Top 10 Steelers Who Were Let Walk

In an earlier post I said I was worried that if Timmons was extended and his enormous cap hit next year was rolled into several seasons that the Steelers cap might be too tight to sign young star players like Tuitt and Bryant. I was told there would be no problem signing all players. That got me to thinking which are the best players the Steelers were unable to re-sign?

1. Rod Woodson
2. Alan Faneca
3. Kevin Greene
4. Joey Porter
5. Plaxico Burress
6. Chad Brown
7. Emmanuel Sanders
8. Chris Hope
9. Santonio Holmes
10. Mike Wallace

Obviously some great Steelers past their prime finished their careers with other teams like Greg Lloyd, Carnell Lake, Darren Perry etc. and some left and came back like Willie Gay, Harrison and Foote etc. but these ones stood out off the top of my head.

Which ones did I miss? Brentson Buckner? Nate Washington? Eric Green?

 

sonewhere in top 5 should be old sticky fingers

 

Rod Woodson is a for sure #1 biggest mistake we let leave. As for Faneca I say no. We got our best years out of him, he was average at best with the Jets.

How in the world do you not have Mike Vrabel on your list? That was one big mistake that the Steelers never kept him around.
A lot had to do with having Kirkland and Earl Holmes, and Gildon. He just couldn't crack a spot here, and had a great career with the Patriots.

 

Bubby!

 

Hardy Nickerson should be probably second on that list. 4-time 1st-team All-Pro after heading to Tampa.

Leon Searcy should definitely be on that list. Made a Pro Bowl after leaving the Burgh and, even worse, forced us into the Jamain Stephens era. Watching The Bus run into his fat butt three yards behind the line of scrimmage was no bueno.

Not a popular pick, I'm sure, but I'd put Neil O'Donnell on that list. I think we probably beat Denver in '98 AFCCG with O'Donnell at qb. Then we have a shot at a young Brett Favre in the Super Bowl.

 

They were right not to pay Faneca: How do you figure that statement?

 

You left off Johnny Unitas. I'd actually say he's number one. Can you believe that guy was drafted in the 9th round???

 

A guy in the vein of Vrabel that I think we could have used was John Kuhn. He has been a great role player in GB. The fans love him and he's dependable and a great teammate.

 

you can't keep them all.

 

if that is the top 10 then dang we have done good. cause the only 2 on that list to me that could be considered a mistake are woodson and greene. sanders was one I hate to see go but if we kept him then Bryant probably wouldn't be here. he was replaceable and I think they knew that. Wallace and holmes? I wont even go there. faneca and brown were about done and in fanecas case already done.

 

Unitas was a long shot to make it in the NFL, and he wasnt a legend when we drafted him with the 102nd pick, and his 4 year college stats weren't impressive at all considering In his four-year career as a Louisville Cardinal, Unitas completed 245 passes for 3,139 yards and 27 touchdowns. Reportedly, the 6-foot-1 Unitas weighed 145 pounds on his first day of practice at Louisville. So this skinny kid shows up in camp with 27 TDs in 4 years and has 3 experienced QBs in front of him such as Jim Finks and Marchibroda, so the head coach Walt Keisling didn't give him any snaps in practice and he had already made up his mind he wasnt going to make the team. And with only a 39 man roster that year they couldnt keep players around long enough to develope, so yeah, you can make a big deal out of cutting unitas, but you have to look at the big picture that he was a long shot to make it on any team, he became a legend but he was far from being a legend when we drafted him..........

 

The only ones that actually hurt our team was the loss of these guys:

Woodson
Faneca
Searcy
Odonell
Greene

After these guys left we had a serious drop off in production from their replacements and it cost us wins. The others really didn't matter much. Sure Vrabel turned out to be very good but we had good players ahead of him. Same goes for those WR's. Plaxico hurt a little bit but I don't know anyone who can say in hind sight that wasn't a good move letting him walk.

 

I don't know if I would put odonnell on that list. I think that super bowl really shook him up. he was never really the same that I remember. I think the team seen it. that is why I always lean on the organizations side. they know these guys a lot better and are around them a lot more. was faneca not more about money? I don't really remember but seemed like he was against a pay cut

 

Faneca got kinda whiney twice during his tenure in Pittsburgh. The first time was when his buddy Maddox went down and Roethlisberger was appointed the starter (he asked Ed Bouchette, "Do you want to go work with some little young kid who's just out of college?").

The second was when the Steelers didn't extend his contract going into his final year. He felt slighted by the team. He felt like he was going to have to play his final year, risking injury, with no guaranteed contract in the future. Polamalu even referred to Faneca's comments as "troublesome" at the time because they were spoken by a leader of the team that attacked the organization (Rooneys).

 

The OP asked "which are the best players the Steelers were unable to resign." Unitas never made the team.

 

And he got his ring AGAINST us!

 

You forgot to use green with odummy

 

Exactly.

 

Yes and Faneca was vocal about not liking Tomlin being hired. He wanted Grimm for HC.

He also didn't like the blocking scheme Zeirlein introduced (which why would he? Z couldnt't hold Grimm or Munchak's clipboard).

Faneca was also displeased with the food at training camp, the Steelers switching hotel chains on the road to one that didn't leave chocolate mints on his pillow, and having to buy his own sunscreen at training camp.

 

I'd add Nate Washington to the list. Kuhn I agree with. Definitely Rod and Greene. But like was said, can't keep em all. Willie Williams and Chad Brown were missed when they left although it was our system that made them shine apparently. Vrabel is a head scratcher. Just couldn't catch on here and then goes and becomes a stud... Crazy

 

I hadn't heard about any of this (the boldfaced quote) until now. What a baby (although, the chocolate mints thing I get).

 

That's right. I remember now. Thanks. I had completely forgot the Maddox thing though.

 

Actually you were told they wouldn't have a problem signing the players that were part of their long term plans(Tuitt etc). Personally I don't see Wheaton as being part of that group.

 

Bryant is though. And Tuitt. And Shazier. And Bell. And AB is being paid 5 or 6M under his market value.

The best post in this thread was the one that said "You can't keep them all." That has been proven countless times. And when these other players walked away the Steelers weren't paying an ILB in his 30s 12M/year which will be the case if he is extended.

Farrior never even saw 4M.