Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Free Agency Day One

So, we are one day into the free agency fiasco and a lot has gone according to speculation while a few things have surprised us. So, lets breakdown some of the moves.

Mike Wallace signs with Miami. I don't care and why should you? I couldn't stand Wallace and I'm glad that he's gone. He didn't get the contract he wanted so he played like crap all season and helped dragged this team down with negativity. He dropped more touchdowns then he caught and who knows how those catches could have affected those games. He's no Hines Ward, period.

Rashard Mendenhall signed a one year deal with Arizona. Again, I don't care. This is another player who when things didn't go his way he shut down. He bickered with the coaches and didn't show any heart while skipping games and pouting about Dwyer being better than him. Dwyer, Redman and possible rookie will fill his shoes easily.

Bruce Gradkowski signs a three year deal to come home. I love this signing and it makes so much sense. We couldn't survive forever with Batch and Leftwich and this fills that backup role for years to come. Bruce is a good quarterback who has started in this league and he can fill in if Ben gets hurt. He is a quality player and in my opinion is better then any other free agent quarterback. I'm stoked to see him coming back home. This should also ease our fears about losing if Ben goes down. He's talented and capable.

Plaxico Burress and Larry Foote resign. I like the Burress signing because it gives us a big man who started to jell the more time he spent with us last year. Now, while I always loved Foote he is getting old and I don't think is the answer at inside linebacker anymore. I think that Lawrence Timmons and Sean Spence can form a formidable duo and the draft or free agency could produce a solid backup.

Willie Colon is cut. This seems to be a pattern, who cares? I don't think anyone is really shocked here since he is so injury prone and the King of penalties. Ramon Foster made him expendable so expect to see a DeCastro/Foster team up for seasons to come.

Going forward I hope to see a few more Steelers locked up. I think that Casey Hampton is willing to take less money to stay and Pittsburgh so they should resign him; I would love to see the solid Will Allen and Max Starks get new deals as well.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Harrison Released

Its been a while but with free agency and the draft looming, its time to look past our horribly painful season and move forward. This leads me to my first post of the new fiscal football year. The Steelers have released James Harrison.

Now, I understand that Steeler fans are holding onto the past and will always remember his dominating years from 2007 to 2010 but its time to move on. James was a dominating force for four seasons totalling 45 sacks, 4 interceptions, 25 forced fumbles while recovering six. But that was what seems like ages ago.

Over the last two seasons he has been extremely quiet mustering only 15 sacks and four forced fumbles. That is a huge difference over his previous two seasons. In those years he had 20.5 sacks with 11 forced fumbles and three recoveries. Does his current play deserve the money he was making?

The Steelers have always been a team that lets its aging veterans go. They don't have the same tendencies that we do as fans. They don't hold onto the past and feel it warrants the future. Lets face it SteelerNation, this is a game of not only dollars and cents, but what have you done for me lately.

Now, I'm not saying I won't miss those dominating years of Silver-back, but we have another gem sitting on our roster waiting for a chance. In the last two seasons, Jason Worilds has started ten games while palying in 28 total. In those games he put up eight sacks, two forced fumbles and a defended pass. This is his chance to solidify himself as a solid veteran starter just like Harrison did with the exit Clark Haggans.

I'm not saying that JH is overrated or a poor fit in our defense now, what I'm saying is that money isn't woth the production. I love Harrison and I always will. I hope he catches on somewhere and finishes his career strong.