Offer #48 a respectable contact.

Once bitten , twice shy. Lamar Woodley anybody?

 

The more I watch the more I agree, we are never going to be able to give him the long term deal he will get on the open market so tagging him is our best option for next season. jmo

 

Colts, Dolphins, Bucs, Bills Cowpies, Cards, Texans and Raiders all have 73 mil cap space or more. I can see at least one of these teams over spending for him. Pass rush is a top need in the NFL and the season Bud is having will make some of these guys over look his first 4 season. jmo

 

Tag him.

 

Tag him? at 12 or so mill? For one year of splash plays? So could he be the main cog? No. Watts motor makes Alvin better. Now he showboats after almost every play even if he wasn't directly involved. And the cameras pan on him all the while Watt is blowing people up.

He will get overpaid paid elsewhere and fade back in mediocrity. Still has those traits.

Sign the Gravedigger.

 

So you are saying he hasn't had a good year or not? My opinion is he is having a great year and I would rather tag him at 17 mil and pay Watt the big contract in 2 years. It will all depend on who is out there, I brought up a few names before who we could look at as a replacement. The thing is if we don't sign someone we don't have a lot of options. A rookie isn't coming in here this year and I am not sure Ola can do it. I have no problem tagging him and spending next year in what could be Ben's last season and not overpaying for years to come. jmo

 

He has had some nice splash plays. But take a look at the rest of the effort. Really take a look. Sorry I wouldn't franchise him at 17 mill. You really think he is worth that? Sign the Gravedigger.

 

I have looked and yeah he is having a very good season, is anyone worth 17 mil......no. Digger isn't gonna cost much 4 mil tops look at what 3-4 NT are going for so I am all for keeping Digger and tagging Bud. Unless we can get a guy like Beasley, Barrett or even a guy like Golden at a good price I don't see another option with our defense staying the same.

 

NFL just announced the cap is expected to go up 8 million so should have some room to get one of them signed

 

The cap goes up $8million for every other team too. So the other guys have more room to sign guys as well.

 

I can’t see Hargrave agreeing to $4m. That’s backup money and he is a legit starter imo. He could play in a 3-4 or a 4-3 so there will be a good bit of interest in him I think. Hard to put a figure on it until you let him test the market but I think he will be looking for somewhere between $7m - $10m per year.

 

True but when addressing Steeler's problems cap space was at a premium so every little bit helps.

 

I’m open to correction on this but I think the cap calculators that have the Steelers at an estimated $5.5m room for 2020 already factored in the assumption of a $8m - $10m increase as per usual so I don’t think this announcement is additional room over and above that. Sportrak has the cap at 199m (roughly what NFL just announced it would be) for 2020 and Steelers liabilities at $194m for example.

Steelers restructured a lot of guys over the years and moved money around and it’s coming back to bite them now. They’ll have to make significant cuts and move a lot of money around again if they want to clear enough room to keep the defence together.

 

Not to bag on you or anything, put a common thing I hear every yr is "Hey, the cap is going up $X million we can sign our guys!". But it's like this: If I give you $10 grand, you've got a nice bonus to spend. If I give every household in America $10 grand, you're not really any better off than you were before. If the Cap goes up the same for every team, the Steelers are no better off than any other team.

 

But if you are looking at a problem like how do I resign a starting player while maintaining good depth it helps that the cap goes up and gives the team more options. I mean let's look at last off season for example when some were advocating gutting the depth chart in order to have cap room to give more to the B's. Dump DHB, Eli Rogers, Release Burnett per his request, don't extend Tyson or Big Dan, trade Burns, cut Sutton, Brian Allen, Marcus Allen, and dump Matakavich. These were all ideas in order to save cap space but would have left the team hurting for veteran players who had some degree of talent. All I'm saying is that they don't have to be quite so creative in trying to strike that balance.

Sure there will be teams with an ungodly amount of cap space to get into a bidding war so they can meet the league minimum but what can you do.

 

Tag Everyone!

 

You get a tag! And you get a tag!

 

I am not saying he will get 4 mil but I think there is just as good chance to get 4 as there is 7-10 mil. I love Digger but let's face it he only plays 60% of the snaps and that will hurt his FA status. Also comparing they other contracts a 3-4 NT just don't make much. Damon Harrison is making 12 mil, Eddie Goldman is making 10.5 mil and Quinnen Williams is making 8 mil. After that the next guy Cory Peters is making 4 mil. Now if he goes to a 4-3 these guys are making some money. 9 guys are making 10-17.1 mil, 2 more are making 9 mil and 2 more are making 8 mil, then there are 13 guys making 3-5 mil.

I just don't see Digger putting up the numbers to put him in double digits as a 3-4 or 4-3 dlineman. He is tied at 47 with 4 sacks Look who is also out there Mike Danials, Gerald McCoy, Jordan Phillips, DJ Reader, Chris Jones, Maliek Collins, Sheldon Richardson, A'Shawn Robinson to name a few who will be in high demand.

 

Dupree isn't just making splash plays. He has gotten better defending the run. He is providing some pressure even when hie isn't getting sacks. The big plays are coming more often and he isn't disappearing as completely as he used to between them.

No, he's not on Watt's level. That is the value of the tag. Hold on to Dupree one more year while they look for a replacement, then use the savings when that year is up to help lock up Watt long term.

 

Losing either guy is going to hurt, but getting Tuitt back would help mitigate the loss of Hargrave. They have nobody on the roster to replace Dupree. People are actually suggesting moving Barron or even Edmunds out there. That's how uninspiring the current crew backing up at outside linebacker is right now.

 

I just don't think they can keep both. I don't trust Tuitt to stay healthy, either, but at least we know he can play if he's on the field. That doesn't seem to be the case with the outside linebacker replacement options.

 

I hope we tag him. The tag is expensive, but it keeps the D together for another run at it all with Big Ben. Hargrave and Hilton are both really good players but we are much better stocked at those positions... Our next best OLB is Anthony Chickillo. I think retaining Dupree takes precedence on that alone lol