Greetings BTSC! Long time. Missed being around but have enjoyed keeping an eye on the site from a distance as I have worked on finishing a publication about the Steelers. It should be out and available by August 1st, I'd imagine, though I have not received word on a final date just yet. Anyway, more on that later, but since I've been so wrapped up with the project in between going to school and work and hanging out for five straight weeks with a new lady friend, I've really had no time for here. Well, I'm out in sunny California on a semi-vacation and thought I'd at least share a small part of one of the books chapters - An Early Preview of Free Agency in 2010. I noticed datruth4life had written about this recently, followed by the usual interesting commentary from y'all. The following adds a little more to the conversation and hopefully piques your interest to want to read on. This is, after all, just 1/5 of one of the publication's roughly 15 articles. Good to be back! - Blitz (Michael B.)

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Less than two decades ago, the National Football League barely resembled the wildly  popular sport that we know and love today.  In 1993, after several years of fierce court battles and a 1987 players' strike, the NFL instituted free agency as part of the historic Collective Bargaining Agreement between team owners and the Players Association. The Collective Bargaining Agreement has been extended on multiple occasions in the 16 years since its inception, most recently in March 2006.

Although that round of negotiations resulted in an extension of the CBA until 2012, it also provided owners with an option clause to terminate the agreement two years ahead of schedule, after the 2010 season. It is a tremendously complex matter, but it is probably fair to say that the primary reason for the owners' dissatisfaction with the CBA is that it allocates 60 percent of gross revenues league-wide for player salaries. Believing that the players are receiving too big a piece of pie, the owners have exercised their option to terminate the agreements two years early. In 2010, the final season, the salary cap will be lifted. 

As it happens, as many as two dozen or more Pittsburgh Steelers players will become free agents during the offseason leading up to that uncapped 2010 campaign. It is not yet entirely clear what an uncapped 2010 season and expiring CBA will mean exactly for the Steelers organization and for the individual players who will be free agents after this coming year. The following article, however, attempts to keep in mind the pending changes on the horizon in the NFL's labor situation while discussing the potential futures of each of the 27 players on the roster who may be affected as free agents in 2010.

Before doing so, we should first discuss the divergent philosophies and strategies that organizations across the league have adopted for achieving successful free agency within the system's existing framework. For example, teams like the Washington Redskins and New York Jets have tried to field a contender quickly in recent years by being major players in free agency.  Other organizations have intentionally been more wary of participating but have still been willing to pull the trigger on signing the one player who might get them over the proverbial hump, regardless of the financial commitment required.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have crafted and adhered to their own strategy, one that many teams around the league now try to emulate. For years the Steelers focused most heavily on drafting well, then developing that talent to its fullest. There have been notable exceptions (thankfully), but the Steelers generally steer clear of the high priced free agent pool. It has at times been frustrating to say goodbye to players who hold a big place in the collective memory of Steeler Nation as they understandably choose to pursue one last hefty pay check late in their respective careers. But the organization's holistic approach to putting together a complete roster has resulted in 12 winning seasons, eleven playoff appearances, and two Super Bowl Championships since 1993. It is hard to complain about that kind of sustained success, no matter how hard it may be to see certain individuals leave Pittsburgh to play in other markets.

The organization has proven in recent memory that it doesn't adhere to one formula exclusively when deciding whether to re-sign its higher priced and more veteran players. For instance, the Steelers surprised many by offering linebacker James Farrior a multi-year extension during the 2008 offseason, when he was 32 years old. This offseason the Steelers also offered contract extensions to wide receiver Hines Ward and linebacker James Harrison, both also in their 30s. By doing so, the Steelers addressed the future of two of the team's best players previously scheduled to become free agents in 2010. Which players might be next?

Pittsburgh will be forced to make a number of other tough but important personnel decisions, perhaps as early as the summer months of June and July leading up to the start of training camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The pending labor dispute between owners and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) will undoubtedly affect not only many of the Steelers' immediate decisions, but also how their  strategy adapts and evolves in response to changes in the free agency system.   An entire article, or even a book, could be devoted to analyzing the labor dispute on the horizon, but for the purposes of this article, two specific changes to the free agency system are particularly relevant. First, the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement will affect young players who would otherwise become unrestricted free agents in 2010. Players will then need six years of service rather than the current four before becoming unrestricted. As is discussed below, players like Heath Miller and Willie Colon will be affected by such a change.

Secondly, teams will be able to tag multiple players each offseason. The Steelers have historically not utilized the franchise or transition tags on their free agents - at least not prior to the Max Starks saga(s) the past two offseasons.  Under a new system, however, the organization could conceivably decide to use one or both tags in 2010 on players they may not be able to retain for the long-term, but will nevertheless be willing to pay top dollar in the immediate future when the team should still be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the Steelers players on the roster as of June 1 who are set to become free agents at the end of the 2010 season, beginning with the higher profile players on the roster.