Going to be a massacre

I`m wondering if there is going to be a bumper crop of FA`s out there testing the market this year. If so, the old truism of "supply vs demand determines price" may mean some guys won`t get the offers they had hoped for.

 

How about NO is 62 million OVER...They got 2 weeks...We thought we were screwed!

 

They got a young free agent center.

 

But the NO Mayor is begging them to get Wilson, if you are going to be broke, you might as well make it a really royal screwing.

 

If it goes that way players like Finney (just released), Jesse James and the like will likely be signed for scratch..for depth and experience alone I would not be opposed to getting gap guys like this back as we rebuild through the draft.

 

Unless they cut him after this article, looks like they are trying to get a trade first.

https://nypost.com/2021/03/05/dolph...-kyle-van-noy-after-news-of-surprise-release/

 

I don't see a team trading for him with that high salary of his.

 

Problem is ....IMO
1. Most(keyword)super teams in the NFL don't work. Not enough time 2 gel , by the time they do , you can't afford them anymore.
2. Most(keyword)of the Teams with a lot of Cap, aren't very Good.
IMO

 

The transition to mediocre is already complete. The last 6 games last year proved that any team can beat us, and did. This included teams without coaches or starting QBs. Now we have an older QB and a bunch of new coaches that should fix things, right? Yes, luck will be a huge factor and I hope we are competitive until Ben leaves. JMO>

 

If I were to guess, it sounds like something happened that is being kept quiet and its one of those agree to part ways agreements in case it hits the fan.

 

Any other year, I'd agree with you but I think we're going to see a lot of teams cutting expensive vets out of necessity. I think there's going to be blowback from this though. If I'm a C-talent guy with B-talent production because of my work ethic, no way I'm putting in 10 hour, 6-7 day weeks for a C-talent contract.

 

Yeah I’d agree. Van Noy is good but he is very replaceable and it was not prohibitive to cut his contract. It surprised me at the time but when you look at the details I can see why they did it. They have all the draft capital in the world to get his replacement. They have $20m cap space, not a lot of you want to sign a few impact players, every team will be looking at every contract this year more than ever as you have pointed out.

Worst part of it is that Van Noy will end up back at the Pats on a cheap deal and they’ll also get a compensatory third or fourth for him leaving last year.

 

So by this . Any team that ended badly...will suck next year, and any team that ended good will be in the Super Bowl.
Sorry it doesn't work that way . Use 2019 for example. I'm sure you can do it in your mind, but if you cant go look it up. Not all teams that had a bad last quarter of season were bad last year, or vice versa.

 

It might also be proof that not having a bye week can harm a team as much as some predicted.

Or that losing 2 of the starting linebackers and some of the run-blocking OL to injuries results in an end-of-the-season team not being the same as the team that started the season.

EDIT: And not having your #1 CB for the playoff game is a setback too.

 

No worries Steelers friends Ol Ben took a massive pay cut so signing quality Free agents won't be an issue...

 

Steelers losing players to free agency happens every year. What makes this current group regrettable? Bunch of winless playoff pretenders that lowered the standard.

 

Opportunities don't just mean high priced FA's. It also means keeping quality players at a bargain because the FA market is not good for most players right now. It also means finding really cheap deals to fill out the depth chart vs overspending for backups which is what we have done more than once. We can easily clear space to do this.

Looking at our roster as it stands today the only key starting positions we need to fill seem to be on the O-line. If we can improve the O-line we will be good (assuming we have a QB) I'm not sure what to think at CB. Replacing Nelson will be interesting. I suspect Sutton will be battling a rookie for that starting job. RB is a question mark but we can easily fill that hole by keeping our own , cheap FAs, and/OR draft picks. RB has turned into the equivalent of the TE in today's NFL. You don't really need a good one to win.

The market is not good for most players which is why you are seeing quality players willing to sign 1 year deals . FA's obviously think the market next year will be significantly better for them. I suspect more good veterans will be cut before the start of next season and there will be more quality players looking for 1 year deals. There's always the small chance of a trade as well...like a haden or Minkah type deal.

My biggest concern is Ben's health and Mason's progress. If Ben can't play at a high level Mason better be ready to start or the season will be a disaster no matter what we do. Conversely if Ben stays healthy and/or Mason proves he can start we will have a good team. The old adage if you are not getting better you are getting worse is 100% true in the NFL. Just keeping our roster in tact is not good enough. I hate being forced to hit home runs in the draft or else failure...but that's the situation we are in and there's nothing we can do about that other than draft well. O-line starters and depth is what this team needs the most. You don't have to break the bank for that.

 

The NFL is proving that you are only as good as your quarterback. Because of Ben's health and age, he is a mediocre QB, thus the Steelers are going to be an average team.