What to do with Juju?

He said the real issue is.....

 

Sammy Watkins signed a 3-yr $48mill deal, w/$30 mil guaranteed before the '18 season.

Down year or no, Juju will want at least that. If the Steelers won't offer that, he'd be foolish not to test the market.

 

Hard to evaluate WRs with inconsistent QB play.

 

Watt??

 

Obviously

 

JuJu might think he wants to retire a Steeler. But he's young. He likes having fun. If another team offers him more fun and exposure AND a bigger paycheck, he can be swayed. I love the kid, but he doesn't owe us anything. If he goes somewhere else, I wish him the best. We have bigger problems to deal with than keeping a #2 WR. The offense needs a complete overhaul. We need to groom a center. We need to find a qb. The rest of this year and next year should be rebuilding and on-the-job interviewing.

 

offense is not too far out imo.

needs:
a true #1
a tight end to replace vance
left tackle
left guard
center
maybe WR #2 if juju leaves
QB
RB
maybe a fb

 

It will take awhile if Fitchner needs 1st rounders.

 

One thing is for sure, his Pizza Hut commercials will be done after this year. LOL

 

Other than Minkah, he is the best football player on
the roster.

 

Watt is the best player on the team

 

If they are not able to pay Juju this off season then they may as well trade him. I think they will find a way to get both himself and Watt in under the cap. They can free up about $30m relatively easily and if you structure their contracts cleverly you can lock them both up. I’m not sure I’d bet the house on Juju tbh. He is a great guy and a good player but is he worth WR1 money?

What happens after that to other guys is largely down to Ben and when he retires, as his monster contract is a huge drain on the cap. He would need to come back and play at an exceptional level to justify keeping him for the following season because Minkah and other will be knocking on the GM’s door at that point. Dupree, Hargrave and Hilton will presumably be gone in 2020.

 

For me I am keeping Watt if it comes down to that. I think it's far more difficult to find quality olbs then wrs.

 

Watt may be the best player on the team at the moment. Him or Minkah imo.

 

I don't think it comes down to one or the other. We want both. The issue is they both need extensions at same time and we aren't going to have cap to extend both. I think you negotiate with both and unless you get a steal with Watt which I doubt. I'm locking up Juju first then Watt next year.

 

Hey The Glory Days.

Yes, the all mighty dollar has a "Mystical Effect" on some. The "old hometown discount" or "we gave the player his start" just rarely flies. And that is for any job in life. I like JuJu but he would not be the first, nor last, Steeler to be lured away from us due to more money. All we can ask is that he 100% honors his contract and time here with us.

I am not so sure if we are in "Rebuilding" mode as you so stated. I just think that the new faces on "O" need time to Gel. As I stated before, with the exodus of Brown, Bell, Bryant, Heath and even Ben, this was not going to be a seamless transition on the "O". These young guys have talent but not enough time together to the point where they have built a strong chemistry. I really think that in time JuJu, Diontae, and Washington can become a very formidable 3-set of WRs in this league.

I remember back in the early 2000s looking at a picture in a newspaper of Plaxico, Hines, and Randle-El. They were our WR crew at the time. Now, replace those faces with JuJu, Diontae, and Washington. I am sure you see my point.

STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

Big difference, watkins is a 1st round pick 1 receiver, emanuel sanders was a proven 1 receiver in Denver for 35 mill, juju is not a proven 1 receiver and shouldnt get more than a number 2 receiver contract, in my opinion...

 

Let juju go play fortnite in another city, dude can’t catch and loves to fumble. Draft a guy early. Got real ball players like watt and minkah that are gonna need paid.

 

I see what you're saying, but I guess I'm looking at an offense in shambles, not just out of synch. There will likely be new faces, and there probably should be. You can't start building chemistry until those faces can look at each other. Our seasoned OL worked as one of the best units in football under Munch. Now that he's gone, they aren't the same. There will need to be changes in order for the new version to become accustomed to the new OLC.

The chances of Ben coming back at a level we want, and need, aren't great IMO. And if he doesn't come back, Pouncey is gone as well. We don't need to rebuild because of AB and Bell leaving. We DO need to rebuild without our pro bowl qb and center. We don't have a dependable rb. We are woefully weak at wr. And unless MR does a 180, we need another backup. If that doesn't scream rebuilding on the offensive side, I don't know what does.

Defensively, we'll likely look different without Bud opposite TJ. We should be stout enough with Tuitt back in the middle, but we need more than Minkah patrolling the secondary. The rest of the db's have been hot and cold this season.

The remainder of the season should show us who wants to be here and who deserves to be here. It's time to try out for a job next season. To me, that's a rebuild.

 

What I am going to do with JuJu is wish him a happy birthday. Dude turned 23 today. I think we forget how young he still is.

 

Gotcha' Glory Days.

Points well taken as you have elaborated on the "Rebuild" concept. I guess in a sense every year has some type of "Rebuild" to it. It is just the nature of the business as players come and go There are, for the most part, no more "lifers" on a team in this day and age. And even if there are, other issues such as injury, better players coming along, retirement (which is definitely inevitable) are always factors in motion.

STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

Maybe the "rebuilding year(s)" moniker I'm haphazardly slapping in the team is a bit of an overreaction. We have had down years, disappointing years, squandered years, but this is new to recent memory. This offense is scary-bad.

I definitely see what you're saying and will reconsider painting this with as wide a brush.