Steelers Do Not Plan To Bring Back Hines Ward

he was our emergency qb too. good luck to hines, he was as great a steeler as there ever was. :hello: :matrix: :rocksign:

 

I'll keep this short.
They need to work out something, Hines is not done( as Franco was, even though it was terrible seeing him in a Seahawks jersey).
Hines is in that legendary category, though that would not be the reason to sign him, he's still very useful.

I'm sure all of us, who have seen his entire career, have the same feelings.
He needs to retire a Steeler.

 

i'd take him as a WR coach over montgomery. he could teach the fine art of ( kick your arse) as a downfield blocker to the newbies.

 

Hines just posted this on Facebook:

"I don't normally like to respond to rumors, but as I've said all along, I want to finish my career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And as I've already told the organization, I am willing to work with them to restructure my contract to make sure this happens. - HINES"

Still got hope. ONE MORE YEAR!

 

I would love for him to remain on the team but I think we really need the roster spot to develop younger talent at another position.

 

Good to hear, thanks for posting that

 

You beat me to it. Indeed, he appears willing to do what it takes to stay. hard to believe the Steelers would not be willing to sign him for league minimum.

 

In my eyes, Hines Ward is the epitome of a Pittsburgh Steeler. He has given his all,( and it has been quite a lot ) to this organization for 14 years. If the organization doesn't let him finish out his career in black and gold, then I, for one, wilo be very disappointed and upset with our FO. Hines has said he is willing to restructure his contract to stay........If he isn't granted that wish, then my respect for the organization drops tremendously.

 

I completely agree. The guy defines team player and embodies what I love about the whole organization.

 

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I think we all appreciate what Ward has given the Steelers but, a roster spot is not some sort of life time achievement award. It's earned on a yearly basis.

Lots of Steeler fans recently, through the course of the year, inferred that the Steelers are getting old and slow. Keeping old and slow players for sentimental reasons will not help the team moving forward. moving on from older players at the right time is why we as Steeler fans rarely have to endure rebuilding seasons. The FO does a great job of balancing youth with experienced veterans.

I think right now is a crucial time for this organization, we are at a tipping point where we are aging and our direct competition with in the division is talented and young. wether we would like to admit it--the Bengals are young and extremely talented. Dalton, I believe, is the real deal and they have a good young defense. The Ravens...well they owned us this year and it was for the best that we didn't meet them in the playoffs. Again, young and talented on offense--defenseively aging but they seem to have Lewis's replacement and locked up Ngata long-term. Reed is the only ? and they performed well the previous season during his absence. Looking outside the division; the Texans are kinda scary and the Patriots are always the Patriots.

For these reasons I feel the steelers will and should begin to move on from our aging veterans--Smith, Farrior,Ward and Hampton.

Here's looking forward to next year

Go Burgh!!


YOUR RIGHT!

 

Thing is, you have to feel for the FO here too. They know and want the same thing we all do but the #s are against them. They have to lose a receiver some how/some where to help make the bottom line.

I'm not sure league minimum would even help the situation at this point.

They could make him a coach, but I don't think he ready to wrap his mind around that yet.

They're in a tough spot here. I feel for them.

Players like Ward and Bettis should retire Steelers so they need to do whatever to make that happen. When you get right down to it, that is our way and our version of retiring your jersey. I agree with it too.

Make it happen Mr Rooney.

 

What Hines brings to the Steelers cannot be measured in yards or number of catches. If they are truly going to let him go, I do not like this move at all.

 

I think Ward will be back.....I believe that our new OC will lobby for him to come back......I think Tomlin will want him back as well......I predict the tide will turn and Ward stays and produces at a nice level for us...

 

I've been saying that he should be the "Bettis" of 2012. See him off with a SB victory!

 

His point was that if we don't show loyalty to arguably the most Steelery Steeler in the last era and a half of football, perhaps the younger guys won't see the organization as all that special after all. Then when Wallace/Brown/Sanders hit those second contracts, they might be that much more inclined to take the bigger money that other teams would certainly offer them.

We do spend a lot on our own guys, but individually each of those guys could probably make more somewhere else (not 2-3 times more, that's an exaggeration. But certainly a few million here and there). Playing for the Steelers is a benefit, like health coverage. There is a fee in the form of a discount that is often paid. Lose the benefit, lose the players (maybe, sometimes).

Not for coasting he doesn't. But let's look at what it would cost to keep him. The pros and cons of keeping Hines Ward for one more year.

Pros:
-Good for morale. Sets a good example for the younger players in the locker room because they'll get a close up look at what the team will do for someone who serves them so long, so well. People talk about how the Steelers are a family, in addition to being an excellently run business. Also good for morale just to have him around because of who he is. His attitude of how to play the game is something it would be nice to see in more of our players.
-Another year of Hines is another year he can rub off onto our younger players. Figuratively. Not just his attitude as already mentioned, but his football skills. He's an intelligent player and still a great blocker. Our guys could use more of both those traits.
-He is not a useless player! He can absolutely function as a situational receiver. Before his playing time was reduced he was actually doing fine -- not dangerous like the young guys, but still getting open and catching balls. I just rewatched the first Baltimore game, and he looked every bit like a legit starting WR. And that was with a QB playing worse than Tyler Palko. He's got more than a little experience with the team and QB. He's plenty capable of making it onto the field in certain packages as a #4 or #5, or near the goal line.
-We won't have to see him finish his career with some other random (Arizona) team. He wouldn't like that any more than us.

Cons:
-Money. He has said very, very clearly that he does not want to leave, but will not retire, and will definitely take a pay cut. Even if he plays for the league vet minimum, that is money still spent. However, if we do cut him, someone will have to take his place, and we will spend a good portion of that money on that guy. So what's the difference between some other guy's minimum and Hines'? Probably a few hundred thousand dollars. So by keeping him, we would lose a couple hundred thousand dollars of cap space.
-Special teams. Someone said you need two wide receivers to play special teams. I think there are ways around that, given how incredibly versitile and deep most of our defense is, as well as decent special teamers on offense like our RBs. But even if you do need two WRs for ST, we had four last year if you count Brown on the returns. Battle, Sanders, and Cotchery all spent time on ST. With Wallace, Brown, Sanders, Cotchery, and Ward, you probably don't want Sanders chasing down kick returns anymore, so you can pull him off. Cotchery can do it, so that's one. As for the other, with Battle cut that spot can go to anyone, from any position. The opening is there. Whoever makes the team in his place can do it.

I understand he has a bonus coming up, so I hope the plan is to cut him, skip the bonus, and sign him for one year at the league minimum. I am not in favor of making bad personnel decisions based on sentiment to longtime favorites, but I don't think that's the case here. I don't want to keep him just so he retires a Steeler. There are legit reasons.

 

Hines Ward for the league minimum is a no-brainer to me. He can release off the line and sit in those zones like the best of them, and still can deliver a vicious crack-back block without a second thought. His locker room presence is priceless.