Where are we hiding Dallas Baker?

agree with most of what you have, except I would take Dallas Baker over Rucker. put Rucker on practice squad for a year, then let him develop and fight for that spot next year, or he could be given that spot if Nate Washington leaves. i’d like to hear more about our young guys obviously but my gut is saying Clement can play. if McFarland isn’t fit then I can see him being in the back-reaches of our DL rotation.

the offensive line is an absolute mess in terms of trying to predict the guys we carry, although i agree it should be 10. maybe swap Legursky with Mahan if Mahan gets cut…?

by the way, our linebacking corp looks very good, i remember some people saying we look thin…..i don’t see it, i see 7 guys who range from all-pro caliber (harrison, farrior) to serviceable starters (foote, fox), to future standouts (timmons, woodley), and a good enough backup (a. harrison). i’ll take that anyday.

if we cut Mahan or another offensive linemen might give us more room to find a decent DL rotation player, which would be huge.

could easily see Mendenhall on kick return, not only did AP do it last year, Reggie Bush does punt returns and he was an even higher draft pick….but I think we put Marion on the roster to return kicks, and put Mundy on the practice squad to make room.

I wouldnt sleep on Gerran Walker, who has been with the team a year and is fast. I think he could make the roster as a returner and as the fifth reciver. If we don’t like what we have on the team we could sign Jerome Mathis, and give him a shot.

..and rejected him already. Chronic knee problems don’t go away in the space of a couple of months. How much more obvious does it have to get? Dennis Dixon will stick unless his knee remains a problem, but there is no indication that it is. Najeh Davenport will stick ahead of Carey Davis. Davenport is about 20 pounds heavier, and a much better runner if called upon. Jason Capizzi was hobbling around in a foot cast in camp, I thought. How could he do anything to impress the staff in that condition? Not only that, but the guy has an I.Q. roughly equal to his shoe size. Why is Rucker’s “chip on his shoulder over not being drafted” any more of a factor than Matt Trannon’s or Dallas Baker’s for being a 7th round pick. I don’t think Rucker was ever projected to be drafted. There was never any doubt about Tony Hills. Even if his leg is still not fully healed, they aren’t going to cut a First Team All American left tackle. Kyle Clement and Doug Legursky both have some experience as long snappers. If one of them is even close to Greg Warren’s ability, they will stick because they can play another position.

Najeh’s cap hit = $1.25 million

Davis’ cap hit = $370,000

Try again robert. He’s not worth that much more than him as a runner.

Roster cuts and speculation about cuts always gets the Datruth’s dander up:

A couple of quick thoughts:

- The Steelers didn’t draft Dennis Dixon in the 5th round to put him on the practice squad. He’ll be the 3rd QB on the opening day roster because he won’t make it to this team’s practice squad. Remember, Charlie Batch (who’s in the last year of his contract) won’t be around to back up the $100M man forever. Dixon will have his shot next year.

- This team has a spot for a full-time returner, whether it is Bloom, Walker or Marion (I don’t think Reid is all of a sudden going to wake up and be a hero overnight after being a zero the past few years). I do believe Rucker sticks, but the fifth WR won’t be active on game day anyway. A full-time returner, who can also play in the slot if need be and tackle somebody on a couple of the coverage teams, will.

- I think the team will keep 9 OL and 6 DL. They will stash two young DL on the practice squad to activate in case of trouble. I think they could probably trade Essex for a draft pick and keep J. Capizzi, Hills, and Stapleton (All young players they can keep for the next 3 to 4 years without having to pay big money). I just don’t see how Sean Mahan sticks. It’s never wise to throw good money after bad. Legursky is on the practice squad.

- As far as linebackers, A. Frazier stays over A. Harrison, who is just a guy. Frazier can come off the corner and play special teams and would be a nice backup for L. Woodley on the left side.

- The only way Mike Lorello makes the team is if he is a bonafide Skull crusher on special teams. I believe Mason beats him out for a roster spot because he can play some corner as well as free safety. One of the free rookies can still a roster spot here if they show potential as a corner as well as do real well on special teams. Tyrone Carter is out of here.

Your thoughts?

I just can’t see us keeping 4 possible Centers around roster/practice squad. Even worse I still think Mahan makes the team as a back up center/guard seeing how he is a Tomlin personal pick and I believe a pretty big cap hit. That means Stapleton or Legursky will get cut. Personally I think the staff wants Stapleton thats why they are trying him at guard another reason to keep him, but big picture who ever makes the practice squad we will keep.

And no I am not secretly Mahan on a fan site begging for my job:)

If Dixion can play, I think he makes the team and dresses. Though we say we won’t use him as slash, using him in one formation a game makes another team have to spend time practicing for it.

I don’t see ty carter not having a roster spot. I certainly don’t see him getting ousted by lorello.

Yo Blitz, I think one of those spots have to go to a returner. There is no way that Tomlin and others can keep giving lip service to improving special teams without having someone back there that other teams have to think about every time he catches the ball.

I think that last spot will go to someone who is the best special teams player in the secondary. I think it would be a corner or a safety because your 5th cornerback is only one play from having to see significant time on the field if a starter goes down. I think the safeties will be Palomula, Clark, A. Smith and Mundy. The corners will be Ike, McFadden, Deshea, and W. Gay. That ninth spot is between Mason, Lorello, Madison, and the 2 rookie free agents.

I also would keep Rucker over Baker and Trannon as things stand right now. I don’t think Rucker will make it to our practice squad. Trannon (who currently has a broken hand) and Baker will. And as for Dixon, you need to keep 3 QBs because if Ben goes down, the team is going to need a quarterback to back up Batch anyways.

And with the current situation at QB in the NFL today, you don’t take chances on losing someone that could be your backup to Big Ben for the next 4 years starting next year. Keep him and let him develop. It’s time to start turning this roster over anyhow.

Your thoughts?

- M. Moore will be the team’s primary punt returner, but the team also needs a primary kick returner to pair back their with Moore on kickoff returns. This person would fill in for Moore if he gets hurt or nicked up and could conceivably play some slot receiver in the game in the regular offense if needed.

- If your special teams have been putrid for several years and you are committed to improving it, you don’t try to cut corners. You put the players out there that can do the job.

- I don’t feel as concerned about the OLB situation as most. I think the Steelers will keep 9 LBs this year. I think A. Frazier will be the primary backup to Woodley and B. Davis will back up J. Harrison on the right side. Frazier is the type of swing OLB that LeBeau likes in his system because he can play either side and rush the passer. B. Davis will learn how to play ROLB exclusively before he is moved around to any other areas in the defense. With our schedule and hopes of doing something as a defense in late December and January, B. Davis and A. Frazier are going to have to eat up some snaps to make sure Woodley and Harrison aren’t gassed by the end of the season.

- LB Keyaron Fox will be active on game days and can also play outside linebacker in a pinch. A. Harrison hasn’t impressed me at all the last 2 years he’s been on the team. He’s just a body. From what little I’ve seen from Timmons, I just don’t think he is big enough or shed blocks well enough to play OLB in this defense, where he has to deal with OTs that outweigh him by about 100 pounds on every snap. I think he will be much more valuable with his speed at ILB, where he can shoot gaps, attack downhill and cover receivers, tight ends and running backs in coverage.

- I’d feel a lot better about the DL if they sign Booger. That way, the team could keep a younger body with a lot of potential (Clements, Paxson, McBean) because you would have Booger and Hokie as your primary backups. If that happened, I’d consider keeping a youngster that could play some now instead of 34-year-old Kirschke, whose best years are obviously gone. And if you need Kirschke later on in the season because of injuries to starters, he’ll be there. No other team is going to pick him up.

I hope that the player’s play will sort out this roster, but I’m not sure about the position judgement with this current coaching squad. They wouldn’t play Woodley this past year when he was clearly better than Haggans, kept Mahan as a starter when he shouldn’t have been and cotinually plays Colon at tackle when everyone and their mother knows that probably isn’t his best position. I think we’ll see the front office continue to take a more aggressive approach with players (ala signing Max Starks) and put pressure on the staff to make moves they might not want to make (moving Colon to guard and having Starks start at right tackle).

It’ll also be interesting to see what they do with M. Smith and B. McFadden, both in the last years of their contract.

Thoughts anyone?

buying into the McFarland talk, unless you guys know something I don’t. had too many surgeries and too old…....the fact he came in and worked out for us, means he thought he was ready then, but then he failed a physical…...i donno, just doesn’t sound good for Booger. if healthy, then yah, let’s get him but i don’t see it happening.

i disagree a bit about the position judgement—at least, i think there are other factors. Tomlin even said during the year they knew they wanted to get Woodley more snaps, and in the playoffs he got a ton of reps against Jacksonville, so I think they knew then for sure. maybe they were just doing Haggans a favor since they knew he would be leaving, the Rooneys are pretty good to the players and usually when they aren’t going to re-sign a guy they play him alot so he can potentially get a contract somewhere else. Joey Porter played a ton, and looking back, shouldn’t have James Harrison played a bit more in Porter’s final season? as far as the O-line, i’m almost positive we kept Starks on the bench last year to try and keep his value down, now we are giving him the big tender to repay the favor possibly….......we definitely need some roster turnover on the O-line though…..the guy who keeps getting overlooked is Kendall Simmons, this year has to be make or break for him, if he starts to falter again we have to put Colon inside and cut Simmons.

Cgolden, I remember som