What past player do you regret not re-signing?

Saw the other post about cutting players, and thought it'd be fun to discuss players that were either released or not signed that you regretted later. Here's a few off the top of my head:
Rod Woodson
Chad Brown
Mike Vrabel
Jeff Reed
Gary Anderson
Franco Harris
etc

I think a case could be made for Vrabel and Brown, as they both had decent careers after leaving Pittsburgh. Same with Rod Woodson, but like someone else noted, he left pittsburgh because he wanted to play corner, not safety.

 

Woodson first, then Vrable. Neither one was quite done when we gave up on them. If memory serves, money was the issue with Woodson. With Vrable, it was talent. I just don't believe we thought he would be as good as he turned out. It was one of our few mistakes in players we let go.

 

You have to look at the $$$ though, not just if they produced after they left. I'd have loved to keep Faneca around but he became the highest paid OL ever with the Jets if I'm not mistaken.

I can't really think of any... I'd have liked to keep Plex, but not for the money he wanted.

 

I dont regret losing brown the donger replaced him

 

Maybe add Hardy Nickerson. he was pretty stellar in Tampa.

 

urbik because would be still usefull

 

I agree with Urbik. If there was any way to keep Woodson, they should have. I think Joey Porter still had some good years in him...

 

Before i regret losing anybody i look at eho replaced them and me personally i dont regret letting any lber walk. No drop off in play.

 

Neil O'Donnell.
Yes, I said it.
I, like you, watched in horror as he threw 2 hideous picks in the Superbowl. But he was the best QB we had between TB and BR. After he left, we had Mike Tomczak, Slash and Kent Graham over the next few years. I believe we would have made it to at least one more SB if we had kept him.

 

He would have just thrown 5 more INTs in it

 

I REALLY mourned when Franco was not re-signed. I really didn't understand the whole "get on with your life's work" idea and hated seeing him in another uniform. Woodson was one I really hated to see them let go, too - especially with his production for the rest of his career. He was one of the few big fish that we let get away before his time was up. Aerosteel, I sort of agree with you about O'Donnell, because it really didn't seem like the Steelers were ready to replace him - but I would put him way down on my list of non-signees.

 

Hines Ward.

Ooops, did I get ahead of myself?

 

A little bit before my time but I definitely have to say Johnny Unitas.

Rod Woodson.

And I will throw in Neil O'Donnel as well. My reason is simple. I stated previously that I believe SB XXX was fixed with him throwing those INT's and then boarding a private Jet all alone at the expense of the JETS ownership and never being a Steeler again. Up to the 2011 season he was the 2nd highest completion to INT percentage rating in the regular season in the history of the game. He was on fire that year. Especially in the playoffs and then somehow he dumbfoundly threw the two worst INT's of his entire career in the biggest game he had ever played in. He did not look nervous at all that game even though he may have been. If they made any attempt to resign him that year then the two picks may have not happened at all but we will never know. The Steelers were big underdogs that game and they held Emmitt Smith to basically no gain all game long even though he was having one of his best seasons.

 

i don't think woodson was too big of a loss. he bounced around to a few other franchises after that and wasn't really a star anymore. heck, he played safety after he left. for the money he was demanding, he just wasn't the same player any more.

it was disappointing to see chad brown go and nobody could have guessed vrabel's success in new england, BUT . . . we were so loaded at linebacker at that time, it really didn't matter. jason gildon and j-peezy were our outside backers, levon was in the middle, earl holmes was playing well, we drafted kendrell bell shortly after . . . those defections didn't hurt us in the least.

jeff reed?! jeff reed lost it. he went vanderjagt on us. i used to love the guy but he got the 'tin cup shanks.' it's in his head. once a kicker has the lost the mental part of the game, he's done (see: where is jeff reed now?). aside from that, he probably still can't reach the end zone on his kickoffs in spite of the rule change.

franco was done. nobody wants to see a washed up hall of famer donning another team's gear. emmit smith in arizona, joe namath as a ram, jerry rice as a bronco, joe montana as a chief, mike webster as a chief, etc . . . heck, even bradshaw was considering a tryout with tampa bay after a season removed from his elbow surgery. can't blame us for not re-signing him though. abercrombie and pollard were more effective backs at that point of his career.

gary anderson . . . meh. we've had pretty good success with kickers. norm johnson was VERY solid for us. then kris brown was great until we moved to heinz. jeff reed was great for a long time until a miss at chicago followed by a miss at cincy was followed by misses everywhere.

honestly, and man i'll take heat for this, but i was disappointed they let neil o'donnell leave for the jets. i thought he was a solid qb. and, before you criticize, understand that between neil and ben we suffered through kordell, tomczak, graham, miller, and maddox. we would have had much better years in there had neil remained the qb.

i would have also liked to have kept yancey thigpen, eric green, alan faneca, carnell lake, mike merriweather, hardy nickerson, louis lipps, leon searcy, wayne gandy, and plaxico burress (to name a few). how about john kuhn?

 

Vrabel didn't make sense to keep at the time. We had stud LBers and there is no way you could have known he would become the player he did. With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to say it was a bad move. But at the time...he served no purpose for us. Therefore I can't say it was a bad move.

 

big play ray seals. thomas everett. leon searcy.

 

Have to agree with the Woodson call. Unlike Franco and Mike Webster, who finished their HOF careers elsewhere but didn't do much, Rod was still a big-time contributor. Glad he won a ring, but not at all happy he did it with the Ravens.

 

Woodson
Chad Brown
Plaxico
Bruener

Not saying we didn't replace these guys, but it wasn't cool to see them go.

 

Dan Marino - Oh wait...

Rod Woodson
Hardy Nickerson
O'Donell (I'm really glad people are owning up to this)
John Kuhn
Chad Brown
Chris Hope
Plexico Burres


Plex walked, not let go. I never even knew Vrabel. I had just bought a C. Brown Jersey! I thought Porter was done, but then he had 1 more great season in Miami, I miss his leadership big time.

Don't let Ward go....!

 

Kreider Both the player himself, and the player the position. If he HAD to go, because of his knee or whatever, he should have been replaced with someone in his mold, not with a bunch of guys who can run worse than a running back, catch worse than a receiver, and block worse than a fullback. Kreider could already do those first things, but he could also put anyone he wanted on their ass.

Woodson, of course, to play free safety. I guess it wasn't in the cards.

Faneca. People talk like he was soooo bad after he left here. Did you watch any Jets games? He was better than ANY of our linemen for at least two years. That said, he wanted too much money and too much time, so I understand why we let him go. What I don't understand is why we didn't bother replacing him... but still spent that money.

Jeff Hartings. Pay that man to stay! Give money to the charity of his choice! Don't go, Jeff! Don't go!

Chad Brown, Kirkland.

When I think about it, there either wasn't anything the Steelers could have done for these, or they successfully replaced them. Kreider is the only headscratcher.

 

I wasn't sorry to see Porter go after his last season with us. The season before, his energy and aggression counted for everything. After winning the superbowl, he was severely underpar. Silly penalties at the wrong time in games.

For me, maybe Thigpen (obvs) - but the money he was after was ridiculous.

 

Definitely my man, Rod Woodson..... :-(

 

I'd also add Kevin Greene - as a coach.

We should have snapped him up after the internship before GB got a chance for him to motivate Clay Matthews to force a fumble in the SB. It's a convaluted reason, but a reason nonetheless.

 

robin cole and mike merryweather come to mind.............