I promise not to post to myself. Lol

Thoughts on our drafting?

1st Round Xavier Rhodes CB Florida St

2nd Bacarri Rambo S Georgia (maybe a round early but I like him)

3rd Montee Ball RB Wisconsin

4th Kenny Stills WR Oklahoma

5th Rickey Wagner OT Wisconsin

6th JC Tretter OG Cornell

7th Brad Sorenson Southern Utah

It will be interesting to see who they pick 1st round as there is a lot of uncertainty in this year's draft overall and I think it's less predictable than it appeared to be in year's past. I've seen the Steelers taking everyone from Jarvis Jones (assuming he falls that far) to Manti Te'o in mocks. Of course, a lot hinges on who they retain in the offseason leading up to the draft. RB will definitely need addressed in the first few rounds as I think Mendenhall is a goner. Wallace won't be a Steeler next year either so they're going to be looking at a WR at some point as well.

One thing is for sure, they REALLY need to have a good draft this year. Just have too many holes at key positions on the roster in addition to depth issues.

I want a good CB with size......I also want a safety. Lineman always. QB project?

Probably smart to get the best receiver in the 2nd round.....take the best RB in the 3rd.

To me if we don't get at least 1 DB, RB, OL, WR....I'll be disappointed.

It appears as though William Gay will be a Steeler again soon...

killer_ewok;1399569 wrote:It appears as though William Gay will be a Steeler again soon...

i wonder if this puts the writing on the wall for signing keenan lewis i hope not. wonder why cards are letting him go when he only made 3 million. i still think k. lewis is a priority by the front office to get signed.

at least now maybe we dont have to use our 1st or second pick on a corner. i look for us to cut james harrisson and draft a DE first. then maybe the reciever out of tennessee or wvu. there are 5-6 runningbacks i would rather have than monte ball that is for sure maybe knile davis

Signing of Gay was because they are not confident they can resign Lewis. THey have basically no money to do anything.

The steelers are putting themselves in a very bad position in a few seasons when something has to give. If they dont win it all within the next 2, 3 seasons max then this team will be in for a true overhaul and stripped of many of it stars.

I.E. the steelers could become the new browns in 5 seasons.

formervoice;1401221 wrote:Signing of Gay was because they are not confident they can resign Lewis. THey have basically no money to do anything.

The steelers are putting themselves in a very bad position in a few seasons when something has to give. If they dont win it all within the next 2, 3 seasons max then this team will be in for a true overhaul and stripped of many of it stars.

I.E. the steelers could become the new browns in 5 seasons.

As far as the Browns go, not really. The Browns know how to manage their salary cap. They don't "rob Peter to pay Paul" (restructure contracts every year so they can make their cap nut) like the Steelers are notorious for.

And as far as "putting themselves in a very bad position" the next few years...they've been in that boat over the past few years. Keep restructuring contracts so they can make that "one last run" when frankly, they don't have a Super Bowl caliber roster. They have a SB caliber QB, but the rest of the roster is no longer there. Colbert's going to have to reload/retool.

It's the cost of doing business in the NFL if you have a franchise QB. Patriots, Saints, soon the Packers, etc all get into this position. When your QB is 20% of your salary cap you're going to lose players due to cuts. It's a good (yay...you have a franchise QB) AND bad (boo...he takes up a 5th of your cap space) position to be in.

BR1986FB;1401298 wrote:As far as the Browns go, not really. The Browns know how to manage their salary cap. They don't "rob Peter to pay Paul" (restructure contracts every year so they can make their cap nut) like the Steelers are notorious for.

And as far as "putting themselves in a very bad position" the next few years...they've been in that boat over the past few years. Keep restructuring contracts so they can make that "one last run" when frankly, they don't have a Super Bowl caliber roster. They have a SB caliber QB, but the rest of the roster is no longer there. Colbert's going to have to reload/retool.

It's the cost of doing business in the NFL if you have a franchise QB. Patriots, Saints, soon the Packers, etc all get into this position. When your QB is 20% of your salary cap you're going to lose players due to cuts. It's a good (yay...you have a franchise QB) AND bad (boo...he takes up a 5th of your cap space) position to be in.

True, the browns havent been in that position with the cap. Much of that though, and I think you agree, is that they have lacked the type of players who would command big salaries.

A couple of owners ago though they had a purge because of the cap. Think it was after thier playoff loss to the steelers maybe? I remember they had a LB who was due to make an insane amount of money that they had to cut. Now..that was the agents fault for agreeing to the backloading of the deal, but still.
Browns havent made big FA splashes, but they also havent drafted many guys that really would warrant big deals. The steelers, like the browns, have not been big in FA with overblown deals, but the diff is that they steelers have done a pretty good job, overall, at drafting guys that they kept for good money. AND getting lucky with how James Harrison became to be (cut a number of times, including by the ravens, and only picked up when another steelers LB hurt his foot and he then became a star).

and when I say put them in a bad situation I mean at some point they just cannot keep restructuring the big deals and make it bonus money and spread it over the length of the deal. At some point they will have to extend contracts to be able to make it possible, or let them go. So that means maybe overpaying guys/extending them past their primes.

I do see an indianapolis type of collapse of the franchise when BR gets hurt seriously and some guys just dont produce or leave when the steelers cannot afford them or they retire.

formervoice;1401344 wrote:True, the browns havent been in that position with the cap. Much of that though, and I think you agree, is that they have lacked the type of players who would command big salaries.

A couple of owners ago though they had a purge because of the cap. Think it was after thier playoff loss to the steelers maybe? I remember they had a LB who was due to make an insane amount of money that they had to cut. Now..that was the agents fault for agreeing to the backloading of the deal, but still.
Browns havent made big FA splashes, but they also havent drafted many guys that really would warrant big deals. The steelers, like the browns, have not been big in FA with overblown deals, but the diff is that they steelers have done a pretty good job, overall, at drafting guys that they kept for good money. AND getting lucky with how James Harrison became to be (cut a number of times, including by the ravens, and only picked up when another steelers LB hurt his foot and he then became a star).

QB is the biggest issue with the Steelers (and several other teams) as far as the cap goes, imo. It's great to have that franchise guy but it also hamstrings teams. It's not going to get any better for teams with high paid QB's over the next few years because the cap is only increasing marginally.

As far as the Browns, they've had cap issues when Butch Davis was here. They went "all in" and made the playoffs (2002) then had to gut the roster because he didn't know what the Hell he was doing financially.

BR1986FB;1401348 wrote:QB is the biggest issue with the Steelers (and several other teams) as far as the cap goes, imo. It's great to have that franchise guy but it also hamstrings teams. It's not going to get any better for teams with high paid QB's over the next few years because the cap is only increasing marginally.

As far as the Browns, they've had cap issues when Butch Davis was here. They went "all in" and made the playoffs (2002) then had to gut the roster because he didn't know what the Hell he was doing financially.

and that is why I was glad the ratbirds signed flacco for 20 million a season!

Who was that browns LB who was supposed to make like 15 million one season? IT was like half of what his total deal was worth when he signed it. Remember it being dumb on his part because no way they were gonna keep him!

Not a big fan of signing Gay but he's better than 1 or 2 of the guys they throw in there.

I'd still like to take the best DB available somewhere in the top 3 rounds.....but at least they addressed DB issue in some manner.

Gotta draft a RB in the 2nd or 3rd....

I'd prefer two offensive lineman but don't care if they are one in the middle round and one in the 5th or 6th

QB project and receiver somewhere.

Ironman92;1401389 wrote:Not a big fan of signing Gay but he's better than 1 or 2 of the guys they throw in there.

I'd still like to take the best DB available somewhere in the top 3 rounds.....but at least they addressed DB issue in some manner.

Gotta draft a RB in the 2nd or 3rd....

I'd prefer two offensive lineman but don't care if they are one in the middle round and one in the 5th or 6th

QB project and receiver somewhere.

Isn't this what you did last draft? Gotta let these guys develop I would think.

Commander of Awesome;1401413 wrote:Isn't this what you did last draft? Gotta let these guys develop I would think.

Yeah but with as much of a train wreck as the line has been I would still take some more even if it is only to provide depth and more competition because the back-ups certainly don't do that now.

Commander of Awesome;1401413 wrote:Isn't this what you did last draft? Gotta let these guys develop I would think.

It's more of an injury thing IMO COA . I don't mind to let them develop but a few of the games they were down to their last dressed lineman going into the 2nd half....and they would all be out of position. I just don't think they are deep enough (plus I think a couple of them greatly suck)....I'd like at least 1 more for depth if anything.

I hope DeCastro stays healthy this season. Would like to see what he can do when completely healthy.

As far as RB's go....I think this is a fairly deep draft at that position. I like Johnathan Franklin out of UCLA a lot.

killer_ewok;1401643 wrote:I hope DeCastro stays healthy this season. Would like to see what he can do when completely healthy.

As far as RB's go....I think this is a fairly deep draft at that position. I like Johnathan Franklin out of UCLA a lot.

Franklin is getting a ton of chatter on Sirius XM. They're very high on the guy.

so far the cap casualties look like

james harrison 10.35 mill against the cap-save 5.5 by releasing him
willie colon 5.5 million base- save 1.2 mill by releasing
cotchery- 1.5 million against the cap- save 1 million by releasing him
brett keisel- 2.82 base and 4.2 against the cap- save 2.82 million by releasing him

others who may also go but a much less chance

ike taylor--if they really want to go hard at keenan lewis
troy p
ryan clark

cap situation info

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2012/12/steelers-2013-salary-cap-numbers/


sure we got ourselves in a little pickle this year but hey its not like we didnt win two superbowls. we saw this coming and if we can get the o-line together we should be fine. there is a lot of talent at runningback and recievers all thru this draft that if we make the right picks could provide cheap talent and depth.

Gblock;1401799 wrote: sure we got ourselves in a little pickle this year

"This year?" This seems to be becoming more of the norm than the exception with Pittsburgh and it's only going to continue as long as Roethlisberger is on the roster.

BR1986FB;1401800 wrote:"This year?" This seems to be becoming more of the norm than the exception with Pittsburgh and it's only going to continue as long as Roethlisberger is on the roster.

meh we would have been fine if not for the injuries on the o-line, injuries to Big ben as well. there is not one team in the league we couldnt have beat on any given sunday. we beat the sb champs their place with a dinosaur at qb. if anything i think it hurt letting the arians go. we had the number one defense as usual.

also we have been to three superbowls winning 2 of them in the last six years. its hard to do. ill trade that for a few bad years. hell before that we went thru a 15 year period of mediocrity

BR1986FB;1401800 wrote:"This year?" This seems to be becoming more of the norm than the exception with Pittsburgh and it's only going to continue as long as Roethlisberger is on the roster.

And also with him will give us a chance to win another championship.

I stay one more year with everyone....the defensive backfield guys have to stay....all of them

What is the word on Keenan Lewis? Are they aiming to resign? I'm sure he will get a lot of interest from other teams.

Ironman92;1401843 wrote:And also with him will give us a chance to win another championship.

I stay one more year with everyone....the defensive backfield guys have to stay....all of them

Roethlisberger does...the rest of the roster doesn't.

Automatik;1401846 wrote:What is the word on Keenan Lewis? Are they aiming to resign? I'm sure he will get a lot of interest from other teams.

If they don't resign him, he will be one of the top targets of the Browns... from what I've heard.