|
Post by plax on Dec 10, 2013 16:10:56 GMT -5
steelersfan4life56really? I am completely enamored by the talent this year: Teddy Bridgewater Blake Bortles Derek Carr Brett Hundley Johnny Manziel Sammy Watkins Mike Evans Davante Adams Kelvin Benjamin (I think he declares) Marqise Lee Allen Robinson Jace Amaro Eric Ebron Austin Sefarian-Jenkins Jake Matthews Cyrus Kouandjio Cameron Erving Greg Robinson (he might declare I am hearing) Taylor Lewan Antonio Richardson Cedric Ogbuehi David Yankey Cyril Richardson Jadevean Clowney Stephon Tuitt Trent Murphy Vic Beasley Kony Ealy RaShede Hageman Louis Nix Timmy Jernigan Will Sutton Anthony Barr CJ Mosley Khalil Mack Ryan Shazier Ifo Ekpre-Olomu Darqueze Dennard Justin Gilbert Jason Verrett Hasean Clinton-Dix Lamarcus Joyner Let me rephrase that. I'm not too high on the players that would be needs and would fit with the Steelers. Right now I'm pretty glad that OT and WR are strengths in this draft. It doesn't help that I have no idea where the Steelers may be picking at and who would be available there. I guess let's assume the Steelers lose to the Bengals and the Packers if Rodgers is back and beat the Browns putting them at 6-10. I hear ya. I would not mind the Giants picking any position but QB or S or interior line in the 1st. I am doing a mock draft right now, and I have the Giants taking Evans in the 1st. There are just a TON of OTs. The Giants draft weird, so I have no clue where they are going. I think the Giants go 6-10 as well, as we will lose to SEA and DET, and beat WSH.
|
|
|
Post by steelersfan4life56 on Dec 10, 2013 16:16:43 GMT -5
Let me rephrase that. I'm not too high on the players that would be needs and would fit with the Steelers. Right now I'm pretty glad that OT and WR are strengths in this draft. It doesn't help that I have no idea where the Steelers may be picking at and who would be available there. I guess let's assume the Steelers lose to the Bengals and the Packers if Rodgers is back and beat the Browns putting them at 6-10. I hear ya. I would not mind the Giants picking any position but QB or S or interior line in the 1st. I am doing a mock draft right now, and I have the Giants taking Evans in the 1st. There are just a TON of OTs. The Giants draft weird, so I have no clue where they are going. I think the Giants go 6-10 as well, as we will lose to SEA and DET, and beat WSH. My thing is the Steelers already drafted Mike Adams and Marcus Gilbert, and Kelvin Beachum has done a fairly decent job of playing LT. If they draft a first round LT he has to be "the guy" at LT or they're screwed. They already have two potential RTs, and Beachum is capable of playing all 4 OL positions other than OC (although he is capable), ideally he starts at LG in the future. But basically they can't screw up in selecting a LT.
|
|
|
Post by plax on Dec 10, 2013 16:16:54 GMT -5
From looking at my rankings and player projections, I have around 75-80 players with a 2nd round grade.
|
|
|
Post by steelersfan4life56 on Dec 10, 2013 18:19:54 GMT -5
Here's a pretty good layout for the cap implications for next season by NW86 on Behind The Steel Curtain. www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2013/12/9/5191724/steelers-salary-cap-looking-forward-to-2014"I would cut: Levi Brown, Foote, and yes, I’ll just say it, Troy. I would offer him about $3M to come back for his last year, but I think he’ll retire rather than take the over $5M paycut. Total savings there: $15.7M
Restructure A. Brown. He is the ONLY one they should restructure this year, since he has enough years on his contract to spread out the hit, and his performance is worth the future hit. That’s another $3M+, total savings so far: $19M
Give Ike a $3M pay cut, from $7M to $4M. I think he’ll take it. Give Heath a modest extension, which converts a few million of his salary into signing bonus, reducing his cap hit about $3M for 2014. Grand total savings for 2014: $25M, bringing the cap number to $110M. This will bring them about $15M under the cap.
They should be able to get Ziggy, Cotchery, W. Allen, Al Woods, Dwyer, and Velasko back without breaking the bank. Through some creative structuring, the first year cap hits of all those guys could total as low as (1.5, 1.5, 1, 1, 1, 1) $7M. They could then take a run at Worilds with a deal that would average $5M, but the first year cap hit could be $3M. There is no way they’ll get Sanders, so let him go. Thank Clark and Keisel for their service, but their contracts are over and don’t offer them another one. This is the chance for them to retire without having to say they were “cut” during their contract.
With about $1M being rolled over from this year, this leaves them $6M to eek out the draft class.
They should NOT touch Woodley’s or Ben’s contracts this year. They already have enough dead money wrapped up in them. Everyone talks about extending Ben, but the only way to do that would be to give him a large signing bonus and ~$21M/year avg for 2016-2018, and with all the dead money already wrapped up in him, that contract will wreck the cap for years to come. He’s currently under contract for $12M (not counting the dead money from all the past restructures), which is a deal for the Steelers. And it’s not as if Ben’s new contract value will go up any higher if they wait another year or two.
I didn’t talk about extensions for Pouncey, Heyward, or C. Allen because there is not much 2014 cap space to be gained from them. I’m all for doing that, especially Heyward and Allen, but they won’t help the 2014 cap.
My plan leaves them no wiggle room, but if/when they need a few extra dollars for a free agent or injury replacements, they could restructure Timmons one last time. There’s already a lot of dead money there too, but he’s young enough and performing well enough to be worth it in an emergency."
And suggested by Greig Clawson- For Worilds they could structure his contract like the Browns did for Kruger, maybe somewhere under $40m but have the year one cap number manageable. That allows them to keep Worilds and Woodley and mix in Jones when they can to bring him along. In 2015 Woodley's cap is a bit more manageable and the Steelers can either restructure his contract or cut him.
|
|
|
Post by patriotsk1d on Dec 11, 2013 1:08:37 GMT -5
Just curious, but do any of you Steelers fans think it was worth it to match the offer for Sanders? I dont know what your cap situation looks like for next year, but imo that was one of the few RFA signings that wouldve worked out for both teams. Although I am impressed with the play of both Logan Ryan and Duran Harmon, it wouldve been nice to have an additional veteran receiver at the begging of the season, and probably wouldve been worth a 3rd rounder.
|
|
steeldevil
NFL Draft pick
The King of the Queen City
Posts: 1,238
|
Post by steeldevil on Dec 11, 2013 10:20:57 GMT -5
Just curious, but do any of you Steelers fans think it was worth it to match the offer for Sanders? I dont know what your cap situation looks like for next year, but imo that was one of the few RFA signings that wouldve worked out for both teams. Although I am impressed with the play of both Logan Ryan and Duran Harmon, it wouldve been nice to have an additional veteran receiver at the begging of the season, and probably wouldve been worth a 3rd rounder. I said from the beginning I would rather have the 3rd round pick. Sanders has been alright this year though. Too many dropped passes. I understand the why the steelers matched it, but I wouldn't have.
|
|
steeldevil
NFL Draft pick
The King of the Queen City
Posts: 1,238
|
Post by steeldevil on Dec 11, 2013 10:55:54 GMT -5
I just think the defense needs addressing more than offense. Haley's calling and Ben being Ben have done a good job masking the lack of talent on the OL. The defense, just by watching you can tell they just aren't as goo anymore. At all 3 levels. Too old, and young guys not gettin it done in some cases.
We desperately need better talent on D. And if you wanna take a TE and WR in the middle rounds cool. But the first few rounds need to be on D. I say so at least.
Now if they somehow don't resign Citchery, obviously WR becomes a huge concern.
We will see where we end up picking but If it's around 8-12 like it looks like it will be I, as always, like the idea of trading down. I'm thinking trade down and hope to pick a Tuitt around #20 or so and I love the thought of The CB Gulbert being there in the top of the 2nd. Long, tall guy that can tackle. Seems like a LeBeau corner.
Speaking of him, will he retire? I think both coordinators will be back, but it wouldn't shock me if Haley is fired or if LeBeau retires.
|
|
|
Post by steelersfan4life56 on Dec 11, 2013 10:57:18 GMT -5
Just curious, but do any of you Steelers fans think it was worth it to match the offer for Sanders? I dont know what your cap situation looks like for next year, but imo that was one of the few RFA signings that wouldve worked out for both teams. Although I am impressed with the play of both Logan Ryan and Duran Harmon, it wouldve been nice to have an additional veteran receiver at the begging of the season, and probably wouldve been worth a 3rd rounder. Heck no. His stats look decent enough but there still seems to be a disconnect between him and Ben when running wrong routes and not sitting against zones, he hasn't had a lot of dropped passes, but has had too many that has hurt the team in big moments. He seems like a serviceable #2 WR and a good #3. We certainly could have used that 3rd round pick... Then again that would have left the Steelers with just Brown and Cotchery, both had a very good season so far. Wheaton hasn't contributed much since he was the 4th WR and have a finger injury but it would have been nice to get a jump start with our young WRs on depth with Wheaton, Derek Moye, and Justin Brown instead of ending the season with little production from those guys and possibly still having to draft a WR to give Ben a big target.
|
|
|
Post by steelersfan4life56 on Dec 11, 2013 11:10:34 GMT -5
I just think the defense needs addressing more than offense. Haley's calling and Ben being Ben have done a good job masking the lack of talent on the OL. The defense, just by watching you can tell they just aren't as goo anymore. At all 3 levels. Too old, and young guys not gettin it done in some cases. We desperately need better talent on D. And if you wanna take a TE and WR in the middle rounds cool. But the first few rounds need to be on D. I say so at least. Now if they somehow don't resign Citchery, obviously WR becomes a huge concern. We will see where we end up picking but If it's around 8-12 like it looks like it will be I, as always, like the idea of trading down. I'm thinking trade down and hope to pick a Tuitt around #20 or so and I love the thought of The CB Gulbert being there in the top of the 2nd. Long, tall guy that can tackle. Seems like a LeBeau corner. Speaking of him, will he retire? I think both coordinators will be back, but it wouldn't shock me if Haley is fired or if LeBeau retires. Like I have said if they can get their hands on a LT for the next decade then they should take them, but none of this starting them out at RT or using that as a back up plan. The defensive problems stem from missing their defensive signal caller in Foote and the defensive secondary getting older. I'll be shocked if a lot of vets are not released this season and take the hit by letting younger players starting. I don't the Steelers will trade down, they're not well known for doing so. As for drafting for defense, I don't see many defensive players worth taking where they will be picking. The top guys would likely be CB Darqueze Dennard, CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, DE RaShede Hageman, and DE Stephon Tuitt I can see one of them being the pick but there are more options at LT and WR as well.
|
|
steeldevil
NFL Draft pick
The King of the Queen City
Posts: 1,238
|
Post by steeldevil on Dec 11, 2013 11:39:42 GMT -5
I just think the defense needs addressing more than offense. Haley's calling and Ben being Ben have done a good job masking the lack of talent on the OL. The defense, just by watching you can tell they just aren't as goo anymore. At all 3 levels. Too old, and young guys not gettin it done in some cases. We desperately need better talent on D. And if you wanna take a TE and WR in the middle rounds cool. But the first few rounds need to be on D. I say so at least. Now if they somehow don't resign Citchery, obviously WR becomes a huge concern. We will see where we end up picking but If it's around 8-12 like it looks like it will be I, as always, like the idea of trading down. I'm thinking trade down and hope to pick a Tuitt around #20 or so and I love the thought of The CB Gulbert being there in the top of the 2nd. Long, tall guy that can tackle. Seems like a LeBeau corner. Speaking of him, will he retire? I think both coordinators will be back, but it wouldn't shock me if Haley is fired or if LeBeau retires. Like I have said if they can get their hands on a LT for the next decade then they should take them, but none of this starting them out at RT or using that as a back up plan. The defensive problems stem from missing their defensive signal caller in Foote and the defensive secondary getting older. I'll be shocked if a lot of vets are not released this season and take the hit by letting younger players starting. I don't the Steelers will trade down, they're not well known for doing so. As for drafting for defense, I don't see many defensive players worth taking where they will be picking. The top guys would likely be CB Darqueze Dennard, CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, DE RaShede Hageman, and DE Stephon Tuitt I can see one of them being the pick but there are more options at LT and WR as well. I think Matthews is the only sure fire bet to be a great LT in the league. And we won't be in his range. And I don't like the idea of trading up for him because we need the most picks possible. Stupid goodell. They will be missing Foote next year too, so hope that isn't gonna be an issue. I do think a leader needs to emerge on D. Troy and Timmons aren't vocal enough to be leaders. IDK who it can be, but I think it's been a problem since Farrior left. I know the steelers don't trade down but this year I think it's a possibility. They will be right in the area where teams could want to trade up to take a qb. An I'm not in love with any of the guys thy appear to be in the 6-15 ish range. My opinion could change. I love following and thinking about this stuff. Please no QB.
|
|