Steelers Quick Hits

by cgolden on Jul 21, 2008 10:59 AM EDT Comment 18 comments

First and foremost, camp is only 7 days away. We've waited nearly seven months for Steelers' football to resume and it's almost here. As Hank Williams Jr would ask, are you ready for some football??

James Farrior's going to be a free agent after this season and while both sides are saying that they are hopeful a deal can get done, he's aware of the Steelers' history of letting 30-something players walk. His agent claims that Farrior thinks he can play another four or five years and that he doesn't think he'll return to Pittsburgh if an extension isn't done before the start of the season.
Dale Lolley has some encouraging news on the upcoming signing of both Sweed and Mendenhall. He thinks that Sweed's deal will be announced by Friday and Mendenhall's should be done by the weekend. There's also a very interesting note about a possible veteran signing/extension. Could it be Farrior or McFadden or Marvel Smith? Any other guesses?
Here's a small preview of another camp battle that we'll roll out later today. Pro Football Weekly says that it's not a sure thing that Timmons will take Foote's starting job and even goes as far to say that they could both play vital role's in the defense this season. We'll dive into this potential battle in depth later today.
I don't put any faith in this report but it's out there so here goes. Santonio Holmes is working on punt returns and could be the primary punt returner for the Steelers, according to Pro Football Weekly. They're also considering a host of running backs on kickoff returns including Mendenhall, Moore and Russell. Russell seems like an odd name to throw in the mix but if Davenport can return kicks, I guess Russell can too.

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Santonio returning punts.

This is one of those news stories that the Steelers may be throwing out there to motivate whomever actually wins the job. Holmes may do a bunch of returns during training camp, but there’s no way he’ll have the job in the regular season. There’s no way they’d risk an injury to him that way.

by HinesField on Jul 21, 2008 11:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agree with dont think they will risk injury. However he IS our best punt returner. In his rookie year he obviously fumbled alot, but had one of the best punt return averages in the NFL, ranked 10th. He had 5 fumbles.

Even the great Devin Hester had 15 fumbles combined in the past two years. And I would bet that noone knows that unless they specifically look it up since all you ever hear about him is him returning touchdowns. He has a major fumbling problem but Chicago doesnt care because he is the best in the league when he holds onto the ball.

by jason97673 on Jul 21, 2008 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Farrior

I would think Farrior would be the vet to be resigned. He still leads the team in tackles, is second in sacks, and is also a short coverage threat. Not to mention Matt Loede at Steelers Gab is reporting that Farrior is willing to take another paycut to finish his career in the black and gold.

Marvel Smith will probably get an extension worked out eventually, but I really doubt they’d sign him before seeing if his back injury is fully healed and he can play at a dominate level again. Of course, I may eat my words on this in a few days.

by BluegrassSteeler on Jul 21, 2008 11:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Starks?

According to my understanding of the Transition tag, Starks has until tomorrow, July 22, to come to agreement with the Steelers on a long term deal. If they do not come to agreement Starks will become a UDFA in Feb??, ‘09. Has anyone heard anything new?

by steelersrock08 on Jul 21, 2008 11:57 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Edit!

I’m sorry I meant FA…not UDFA. My bad! Anyway, I’m thinking that Starks will be signing tomorrow.

by steelersrock08 on Jul 21, 2008 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Starks

Some folks on Lolley’s blog were discussing this, and one had a link to the NFL rules about the transition tag. It sounds like we may be able to sign him whenever, and that the 7/15 deadline is only for the franchise tag, and the 7/22 deadline is only for other teams to sign him (I’d link it, but I can’t get to it from this comp). I’m not 100% sure, but that would give us a chance to look at him in camp before signing him to an extention.

I still think it might be Farrior who signs first, though.

by BadMaafala on Jul 22, 2008 9:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, you’re probably right. For some reason I thought the transition tag negotiation period had passed, but I think I’m just confusing it with the franchise tag. He’s probably the obvious target now that I reallyt hink about it.

by BluegrassSteeler on Jul 21, 2008 12:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Contract options

It’s probably Farrior that will sign. He seems to want to sign at a Steeler-friendly price, and the rest of the 2009 FA’s aren’t going to get deals before camp: they won’t sign Marvel before seeing him hit someone, they can’t sign Starks anymore (I’m almost positive the deadline was 7/15), I seriously doubt they’ll give BMac or Kemo a contract until they win their starting jobs, and Colon will be a RFA. In addition to extending a contract, they probably need to drop someone’s cap number this year to sign Sweed and Mendy. Farrior has a fairly large cap number that could be reduced with an extension. Other options would be extending Marvel if they are comfortable with that, or renegotiating Ward’s rather large contract.

As for the PFW stuff, I’m starting to take their “articles” with a grain of salt. They are so vague and may be bordering on meaningless. I hate it when sites like that don’t tell us who their sources are. “A source close to the team” could be a scout for the Steelers, Jim Wexell or John Harris. “Word from Pittsburgh” could be a comment on a blog or fansite. What is the meaning of the McBean comment in the ‘tonio article? I haven’t heard anything from anyone regarding progress he has made. Is this reason to have hope about our DL depth or is it just worthless conjecture?

by BadMaafala on Jul 21, 2008 12:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

MM will field punts

I’ve watched every game the Vikings have played for the last two years and Mewelde Moore will be fielding punts for us this year, and will most likely be one of the two return men. He has the hands of Rossum… i.e. never fumbles, and he will gain about 10-12 yards per punt return. Unlike Randle-El, he doesn’t juke much. He’ll make the first guy miss then head straight upfield for as much as he can get. Santonio Fieldin punts… HA! Not when he carries the ball like a loaf of bread.

Tony - Stillers Fan in Raleigh

by Tshaff on Jul 21, 2008 1:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Santonio returning punts?

Nooooo!...I still remember having a visceral reaction watching him trying to catch punts…it wasn’t pretty..

The primary job of the returner is to catch the punt first!! Some guys have a knack for it, some don’t…he doesn’t.

Please don’t put him back there. I don’t care if our returner never gains a yard but he MUST catch the ball!

I think we have the problem solved with Moore..he is very exciting and I think he can catch the punts..

Santanio and punt returns? Just say no….

Mike

by SteelerMike on Jul 21, 2008 2:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As I stated earlier, the great Devin Hester has fumbled 15 times in the past two years. Does that mean Chicago shouldnt have him as a returner also?

by jason97673 on Jul 21, 2008 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well...

Hester is careless… On another team they’d probably coach him to play a little safer. Fact is that the Bears (God help them) have little to no chance of doing something on offense. Thus you give the returner the leniency to be reckless. The steelers offense is very impressive and should be given the best opportunity possible. That’s why Rossum wasn’t a terrible player for us. He did what was needed. It’d be great to have more talent back there, but for now I’ll take a safe catch and 5 yards.

That’s not to say I’d bench Hester, but if I were his coach and he was on the steelers I’d be drilling him for taking care of the ball.

by Chicago Steeler on Jul 21, 2008 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

I’m with the previous sentiments that I’d rather not have Holmes returning punts. IMO, he (or the coach who kept putting him on the field) was a big reason we didn’t make the playoffs in 2006. He fumbled in the Atlanta game, allowing them to win a game (in OT) they had no business winning, and he helped the Broncos make it 14-0 right off the bat. In his time as a PR, he hasn’t proven he’s any better of an option than Willie Reid, and even without the fumbles, Moore has a better punt return average. Even if Holmes does have better ball security now, I’d rather him not stick his neck out and get injured trying to get an extra yard in PR average. It’s a terrible idea, but I’m scared that it will actually happen.

by BadMaafala on Jul 21, 2008 2:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The Falcons game

It wasn’t just Holmes’ fumble that killed us in that game. FWP fumbled one deep in our end, too, that just added to the opportunities we gave away in that game. I believe there was another turnover in there somewhere as well. It didn’t help that Ben got a helmet in his face just when he was getting back to form. Then, once they got rolling, our D couldn’t stop Vick, just like in the 2001 (or 2002?) game when he kept bringing them back. We couldn’t get a stop on 3rd and long to save our lives that year, and 2006 just seemed like a snake-bitten year.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Jul 22, 2008 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I wasn’t saying it was all his fault in either of those games, just that he made big contributions to the other teams early that helped keep our offense (which moved the ball well in both games) off the field. You weigh that with his positives which really amount to 1 punt return TD in a game we won by 30 points (and he fumbled that one too, only it was called back on a penalty), and you wonder if we wouldn’t be better off with someone fair-catching all the time. A lot of stuff went wrong that year, and in those two games in particular. I’m just saying that Holmes had a negative overall impact on the return game, and there’s no more reason to think he’ll be better now, than that Reid will be better now. Let’s see what Moore can do.

by BadMaafala on Jul 22, 2008 5:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs