Steelers Report Card: Grading the acquisition of OG/C Stefen Wisniewski

Steelers brass felt Stefen Wisniewski was worth a free agent contract without asking you or any of us. That’s okay. The right people are paid to make those decisions, while we judge from afar.

For some reason, I’ve been given the responsibility to rate the performance of Kevin Colbert, Omar Khan and company on nothing but speculation. It’s not easy, but I’ll give it a whirl. Despite my less than prestigious BTSC teaching certificate, I have to issue the necessary disclaimer. You know the story; of course, I’m not a football coach, or a teacher, but I play one in blogs and podcasts. All offseason, I had certain expectations that the Steelers would be sitting at home on prom night and watching while the other kids with deep pockets grope the sophomore class. But then a group of Steelers banded together much like the Notre Dame players were fictitiously depicted as doing in Rudy and restructured their deals to free up cap space. So voila, we are back in business.

Assessing game day grades is an extremely difficult and somewhat thankless task. While the coaches’ grades, of course, are what counts the most, the media and fans can’t help but evaluate as well. All letter grades are simply based on the eye test of somebody watching at home. That’s me. Then the masses come in like a flock of seagulls and poop on the efforts of the author, only to fly away and hide behind their online moniker.

Grading personnel decisions is even tougher. We have to wait nearly six months to actually know if our grades our on the money. This time I decided to enlist my friends to help. Since I don’t have any...I recruited a few of my colleagues at BTSC. They resisted, but relented. But I now have to name my next five kids Jefferson, Lancelot, Dave, Tony and Cliff Harris is Still a Punk. Joke’s on them though. I think the vasectomy took.

With that being electronically said, let’s take a look at BTSC’s early perceptions:

OG/C Stefen Wisniewski - Kansas City Chiefs

Overall Grade: A

Wisniewski is an NFL survivor. The last three seasons he started on the bench and ended as a starter performing at a high level. Two of the past three seasons, he started for the Super Bowl champions. Ranked just below David DeCastro in PFF’s position rankings at guard (16th), the Central Catholic and Penn State alum could get the chance to start for the retired Ramon Foster and the Seattle-bound Matt Feiler. His contract at $2.85 million for two years is an absolute bargain.

Tony Defeo: C+

Great depth guy. He can play both guard and center.

Jeff Hartman: A

A solid, veteran lineman on the cheap. His experience and versatility make this a great move.

Lance Williams: B

For the price, Wiz will be the steal of the FA class because he’s a vet who’s outstanding in pass pro and provides great positional flexibility.

Dave Schofield: A

Steelers get what I feel is an upgrade over B.J. Finney at a bottom-dollar price. His salary is for less than what they paid Finney last year.

K.T. Smith (CHISAP): A

A starting OL from the Super Bowl champs with position versatility on a cheap contract? Score!

Bryan Anthony Davis: A+

This was the move I was asking for a month ago. He’s a Super Bowl mercenary coming back home. He grades out well with PFF and he’s very economical. Perfect move for a team with cap issues and a window.

Now it is your turn to play teacher. Use the polls and the comments section below. We can compare notes in the teachers lounge.