Steelers find star players in APRIL - not March...

Great article - and so true.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 87120.html

There was a chart in the Cleveland Pain Feeler that showed that the Steelers are tied for the BEST record in the NFL since 2006, but have signed only 11 free agents in that period.

Having witnessed it over the last 40+ years - I agree - the STEELER way WORKS!

 

Im reading this now as well. so true.

 

At the same time... I think the board would be considerably emptier if there weren't all the "sign free agent X" threads throughout March. It's like being forced to visit your elderly racist relatives. You don't really want to do it, but it at least gives you something to talk about.

 

Hey - when players are available - we're entitled to talk about whether or not they could help us. That's why we're not fans and FO personnel. Still - when all the FA talk is over, I'm always glad when the Steelers haven't made a significant move.

 

True enough. I was trying to think of any specific recent free agents that I wished we had picked up, but drew a blank (though it might be too early in the morning for thinking). Instead, I couldn't help but look at the Eagles last season, and the "dream team"... that worked out well for them.

 

careful, we had sean mahan and duce .

 

I actually really liked the Staley siging when it was made. He was quite a versatile back at Philly, and seemed to be a decent alternative to Bettis at the time. However, I was utterly, utterly wrong.

 

That's the thing. We may LOVE certain players - and obviously, the Steelers loved Staley or they wouldn't have signed him. But I think you swing and miss with free agents even more than with draft picks.

 

Staley was a good signing at the time. He looked great in Philly, but the guy just couldn't stay healthy here.

As for how the system here works, we try to draft talent and replace it when necessary. We have some holes right now, but our starting offense and defense I think are pretty well set. We will add 7 talented players to this group of starter with the goal being to get eventual starters. I love the way this FO works.

Just as an example:

QB - Ben
RB - Redman
WR - Wallace
WR - Brown
TE - Miller
TE - Johnson
LT - Gilbert
LG - Legs
C - Pouncey
RG - Foster
RT - Colon

DE - Hood
NT - Hampton or McLendon
DE - Keisel
OLB - Woodley
ILB - Foote
ILB - Timmons
OLB - Harrison
CB - Ike
CB - Lewis
S - Clark
S - Troy


Granted there will be injuries. Granted there are players I would love to upgrade. Granted there isn't depth at every position, but I LOVE the fact that we don't NEED a starter at any position. We have guys we trust, but we could always use upgrades.

 

I remember Staley running hard until the Patriot game when he came out of the pile injured. He loved being in Pittsburgh since he grew up there and was a fan.

 

I do think we overpaid Staley, but I don't think he was a bad pickup. We were looking for someone to offset Bettis winding down. It worked great until he got hurt. I'm not happy about how it turned out, but I never understood hating on a guy for being injured. We might as well bash Kendrell Bell, who could have been the best linebacker in a generation.