Is this a typical Steelers FA period?

Typical Steelers FA MO is to resign our own, lose a few, make a few unsexy FA acquisitions.

However, this year it seems we have lose a lot of big talent (Dupree, Alualu, Hilton, Pouncey to retirement) while retaining Sutton and Spillane, and bringing back BJ.

I guess if we resign JuJu it will make things balance out more but seems like on a net, next year's team will be a lot less talented, especially on defense.

 

SMH

 

It's not typical, because we're rebuilding. We're cash strapped and letting the draft buffer our losses.

Actually, it's not a rebuild. It's a reset. Ben is here as a stopgap to give us stability while the entire team is reset in 2022.

 

This offseason is not typical at all, I have seen tweets from guys like Lolley saying what idiots Steelers fans are for being worried, this happens every year etc. I’m wondering what team he has been following.

They only lost Hargrave last year, generally they lose 1-2 guys they would like to keep at most. There is always some roster churn but this year there are nine major contributors on offence / defence moving on. Perhaps others have better memories than mine but I can’t recall an exodus of players like this all at once in quite some time.

I think the Steelers wasted an opportunity to reset the roster a bit and move on from some big earning veterans this year, they chose Heyward over Bud for example, Heyward is great but there is a case for keeping the younger and arguably more impactful guy. Bringing Ben back may ultimately be a mistake as well. We will see how it all shakes out in the coming years.

 

Heyward-Bay isn't on the team anymore. Because I know you're not advocating keeping Bud over Cam.

 

No I would have kept Cam too, but there are older guys on the roster earning big money that other teams would probably have moved on from by now. I like that they are loyal to players, but it is no always the best football move.

 

Gotcha. And "loyalty" is a funny thing. There are times they seem loyal to a player and times they are loyal to the bottom line. Hard to know which way the wind is blowing on any given contract.

Look, it's a business. I get it. You can only pay so much. But why not be consistent and either be loyal to a fault or draw a hard green line in the sand...and then stick with it.

 

Not really typical because no one foresaw a significant cap drop instead of the usual annual increase. Any teams that spent to the cap every year have been put at a disadvantage, at least for next season.

 

The steelers have been doing their version of being 'all in the past couple years with high profile free agent acquisitions, contract restructures, and contract extentions/5th year options etc.

It comes time to pay the piper and here we are. The steelers are doing their best to go 'rebuild mode' without actually losing everyone.

So in short their trying to make this as painless as possible for the shortest duration.

I feel based upon what has happened, they're doing a pretty good job.

AV, juju, Dupree, Hilton, Feiler, Alualu are all set up for pay day and the Steelers didn't have the money to get them.

Pouncey retired. They've got two guys at cheap contracts to fill a serviceable role for now as they find their next anchor at center most likely through the draft.

 

Real steel . In da house

 

The cap drop kicked it up a notch, but they were still going to have to clear a significant amount to get under.

 

This is the MO every year...

 

it's the perfect storm on unfortunate events. No its not typical for the steelers or any other team in the NFL. Look across the league every team is having a Offseason that isn't normal for them. How could they be having normal offseasons? This is the first year in how long that the Salary Cap went down. Every year teams offer contracts and sign players with contracts that our designed with the salary cap going up. WE just happen to be one of a few teams where alot of contracts big hits are coming this year and mixed with the cap going down it has put the team in a bind. Due to the pandemic every team is going to experience some hurt. Some took that hit last year (patriots). We are taking it this year.

 

Keeping old vets who won't sniff another Super Bowl is not rebuilding.

 

The cap unexpectedly going down is what is making this extra difficult for them. If it hadn't they likely would've kept several of the players that they lost/are going to lose. On the flip side, it may actually work in their favor with JJSS. Wouldn't be surprised to see a 1 year deal with him given the WR market. It may be in both the team and JJSS's best interest.