Is there any chance the Steelers can restructure Max Starks contract?

by lightningrod on Sep 3, 2008 10:16 AM EDT Comment 9 comments

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08113/875393-66.stm

quote:

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That $7 million is a big chunk for the Steelers to pay anyone in one season and, in fact, would be the most the club has paid in salary for one season.

Their goal is to change that by negotiating a long-term contract with Starks that would pay him a signing bonus and thus reduce the $7 million hit on their salary cap for 2008.

"It would give us salary cap relief and that has been our goal when we did put the transition tag on Max," said Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations.

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So the Steelers have a desire to restructure his contract. If Max Starks would take a pay cut, that would be great for the Steelers...

But I have a feeling that Max Starks won't budge. I have a feeling that he would not volunteer to take a pay cut.

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Why would Starks want to restructure?

First of all his $7 million is guaranteed so any long term deal would have at least that amount of guaranteed money. And if you’re Max Starks, why would you want to sign a long term deal here knowing that you weren’t even given a chance to compete for a starting job?

The Steelers can wish and hope for a resolution to this but the only realistic outcome is that we’re paying a backup tackle $7 million and he’s going to walk after this season and be handed a starting job elsewhere.

Revenge of the Birds

by cgolden on Sep 3, 2008 10:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

max is a steelers fan

i’m speaking for my self but if i had any kind of football talent (other than madden) and had a chance to play for my steelers even as a backup i would do it for really really cheap

by 86_STRONGER_THAN_STEEL on Sep 4, 2008 1:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

that's the difference between a fan and professional player

He may have always personally liked the Steelers but any player with the smallest amount of self respect wouldn’t stick with a team that wasn’t at least giving him the opportunity to compete for a starting job. Some other team will pay him starting money (4-6 million a season) and if the Steelers are offering backup money (1-2 million), do you really think he’d stick with the Steelers just b/c he’s a fan?

This isn’t a hobby to him, it’s his profession.

Revenge of the Birds

by cgolden on Sep 4, 2008 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah i hear you

i just wanted to put it out there that hes a steelers fan. but do you guys think another team would sign him to start for them? if they did he would probably get traded back to us like what happened with mahan. there gotta be a reason he didnt even get a chance at starting only the coaches know and they aint tellin

by 86_STRONGER_THAN_STEEL on Sep 5, 2008 1:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think

anyone’s going to pay him 4-6 million/year. I may be wrong, but if anyone was willing, why not offer a late round pick this year, and then re-structure his deal when they get him? If you were willing to pay a guy that much, then his current salary for this year wouldn’t be a deterrent. Unless the CBA doesn’t allow re-structuring on a Transition Tag.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Sep 5, 2008 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i would be happy

if the steelers got a draft pick for him that would give them 10 wouldnt it? then maybe they trade up in the first round and take a stud tackle cuz it dont look like were gonna re-sign marvel .

by 86_STRONGER_THAN_STEEL on Sep 5, 2008 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what the F

I still don’t understand their mindset when they put that tag on him. Not sure what the plan was, did they not totally understand the transition tag ramifications?

by vin2k on Sep 3, 2008 10:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

When the tag was applied, Marvel was still in questionable health with his back, and we didn’t know if we’d have a returning LT. That makes you think hard about resigning your backups. Given Starks’ past performances, it was looking like he could fool some team into paying him for a starting job, and if he was able to reach free agency, you can’t apply any tags and are forced into paying market rate.

At least the transition tag offers some reasonable flexibility. Its only one year, and it’s not at the same base level as the franchise tag. Its not good money to spend on a backup tackle, but at the time, it was the safest way to ensure he’d be around this year and not screw us too badly. There was approximately zero chance he’d have resigned with the Steelers if he had made it to free agency, so its what they had to do.

Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.

by BostonWahoo on Sep 3, 2008 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The problem

will probably be the fact that he was never really given a chance to win the starting position. If he had, I could see him signing for a 3-4 deal, with the $7M as a signing bonus. That would make the $7M guaranteed money anyway, and give him some future security. I don’t know what the total deal should be worth, but if he had gotten a chance to start, I would expect him to be willing to take a fair offer. Since he didn’t, he may just want to take his money and run.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Sep 3, 2008 11:52 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs