We have MONEY!! We have MONEY!!!!

We now have 4.4 mil in cap space and if nothing is spent we'll have 5mil by the end of training camp!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll carry 1-2 mil into the season for emergency purposes so what shall we spend the 3 to 4 mil dollars on??????


Cajun-

 

OT

 

do we still get credit for carry over money next year too? we have a good size dead money hit coming next year from colon.



there are no tackles out there worth the money. I want to at least see our young guys play before we replace them. they could be pretty good.

 

Yes, I do believe what we don't spend this year we can carry over to next year.

Cajun-

 

About Winston... what happened to him? I never watched him play so I have no idea, but wasn't he supposed to be this great RT a couple years ago? Signed a contract worth more than $5M/year. One year and he gets cut, and then goes unsigned? He started all 16 games. Why'd he get cut? Just the scheme wasn't working out? Was he terrible? He's not old, and has been durable. Is he just asking too much money? Assuming he's healthy, I think I'd also be more than happy to use money on Eric Winston, maybe if it was $1.5 million or less. Anything more than the minimum sounds like a lot for a backup, but does anyone here really thing Gilbert and Adams are both going to play 16 games each? I just don't feel good about what happens if either one goes down. I doubt Whimper will be the guy, or even on the team, but I would much prefer Winston to Beachum or one of those UDFAs. I like their promise, but no need to rush them. I want someone who knows what he's doing this year.

Oh, that's Eric Winston, not Winston Justice. Weird.

 

I have a couple Money/Practice Squad related questions:

Once rosters are established, if a player is signed from the Practice Squad by another team, what (if any) compensation do the Steelers recieve? Do they recover any Signing Bonus money? Do they recieve a Comp Pick next year if the player was a "drafted player"?

Also, can a "Practice Squad Player" turn down an "Roster Spot Offer" from another team or do they have to accept it?

 

both of those guys are RT's. eric winston wants to much money. winston justice isn't that great and already 30. we really don't need more RT's. we need a LT.

I still think long makes it, but you know how they are about having a vet around. I think gilbert will be OK, if he keeps the hard work up.

adams missing workout time is my concern. if beachum has to play there, I think he can hold his own on the right side. he is very mobile and TH will use that to his advantage. he won't be mike in the run game, but plays on the move to that side will favor his mobility. mike adams is better at sealing off that side in the run game. adams will be the #2 LT though.

heck maybe the whole idea of putting foster on the left side is to get his footwork more accustom to that side and slide him out to LT for part of a game if needed. ????


back to long though, he's been in the building for a full year now and has been around this offense. he's got good blood lines too. Farrell played well in the big 10 last year for penn st.. he played both sides. heck, hubbard was a LT in college. so it's not like they are not familiar with the position, just new to the NFL. long has been through two camps now.

I really think the bigger deal is LG. can cheadle,embernate,malecki,madsen or hubbard play well enough to see time there? if so, we could move foster to RT if need be.


i'm very excited to see what Bicknell does with this bunch. a lot of these young guys are familiar with this zone scheme from college. there's going to be growing pains along the way.

 

Thanks
I'm surprised there isn't a whole lot more "Practice Squad Poaching".
It just doesn't seem fair at all ... I think a team should be able to recover any investment ... including signing bonus $$ and an equivalent draft pick if the player was a "drafted player".

 

I really don't have much of a problem with it. A PS player makes a min of 5200 a wk, it could be more. Its a developmental aspect of each team but its also a talent pool a team can access if needed. If the Steelers has a position that is devastated by injuries and there is a better talent on a different team's PS than our's we can add that person to our roster, if he agrees of course. It only happens a couple times a season though. The real competition is signing the 1st group of eight players once all the cuts have been made. Its like the competition to sign UDFA following the draft.

Cajun-

 

With this new found extra money we'll probably sign a player or two to extensions. I don't think we'll bring in a FA like Breaston or Leach. Who do we re-sign? Hood? Worilds? Sanders? Vets like Clark and Keisel may get a one year deal but not until next year.


Cajun-

 

Anyone happen to know the amount of cap money spent on defense vs offense?

I'm guessing it's around a 60/40 split in the defense's favor.

 

mac, the advantage of having Winston around would be that if he's a good, reliable, talented plug-and-play backup RT, then he can be put in whether Adams or Gilbert goes down (if Gilbert goes down, shift Adams over). That would likely keep our talent level up. The alternative would be Beachum at RT if he's not already in the game subbing at one of the interior spots. I think there's a good chance Winston would be better than Beachum, and even if they were the same, having him around would keep Beachum available to back up the other spots, and it would keep Foster from having to switch sides and play out of position. Yes, we have a lot of extremely young guys that we are pulling for like Embernate and Golic and Long, but even if they stick around, there's a reasonably good chance that none of them will be ready to start this year.

I agree that it would be ideal to find someone who could do LT, but that player just isn't out there. You need the best players possible, and Winston at RT is better than some oaf like Whimper at LT.

In any case, it seems like Winston originally wanted $3-$4 million/year, which is why he's gone unsigned. He'll have to take less, but someone out there will have an injury and pay him more than we'll be willing to (if we even want him).

 

Thanks
IMO then, any money spent should go to the offense. I'm even not opposed to perhaps spreading a little of it around to a few of offensive folks on the Practice Squad to encourage them to stay.

Also eventually (likely not this year), I'd like to see us end up with a Fullback that is actually a threat running and receiving the ball.

 

Which players do you want to entice to stay? I'm assuming you don't think just spending money on one side of the ball will make that side better.

What don't you like about Will Johnson? He's the biggest receiving threat we've had at fullback since I started paying attention to fullbacks back when we had Tim Lester. I think he's quite good on that end and hope it's his blocking that improves.

There will always be more athletic, sure-handed guys you could stick in there, but if they can't block, then what's the point? Might as well line up a WR in the backfield, and be even more athletic and sure-handed.

 

I don't know who is going to be on the Practice Squad yet or who (if anyone) we might want to hold on to; I just don't want to overlook that as an option.

I don't see Will Johnson as the "answer" yet; he just looks awkward to me whenever he runs the ball. I'm willing to give him another year; but I would have like to seen them bring in a UDFA or two to look at (perhaps even just as a Practice Squad type backup).

Edit: Maybe I shouldn't have watched all of those replays from Super Bowl Years highlights; but they sure as hell made me miss us having a Fullback that could actually run and a Halfback that wasn't afraid to lead block.

 

I just think if we are in that rebuilding stage (and we are on the o-line), keeping our young talent around to gel and learn with other young guys that are our starters is huge in their development. having a couple of them make the 53 and just possibly getting some actual game experience, like beachum,adams and DD last year, will make this unit much better,closer and keep them hungry to overachieve.

i'd rather hold off on spending it if we don't have too. if these young players are playing better then a guy like whimper right now, i'm going to hang onto them instead. these coaches can see if the potential is there. Winston would be the better of the two and has been looked at by wash. and now Miami is talking with him, so I doubt he's coming in at league minimum.

now I was reading about jah reed from the ravans. he may be a camp cut. he's played well for them as a backup and starter, but they have some other backups and starters doing well. he may be a guy they wait for. he can play LT. the money wouldn't be near Winston's and he can play the money spot.

we are going to be cap tight again next year , so what they save could help us then.

 

I agree. Johnson was a nice find and will only get better. with that wr background, he knows a little about getting open better then most fb's. his blocking in the run game isn't bad and should only get better. he's a work hard guy which I like, and he won't be a feature back but as he learns the rb spot as a FB his runs may get better too.

 

Yeah, I'm not arguing saving the money for extensions. We need every penny. But having Eric Winston would make me feel a whole lot better.

Maybe I'm just too accustomed to our endless OL injury bugs. It hadn't even crossed my mind until right this minute that maybe neither starting OT will get seriously hurt this year.