Nelson given permission to seek trade

Just another example of more pandering to Ben our 40 year old statue. We basically lost 50% of our defense to keep Ben happy with guys like JuJu and possibly AV and even Conner. Terrible decisions by the front office I guess they didn’t see we were the worst running game in the NFL last year or that Ben couldn’t throw more than 5 yards downfield. Why keep this offensive unit together when the D was the best part of our team. The offense is putrid and unless they hit 2/3 studs in the draft at OL RB TE that contribute mightily year 1 it’s going to be the end of last year all year except with a worse D.

 

reading a lot into keeping the team the same juju. AV is not back yet, conner is not back yet. our young wrs are a year older. bush should be back. spillane is a year older and healthier. vince won't be covering receivers. banner is back at tackle. we have a new offense. we should draft a RB and a center. all these things are plusses over the end of last year. davis a year older on the nose. we still have two good DE's and some depth. we have watt. highsmith will be a year older in the system. 4 of the DBs will be the same and two of the backups are a year older in the system. we have a new full time starting guard that we saw can play and he's a year older. there are a lot of positives instead of all the negatives you are trying to bring out before even seeing what this team will look like. a lot more plusses then you think.

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

I read where some fans think they can get a 2nd or 3rd for Nelson , I don't see it, they might get a 5th for him.

 

no it has nothing to do with keeping Ben happy. Don’t say that.

 

hines had a 112, 1329, and 12 to year before Ben ever stepped foot in the nfl.

 

I thought JJSS hit would only be $2.4m this year? i don't know if you're talking total hit over time or just this year.

 

Sounds like a deal may have been agreed that next year he gets a multi-year deal with some guaranteed money attached that makes up for what he turned down and then some. So all he is doing is letting the money sit in the bank a while longer, possibly. I don't buy into this player loyalty BS, not when we're talking millions of dollars. Even if JJSS called me up and told me he did it for the team, I wouldn't change my opinion on this. IMO>

 

Sorry, but no. Dupree was always going to be gone. They were never going to be able to keep both Sutton and Hilton. Alualu is a bit of a surprise, but he's 34 and he faded in the second half of last season. Look at what Smith-Schuster actually cost them against the cap. He isn't the reason Nelson is going to be gone. I get the frustration. I share it. The other losses were going to happen whether Smith-Schuster returned or not, but they should be keeping Nelson. to say it is all on one signing and two potential signings is just silly.

 

I'm all for keeping Nelson if he wants to be here. If he's unhappy for whatever reason, then they should get what they can for him and move on. It's not like they would be losing Rod Woodson for Gods sake. He's a capable cover corner on the outside. Not the greatest tackler in the world and by extension not that good in run coverage. I'd rather see a younger and effective run blocking o-line opening holes for a younger and more physical running back. Much more important to the future of this team than Steven Nelson.

At first blush before JJSS's new contract details were released, I agreed with Madden's take that Nelson was being sacrificed to make room room for #19. That simply isn't the case. I think Pitt wanted to restructure Nelson and he and his agent fussed about it.

 

Exactly. I was talking about the change 2 T. Maddox.
I never mentioned Ben.
I said all it took was a Qb change from Kordell 2 fing our #1 Wrs.

 

The year before in 01 where Maddox only threw 7 passes and Kordell was the starter Hines caught 94 passes, had 1004 yards, and made the pro bowl..

 

Great 1 year. Yet the whole time they looked for a true#1 till they changed Qbs
Also I believe Kordells best year.

 

Half? Please walk me through that funny math.

 

This is likely what happened. We sat down with him asking what type of contract we could extend him for (thus lowering our current cap hit), and he gave us a number we had no interest in. We probably countered and he got salty and requested a trade. Makes too much sense for this not to have been the case.

That being said with JuJu's contract idt we actually HAVE to trade him. We could probably make it work. We buy ourselves another year of not having to look for a CB and test the FA market or draft one. Simple as that.

 

I mean, tweeting out dismay about losing teammates is to be expected. Nobody wants to see their friends leave the team, but it seems like the players are happy for them getting paid as well. I remember there were rumors about Sutton being unhappy too and here he is re-signing with us again. I don't read too much into rumors.

They still don't have to trade Nelson anyways. They might if they think he is going to be a problem, but a 28 year old player in a contract year isn't going to hold out into the season or hurt his chances to make as much money as he can in what is likely his last contract in the NFL. Nelson probably just got mad that we didn't want to pay him what he thought he was worth. It happens all the time. I'd rather not make any contract mistakes with guys that hurts our future. Nelson is a good player, but certainly not irreplaceable like Fitz or Watt would be. That's where our money is going (as it should be), and we cant afford to overpay a nearly 30 year old corner. If we make good decisions over the next couple years we can transition into another really good football team without a real "rebuilding team" number of years in the dumpster. Cap is going up and we will have a ton of money to play with next year. Lets see where it takes us

 

8 mill total when I was writing, but then the report came out. Can has been kicked down the road and its 1.6 mill cap hit this season.

 

Alulu
Dupree
V Williams
Hilton
Nelson

sorry 5/11 or 45%

 

If you really don’t think Ben is running the show behind the scenes you haven’t been paying attention. And I know you know your stuff.

 

Alulu- old. loved what he did here but we have a young replacement. carlos davis. life goes on carlos' time to show.

Dupree- loved what dupree became. knee blow out. we have a young replacement alex highsmith. showed some flashes, now it's time to show.

V Williams- way too overpaid. been looking for a replacement for 3 years now. no biggie. robert spillane will fill the gap. UG3 will help. kilebrew.

Hilton- tough one here but sutton resigned. several other young replacements possible. draft pick, pierre, williams.

Nelson- loved what he did but moving on maybe. see above and add layne. we kept our #1.


so it's not like we have nobody to fill the spots. you may not like who they are from last year but it's a different year and they have in a lot of instances already been thrown in the fire and should be better in this next year. might surprise and be better then the original.

 

Ben has so much power. He had 31 other NFL teams make no offer to JuJu, a few disobeyed and made what on paper were better offers that the Steelers, but JuJu not wanting to displease the Almighty Ben signed the 1 year offer.

Dude you are overthinking all of this, yes Ben wanted him back, if he would have had the offer he wanted he would been with another team have...he did not get it and decided to take the 1 year deal. Ben had little to do with this, except saying he wanted him back, and after that the team and JuJu were ready to part not being able to come to terms.

 

You guys are a lot more optimistic than me which is fine and a welcome discussion. Just disappointed that we are basically wasting another year when we should be rebuilding. Ben cannot move or throw downfield. That’s only going to get worse this season.

 

Your pessimism over the Ben situation is certainly warranted but he is the best option going into the 2021 season. I'm not sold on Rudolph and Haskins has never impressed me either on or off the field. I'm glad we took a pass on DeShaun Watson with how much he will have hanging over his head with these allegations, even though we couldn't afford him to begin with anyways.

I'm cautiously optimistic that Ben will have a bounce back season. I don't think his surgically repaired elbow fully healed in time for the season to start and his knee was obviously bothering him as well. Maybe he can heal up a bit this offseason and surprise everyone but I wouldn't bet my life on it either. Having JUJU back at discount rates to help Ben is definitely better than caving into Nelsons demands. Just the way I see it anyways.

 

Well, I basically agree that they are wasting time on a rebuild. They have a plan and we don't know what it is. I would really have preferred to see Roethlisberger hang it up after last season. But he didn't and they brought him back. I've said before that it probably says more about how the Steelers rate Rudolph than anything else, and that doesn't bode well for him. I honestly do not see this team making the playoffs. I think a good year will be 9-8. But, they aren't done building their roster and I have to admit that Ben coming back does make 2021 somewhat interesting. So, although I have my reservations about what they've done to date in the off season versus what they need versus their urgent cap situation, there is a sliver of optimism.