First time poster….Thanks for the detailed and timely analysis of the Steeler Cap situation. This is the type of in depth analysis you never get from standard media like the PG. I’ve always been a fan of Colbert and Kahn and, except for rare cases like Simmons, have thought they’ve done a great job managing the salary cap while keeping the Steelers competitive. So, with these restraints, how were the Steelers able to resign Madison when they couldn’t afford him to begin with?

Are we still paying for him next year, or was this the last? Deshea jumped out at me right away too are far as “Man, is he overpaid”.

Had heard on the radio that the NFL maybe getting rid of the salary cap. Is there any truth to this?

I have no issue with balancing the roster with lower cost young players, but that’s no excuse for their special teams play — one of the most glaring weaknesses from this group. These guys should be thankful that the economics of the NFL provide an opportunity while some quality veterans get unfairly priced out (ie Madison). Harrison is the ultimate example of a player taking an opportunity on ST and building an impressive career. I don’t expect every gunner to turn into a defensive MVP, but if some of these guys are so unable to cut it on ST I’ve got to at least wonder about their drive and professionalism. Shame on the many veterans too for not bringing this group up to the Steelers high standard.

It’s hard to criticize the team for cap management when we have as much or more talent than any other team in the league.

I think the one thing you can criticize them for is that when you let McFadden go you’re gambling on Troy staying healthy to keep the secondary from becoming a total mess. That’s a dicey risk given his injury history and obviously it’s a bet that we’ve lost.

Hampton, Reed and Parker are gone due to contract issue. I would only sign Hampton with a significant pay decrease because his skill have diminished significantly. Farrior needs to take a pay cut and a reduction of playing time to 1st and 2nd down or cut him. His skills have headed south are down this year (along with Hampton). Townsend got to go. Also, the rest of the DB’s on this team need to go on Polamalu’s training program. They look like musclebound inflexible stiffs out there trying to make athletic plays. In hindsight letting McFadden go was a huge mistake – I would have cut Townsend (or Farrior for that fact) any day to make room for McFadden on the roster.

I think a perfect storm of things happened to where the Steelers are on the outside looking in. For one thing, the secondary has plain and simply collapsed without Troy. There is no other way to put it out. Farrior’s play has slipped and without Troy, Foote, McFadden, & Aaron Smith, this D is just nowhere near the same. Add in declining play from Ryan Clark, Ike Taylor and Farrior, and you have a D that has given up leads in five of 6 losses in the 4th Q.

I know I have to let this go, but the Steelers secondary against the Raiders was probably the worst I’ve seen a secondary play in a couple of years. When Tom Cable goes into a game and tells you that he feels his WR’s have a distinctive advantage over the Steelers corners (and the Raiders have nothing at WR), I think that tells you a lot about the state of affairs in the Steelers secondary.

Gay NEVER made a play on the ball the whole afternoon. Has he made a play on the ball the whole season? The first 4 passes thrown his way were completions (many on 3rd downs) and he wasn’t contesting any of them because he was slipping on the field.

Ike’s level of play has been going downhill all season. He has no interest in tackling, can’t make a play on the ball and can’t even know the ball away now. The STeelers have to look at whether Ike’s play is worth his projected salary for next year.

I would be very disappointed in Tomlin if he doesn’t get the rookie CBs in the game to at least see if they will compete and try to make a play. I’m pretty disgusted with Ike and Gay to this point because the front 7 has mostly played winning football and the offense is clearly better than a year ago.

The Steelers tried to save some money with A. Madison (I think he had a $1.2M salary as a restricted free agent) and it came back to bite them. The Ratliff and S. McDonald signings were probably the worst Colbert has had since he was with the Steelers, but at least both were one-year minimum level deals. That money given to K. Simmons was a panic move that is still reverberating.

In other words, DaTruth is just bitter about a season gone bad. Damn, even the food I eat isn’t as enjoyable as it once was, and it’s the same food. OK, I feel a little bit better now. Peace, All.

The Steelers should probably give Snack and Reed franchise tags and then work on extending Santonio, Woodley and maybe even Willie Colon.

The franchise tag for Snack wouldn’t be much more than his cap number for this year and I don’ t think that you let Jeff Reed walk unless you have someone better waiting to take his place. A franchise tag for a kicker isn’t much either. As experience has shown us, not everyone can kick in Heinz Field.

And also, time to ink our coach to a 5-year extension. He deserves it, despite the team’s play this year. I am still interested to see how he handles the team during these last four games, particularly if he’s willing to sit down players that aren’t get it done. I think the front office knows its time for this Steelers team to get younger and began the process with this year’s rookie class. I expect that churning process to continue next year to get the team ready for its second window of opportunity while we still have Harrison, Troy, Ben, and others in their prime.

i agree we shouldve dropped deshea townsend… the guy has been virtually useless this year and definitely not worth the money. i was also skeptical when we gave brett keisel an extension, but i will gladly eat my words as he’s been great this year… although i am concerned about what happens in the later years of his contract- he might become another old vet like townsend taking up more money than he’s worth.
but at least in larry foote’s case if i remember correctly he asked to be released because he was losing playing time to timmons anyway so i dont think we wouldve resigned him to any extent but i wouldve loved to keep him for another year and keep our rotation going with him timmons and farrior. i really think farrior could use a rest every now and then so he could be fresher, not to mention timmons is versatile enough to rotate with harrison and woodley too if need be.

looking forward im extremely skeptical about resigning santonio… yes he’s shown great promise and did win us a superbowl. but im afraid we might overpay him just because of that great catch. he still hasnt had, and doesnt look like he will have this year, a 1000 yard season and we have wallace and sweed with probably much sweeter contracts. -and no i havent given up on sweed yet…
woodley is a must keep. no questions.
im also really worried about what we’ll do about hampton… im not sure if ziggy can play nose tackle and it doesnt look like there will be anyone cheaper in free agency. so we might have to keep him… but again we might have to overpay for an older vet that could turn ugly in later years

You think the Skins would like to rethink that deal with Denver where they traded Portis for Champ Bailey? I think the bigger problem is that McFadden wanted to be paid more than Palomula on this team and the Steelers just weren’t going to let that happen.

Gay is a free safety who is afraid he’s going to get beat deep on every play. Townsend is just done. The Steelers just kept him a year too long. I think Ike & Ryan Clark are declining. Time to get some fresh blood here in the secondary.

How much money did we save cutting Anthony Smith? He’s got two picks in four games in Jacksonville. Lack of depth at safety definitely lost us one game when we forced Carter to play injured, and may have lost us more by causing Troy to be rushed back too soon.

i think you’re stretching it a lil bit.

for example we did not cut madison because of 300-400k. we cut him because we had 2 rookie CB’s with potential we just drafted, 3 “decent” vet CBs, and kewain ratliff (who i’m guessing outperformed him in the secondary & not special teams). no room on our roster for 6 cb’s, especially when we have one for a kr/pr and 4 safeties.

yes foote was making a lot and probably refused to take a salary cut, hence why he was cut. BUT the real reason why he refused that salary cut wasn’t about the lost money (he knew he’d lose some when cut and signed with another team). he wanted to start. and he knew he probably wasnt going to continue to start over a player we drafted in the 1st rd 2 years ago.

townsend isn’t doing very well this year and isn’t doing enough to get paid what he’s getting paid. but would anyone wouldve guess that this would happen with the way he played last year? and obviously NO ONE out performed in in training camp or was anywhere near his caliber for the same about of money in free agency. i’m sure the steelers would’ve loved to start a 3rd rounder or cheap FA over a semi-highly paid vet and save 2 mil on the cap.

you failed to mention some of the good things the front office is doing also:
-our offensive line
-the extension of keisel instead of clark or reed
-fox (i think everyone laughed when he said he’d have an opportunity to start…no one was laughing on his pick 6)

Casey is worth 2 mill only. Pass defense is our problem. Mcfadden never broke on short routes to get interceptions and was always very average. We need a real athlete at corner. Lets see if Lewis might be one. You must “cut bait” in this league when a so-so player pretends he is excellent just because he plays beside Troy.

Love the work as usual. I too am working on a cap piece that will break it down for the non-Capologist fans. Just some food for thought for everyone about the Simmons deal, while it was a major mistake, it is not crippling us. he signed a deal in 2007 with 7.85 mil bonus of which 4.71 was left (the final 3 years at $1.57 per) the salary portion isn’t guarenteed. Becuase he was released after 1 June, they could have split the cap hit over two years at a 50% hit each year but chose not to. This means they weren’t too worried about it. We also have 2.4 mil in dead money for Mahan (.8 mil times 3) and 1.05 in Foote’s remaining cap hit. None of that worries me though, they were all really low cap hits considering they were all starters (when they were resigned). Those were all Steeler Friendly Deals (Omar Khan is the man). What worries me are the cap hits of Hampton ($6.65 mil) Townsend ($2.3 Mil) and Parker ($4.5 mil). That is $6.8 mil for 2 players who play maybe 20 plays combined, and 6.65 for a 2 down Dlineman. Good work, I don’t want to put my whole thing in this response and have some more research myself to do, but hopefully I can add from an accounting side some knowledge on the cap to Steeler Nation.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_656672.html

I like Ike Taylor. Yeah he can’t catch but the problem is he has to cover for Gay. An upgrade over Willie Gay will upgrade Ike because he can go back to what he does best, playing man to man.

The Simmons contract always puzzled me. After being diagnosed with diabetes he was never the same player. I thought they would let him go after his initial contract instead of giving him an extension. Deshea is just one of those guys that age 3 years in 1. It happens to vets all the time, some at 30 others maybe 33 or 34, but it always happens. Farrior is in that category. These guys have been great players but this is a business and rewarding 30+ veteran players is tricky business and can bite you.

I think given that next year has the potential to be an uncapped year, the Steelers were VERY smart in the offseason in locking up solid, veteran players for several years before it got to that point. If it came at the risk of losing some special teams players then so be it. Look who we managed to lock up this offseason:
- Heath Miller (stud)
- James Harrison (stud)
- Brett Keisel (playing great this year)
- Trai Essex (stepped in for Stapleton nicely)
- Chris Kemoeatu (playing well)
- Justin Hartwig (playing well)
- Keyaron Fox (exceptional for a backup)
- Hines Ward (lifer)
Has it worked out perfectly this season? No. But which of those players would you cut to keep a guy like Madison or McFadden? None of them, especially considering we drafted two CBs. And say we had not signed Trai Essex…where would we be right now with Stapleton out. I think they played the situation as well as they could have and ensured that the core producers will be around for a while (even in uncapped years).

We got bit on kickoff return because nobody stepped up. I’ll take that over getting bit on offense or defense because the odds that someone steps up on special teams are a lot higher than someone being able to play in a defense that takes a year to learn or jumping right in on O…although Wallace was able to do that this year gladly. Willie Gay looked like he would be solid, but that did not turn out to be true…especially with Troy out and the sacks coming slow to start the season. All in all, the team is well-positioned for the biggest risk which is lack of a salary cap leading to not being able to retain their homegrown talent due to money rich teams poaching players (like the MLB – Oakland A’s pro farm team is a great example). I think the ball has just bounced the wrong way a bit this year just like it bounced the right way many times last year. Hopefully, we get a little more luck in the last 4 games and get Troy healthy sooner rather than later.