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As Pittsburgh Steelers fans give their grades for the team's performance throughout the free agency period thus far, most are giving poor to failing grades. The Steelers simply haven't made many moves, and not enough to make their fans believe they added the pieces necessary to compete for a championship.
The Steelers have indeed made moves, but not the ones which make headlines. The most important was the Ben Roethlisberger's contract extension which should have their franchise quarterback in the black and gold for at least the next 5 seasons. On top of the Roethlisberger contract, they re-signed Arthur Moats to a 3-year deal, Matt Spaeth to a 2-year deal and signed the restricted free agent tenders of Robert Golden, Will Johnson and Antwon Blake.
These moves don't include bringing in QB Tajh Boyd and signing players like Terence Garvin to future's contract.
Outside of those internal moves, the Steelers brought in RB DeAngelo Williams from the Carolina Panthers, and to date, that is the only external free agent signing the team has made. Could it be the team is done and happy with the moves they've made? Can't be, right? Team president Art Rooney II says the team might just stay put.
"We are still looking what the options are and will continue to do that," Rooney told members of the local media Friday, per Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "At this point, we are not expecting that there is going to be a lot more activity out there, but we will certainly continue to look. If there is a player out there that makes sense to pursue, we will do that."
"Obviously, we are happy that we got the Ben [Roethlisberger] contract done and that was the biggest piece of the puzzle, from a lot of different standpoints, that we wanted to get done."
Although Rooney leaves the door open for future free agents to possibly be signed, he seems almost content with the moves which have been made and the roster he has going into the NFL Draft and the 2015 season. Like it or not, the moves the Steelers have made this offseason, or lack thereof, might be all we see until the NFL Draft in late April.