Steelers Sign CB Ross Cockrell To One Year Extension

good. he's our best outside corner.... that's scary.

 

Good to hear. I thought he played pretty good. He is no #1 but he can play

 

Does this mean anything for signing Boykin? Think they offered him something?

 

They also signed QB Dustin Vaughan. Don't know much about him.

 

Glad he will be here next year

 

Probably not yet. Boykin wouldn't sign until he sees his value on the free agent market anyways.

 

If I was Boykin I wouldn't sign unless I was promised a top 3 spot. And I don't think they'll do that, although they should. So I see him going elsewhere. A shame. Hard to believe that, with the way this team has limped along at the CB position over the years, that we'd land a good one and run him out of town at the expense of both parties.

 

I think we tend to overrate the hell out of Boykin. He did a nice job when he was in (certainly better than Blake), but to say he's some stud corner that we are inexplicably running out of town is a bit of a reach. Could he start for our current team? Yeah, but so could a lot of guys. The question is whether or not he is the long term answer at the outside CB position, and I'm not so sure that he is.

I guess what I'm saying is that while he didn't seem to have a ton of control over the situation, he didn't log too many outside corner snaps this year. We are really high on Golson (obviously, since we drafted him in the second round), so he is going to get every opportunity to be the starting slot corner. If we don't view Boykin as a long term solution at outside corner, then we shouldn't even offer him a contract. I think his limited snaps outside and overall limited PT tell us all we need to know about whether or not we view him as a solution outside. We will re-sign Gay and already re-signed Cockrell. We certainly will be drafting someone and have Golson coming back. Blake will very likely be retained for the minimum to be the last corner on the roster. We may spend a little on an under the radar FA (like we did with Brice McCain a two seasons ago) for depth too if we want.

Basically we are either investing in him as the answer outside, or we shouldn't invest in him at all IMO.

 

Excellent. RC has a chance to become very good.

 

Playing time is only an indicator when the coaches are right. For example, for Curtis Brown and Shamarko Thomas, I trust the coaches. I think those guys didn't get the playing time because they weren't good enough. I'm basing that on the limited action I did see of them.

But there are plenty of other examples where the coaches are wrong and it's plain as day:

• "If Antonio Brown was better than ARE then he'd be in the game." *Brown finally plays and is way better*
  • Are we supposed to believe Brown just happened to get better right when he went in, and the coaches timed it perfectly? Or might he have been better all along, and the coaches sat the superior player?

• Ditto Stephon Tuitt / Cam Thomas ... Ditto Martavis Bryant (inactive!!) / DHB & Lance Moore

• "If Max Starks was better than Jonathan Scott he'd be in the league still, and on the field, instead of unemployed at home." *Max Starks signs and is immediately much better*

It's not just Boykin. This team has a habit of it, and the owner even had to step in and publicly call out his coach in order to make a difference. It's normally a youth thing which makes Boykin a little different, but the pattern is the same. Blake was killing us, and Boykin was a much more established and talented young man ready to step in, and they just would not do it.

I didn't say Boykin was a stud corner. But he absolutely is just that in comparison to the man they chose to play instead. They're high on Golson? They were high on Boykin. Why else trade a 5th round pick for a guy whose contract expires in 1 season? That's not something you do for a 4th stringer. The "inexplicably running him out of town" bit is because, as you said, a lot of guys could start for this team. Our CB position sucks. And yet, we can't seem to fix it. Our solutions don't work. (Golson/Grant excluded, obviously.) We can't solve this problem to save our lives, and then lo and behold, here we had someone who could help on the bench. But then we told him to sit on it while we all watch the worst CB available match up one on one with the top guy offenses could throw at us.

Then, when they finally did insert Boykin, they did so more at the expense of Cockrell than Blake. I just don't get it.

 

Here's the thing I worry about with Gay though. The reason I'm not sure that I want to really overpay for Gay is because I wonder if he didn't really benefit from how bad Blake sucked?

 

This post coupled with your avatar makes it seem like you're sad that Cockrell was resigned. LOL!

 

He needs to gain some weight so he can hit like a truck, but other than that he has some good potential.

 

good signing.

 

Glad they resigned Cockrell. Lets see how many teams rush to go after Blake Would be a 4th CB special teams player anywhere else.

 

OK Lets take a collection for a team to sign blake. Nah, when they cut him, we'll pick him back up

 

I think Blake should be paying US for the agony he put us through.

 

What do you think money-wise is the difference between an "under the radar" guy and re-investing in Boykin? Not sure what Boykin will command in FA myself so I'm asking. Then you may have to factor in the time spent in the system with Boykin. How much value does that add if any? Say we bring in another guy, how long does that take for the "trust" factor to kick in? The Steelers were varied on that aspect, playing Cockrell almost immediately and leaving Boykin on the bench.

I'm sure they're high on Golson too, but they haven't seen him play let alone practice this whole year. Why not keep Boykin for insurance? Go with Gay and Cockrell on the outside and Boykin in the slot for starters, adjustments being made thru draft/FA and Golson returning.

Glad they signed Cockrell too.

 

I'm glad I won't have to change my avatar unnecessarily.

 

The common theme in your examples are that they are young players that are waiting behind established vets for playing time. You're assuming that rookie AB or rookie Marty would've been ready to go and contribute their first game as a rookie the same way they contributed after all of the coaching they got while they sat behind the vets. There's a reason they were 6th and 4th round picks... They were project type players. In all honesty we got them on the field contributing in a big way really quickly for late round guys. That's a testament not only to the players themselves, but the people coaching them up and getting the, ready to go. There was a similar scenario this year with James and Coates. They came in late in the year and gave us quality snaps when we needed them, but to think that was the same player we would've gotten out of them week 1 is ridiculous. Tuitt was a different story since he was at least splitting snaps early on and then got a bigger share later in the year when he proved he was the better option. Starks was more about money than anything if I remember correctly. That situation was around the time we kept tagging him.

I don't think they were really that high on Boykin. They certainly weren't high on him as an outside corner. They traded for him as insurance at the slot position after they found out Golson was going to be down for the year. I know it's not really a good thing to be throwing picks around as insurance, but injuries really forced our hand this year. If we were that high on him, he would've played more. I have a feeling that we just didn't think he was that good outside.

The point of my response wasn't to say how Boykin sucks, but to bring a consenting opinion on why I think it wouldn't be a great idea to try to extend Boykin to a starter's contract. I don't feel like the Steelers view him as the answer to our problems outside. If he isn't the long term solution, then don't waste the money on him. We are higher on Golson since we spend a 2nd rounder on him, so he is seen as the future at the slot position. Boykin will not be our starting slot corner. We are going to start Gay as well. I'm really hoping we draft someone pretty early or sign a decent FA to come in and be the long term solution at CB. That way we don't have to give Boykin a bigger contract, and we can hopefully get someone that is even better than Boykin.

If we re-sign Boykin you can pretty much bet we won't be drafting a corner in the top 3 rounds next year and that would be a mistake IMO. Just because he is better than Blake doesn't mean that he is the best option for us moving forward. That's all I was trying to say.

 

Idk honestly. I feel like #2 CB money is around the 5mil a year we paid Cortez Allen. An under the radar signing would be like when we signed Gay away from the cards for about 1.5mil a year. I'm not saying that Boykin will get that much, but I think that's a decent number for a #2CB and that's what he will want to be paid like in FA. Time spent in the system makes a difference, but it's not a total deal breaker. If they feel they can get better value elsewhere, they will take a guy from FA. Idk about the trust factor thing. It's not that they trusted Cockrell right away and didn't trust Boykin. They went with Cockrell right away because they think he is a better corner than Boykin. If that's what they think, then giving Boykin starter money would be really dumb.

I'm fine with Boykin as Golson insurance. That's exactly what he was this year. The only thing is, I'm not willing to spend 4mil a year or more on an insurance player/backup slot corner. If you're paying him that, he'd better be the outside starter opposite Gay. I'd be more comfortable in the 1.5-2mil a year range if were looking for a backup slot. If that's all it takes to get Boykin, then cool. Sign him. If he wants to start and be paid like a starter, then in want us to let him walk. We can draft someone that we see as the long term outside corner we need. Boykin isn't that guy IMO.

 

I looked in my crystal ball, I see them bringing Blake back. For whatever reason they like him and they will keep him as insurance until Golson can start.