I could make it through the 80's, I'll make it now...not ready to panic just yet. If we have a down year or 2, no need to go nuts. We've just been so spoiled a lot of people forget that you can't make the playoffs/win SB every year. Doesn't make me complacent, or settling for mediocrity. IJS

 

I won't lie.
If the Steelers have another tough season I may cry.
Laugh is what I do most.
When I read your post.
You say this may be the end of us.
And I say the Seelers are stupendous
Maybe it's just me.
But the way I see.
You just want the Steelers to fail.
So you can wail.
Then you just might.
Be able to say you were right.

 

I'M KIND OF LIKING THIS SIDE OF STEELERGLENN
GIVE US MORE
GIVE US MORE

 

Awesome!

 

who's to say they are not
one in the same

 

Problem? We haven't "patched up areas through free agency" because, wait for it . . . WE HAVEN'T HAD TO!!

We were fools, I guess, to draft Roethlisberger, Heath, Polamalu, Woodley, Harrison, Timmons, Ike, Pouncey, Mendenhall, Wallace, Ward, Brown, Hampton, Keisel, Aaron Smith, Heyward, Hood, and everybody else on the roster.

It's the idiots that can't draft well that have to throw tens of millions at overrated 'talent' to try to desperately perform a quick-fix of their team #miamidolphins #dallascowboys #oaklandraiders. Look at the Redskins. Years of bumbling around and screwing up with high-dollar free agents until they suck their way into position to draft RGIII and they're instantly a playoff team.

The Steelers way is to build through the draft and choose wisely during free agency. And, to let your primadona's bail when they're asking for more than market value.

We've been the most successful team since the merger. Why, again, do you want us to mess with this system that works for us?

 

hahaha this is great

 

In our Super Bowl years of 2005, 2008, and 2010 we had 3 starters each season from Free Agency/Trade. Yes we built through the draft, but we also had key additions periodically through free agency.

Right now we have 1 starter we picked up from another team via free agency and we picked him up in 2006. We haven't made any moves since then and we have drafted much worse. Most of the players you note as being good draft picks are either gone or almost gone.

So if you look are a model from the past when we were a consistent Super Bowl contender, it is much different than where we are now.

 

The fact that we had 20 of 23 starters on 3 Super Bowl rosters validates the opposing argument of the point you are trying to make. It shows the importance of homegrown talent and the lack of necessity to explore free agent talent.

And you're really kind of triple-dipping here on the "3 starters each season from free agency/trade" comment since James Farrior represents 1 of the 3 on each of those squads. Oh, and you're double-dipping with Ryan Clark. So, of the 9 starters you're referring to, 5 of them were Farrior and Clark.

The others, I guess, were a couple of veteran stop-gap centers (Hartings and Hartwig), Kimo von Oelhoffen, and Flozell Adams. The free agent/trade scores of Hartwig and Flozell Adams gave us three years of service combined. Not exactly a free agent coup.

This is what you believe was instrumental in our Super Bowl runs?

Who are you upset we haven't pursued this off-season? Should we have made a run at Flacco? Percy Harvin? Kruger? Where is this money coming from?

I would also argue against the idea we've "drafted much worse." I think the next few years will reveal we've been doing quite well.

 

See you assumed i was talking about spending big bucks and over paying for the top free agents. I was simply talking about patching certain areas of need here and there. I would have like to see them go after Larry Grant or Dan Connor to play ILB instead of bringing Foote back. I would have also liked the to go after Steven Jackson, being that we could have afforded him on a couple year deal toward the end of his career. That could have been 2 upgrades that could have put us in position to contend with a good draft. I'm not sure we have the money now to make any of these moves. Maybe we can sign one of those LB's and another servicable RB, but i doubt its going to happen.

Yes, a lot of those those free agents were on multiple of our Super Bowl teams but thats the point. Back then we were able to get signigficant contributions from Free Agency and trades. We were buliding through the draft then, but we sprinkled in the right talent from free agency. That was the model we followed and that made us successful and right now we are not following the same model. We have 1 Free Agent starter, haven't drafted that great, have not been able to keep some of our young talent or that talent turned out to not be a Steelers type of player (Mike Wallace), and have been holding on to some guys too long.

As for our Draft's. I believe someone earlier in this discussion mentioned that we only have 2 players left from the 2008 and 2009 drafts (Ziggy Hood and David Johnson). Johnson is a role player who possibly won't make the roster this season and Ziggy has not lived up to expectations. I would call that drafting bad.

 

Why on god's green earth would we want to sign a multi- year contract with a 30 year old running back with a lot of miles? The original post asks how did we get into this mess and you make a proposal that just continues the problem.

 

Its all about production. I'll take A 30 year old back signed to a 2 year deal that produces the way Steven Jackson does any day over our lack of production at the position. You can't argue that. Your not committing to a 5-6 year deal, your giving him 2 years so you can draft someone to groom behind him to be the starter after that.

Now we are going into this season worse off than last year and i'm not sure there is a quality starter in the draft.