Steelers 2011 veteran free agents

[SteelKnight]

Not the rookie free agents ...but the veteran free agents. We usually redo te contracts of those we are interested in one year before it expires to avoid having them hit the open market.

Next year should be pretty easy but brace yourself because 2012 has many many stars that come up. In fact I think the steelers should break that 1 year rule and use the non-salary cap year to include one time payments like bonuses to sign some of our 2012 free agents so the deam doesn't get totally destroyed.

Here goes 2011:

Dennis Dixon 24 2011 (RFA)
Mewelde Moore 28 2011
Matt Spaeth 24 2011
Willie Colon 26 2011
Trai Essex 26 2011
Tony Hills 24 2011
Chris Hoke 33 2011
LaMarr Woodley 24 2011
Andre Frazier 27 2011
Keyaron Fox 27 2011
Ike Taylor 29 2011
William Gay 24 2011
Jeff Reed 30 2011
Daniel Sepulveda 25 2011

Thanks to Walter Football
http://walterfootball.com/freeagentscontractspit.php

Share your thoughts. Mine will be in a separate post.

[steelreserve]

Basically, we need to re-sign Woodley. Yawn. We can handle that.

The rest are completely optional, although Reed, Colon and Taylor are in the "nice to keep if you could" category. The number of CBs we've obtained in the last 2 years tells me we're not going to break the bank for Taylor; either he sticks around near present value or we're fine letting him go. Reed is an idiot because he's demanding a contract for $4.1M a year and the franchise tag only costs $2.4M. So we'll keep him as long as we want. Colon is probably the guy we're most likely to work out a long-term deal with. Fox would be nice to have around if he signs for backup money, and that's probably all he'll get. The rest I don't give a rat's ass about.

As far as 2012 ... don't worry about that. It's always scary to see how many veterans' contracts are up in two years, because it's three or four year extensions are about the max you usually see except for your superstar players, or guys you can cut a friendly deal with. At any give time, half your team's contracts will be expiring in two years. I'm not worried about that at all. Plus, isn't the world supposed to end?

[SteelKnight]

OK

I only see two critical signings that I need to get done this summer:

1.Ike Taylor-We need him. Simple. He always covers the best receivers and does well despite few picks. Hopefully BMacs experience will make him appreciate the system (not fun playing without Troy) he is in and he will come at a reasonable price. If not, theis is an uncapped year and we should take advantage of giving a roster bonus which won't count against us in the future once caps start again.

2. LaMarr Woodley- The Steelers should resign him but I suspect if the price is too high, they will just try to hope Worilds or Gibson are ready. We've seen the Steelers lose tons of LB through the years and each time it seems the world is coming to an end and the Steelers do fine. Should I mention Lloyd, Green, Gildon, Scott, Porter, etc. I have every confidence that if the Steelers can't get a good deal, they will replace Woodley....but I do want him.

There are 2 that I would like to get done this summer but are not critical:

1.Jeff Reed- We can always franchise him again. I hope we can get something done but if we can't he is still a kicker. Try but ...we survived losing Gary Anderson...a great kicker...and we can survive losing Reed.

2.Mwelde Moore- moore is only 28 and he contributes well to our team. I'd like to get at least a 3 year or 4 year deal done. As good as he is, e is replacable so it is not critical.

There are several that I think we should wait and see on. These include:

1. Dennis Dixon 24 (RFA) -He's a restricted FA. We should see what we ave in him so we can make a decision. If there is nothing there, we can just let him go and continue to extend Leftwhich while we start grooming some other rookie project. If he is great, we should keep im and extend although I doubt he wants to be a career back up. If he is good though, we could extend and then trade him.

2.Matt Spaeth 24 -I do like Matt Spaeth but he is not critical. If he asks for too much, let him go. We have a chance to see how much he contributes to our team this year so we should definitely wait.

3. Willie Colon 26 -, Maybe he has a break through year with the new line coach. If not, let him test the market. If yes, he will cost us but it's worth waiting. We may not want him anymore if he can't improve. Can Foster and the two Scotts challenge him?

4.Trai Essex 26 - He has been versitile for us but we have to wait and see if he spends the year inactive ...that's if he makes the team. My guess is he finally gets let go.

Daniel Sepulveda 25 -He's a punter. If he has a good year extend. If not, cut him loose.

Players I think are pretty much done:

1. Tony Hills 24 -He may not make the team this year. If he can't win a starting job, let him go.

2. Chris Hoke 33 -Nice guy and competent ant replacing Hampton but he is aging. We should let him go and wait until after the draft. If we can find Hamptons replacement to groom great. If not, resign Hoke for a year and try to find Hampton's replacement the following year.

3. Andre Frazier 27 -who? He won't make it this year. We have no more room for STs who have no other potential.

4. Keyaron Fox 27 -He's a competent guy but if the Steelers don't think he is Farriors replacement, they need to let him go (he might get to start somewhere) and try to groom a young guy to replace Farrior. If Farrior loses his stuff early, Foote can cover until we find that replacement. It's now or never Fox.

William Gay 24 -I sort of feel sorry for him. He was exposed. He started with the rock a bye baby but we will be saying rock a bye. They will only let him back to buy time for the younger ones to develop. I think he's gone next year...that's if he makes the team this year (I think he will).

[SteelKnight]

Originally Posted by steelreserve

Basically, we need to re-sign Woodley. Yawn. We can handle that.

The rest are completely optional, although Reed, Colon and Taylor are in the "nice to keep if you could" category. The number of CBs we've obtained in the last 2 years tells me we're not going to break the bank for Taylor; either he sticks around near present value or we're fine letting him go. Reed is an idiot because he's demanding a contract for $4.1M a year and the franchise tag only costs $2.4M. So we'll keep him as long as we want. Colon is probably the guy we're most likely to work out a long-term deal with. Fox would be nice to have around if he signs for backup money, and that's probably all he'll get. The rest I don't give a rat's ass about.

As far as 2012 ... don't worry about that. It's always scary to see how many veterans' contracts are up in two years, because it's three or four year extensions are about the max you usually see except for your superstar players, or guys you can cut a friendly deal with. At any give time, half your team's contracts will be expiring in two years. I'm not worried about that at all. Plus, isn't the world supposed to end?

Hi,

I think Taylor is the critical one. He always is one the best receiver. We need to pay him what he wants.

Woodley, as much as I hate to say it, can be replaced. The Steelers won't break the bank. They will just plug either Worilds or Gibson in (see my post above about other LBs we've lost).

The 2012, I guess you are right. I'd like to break the rule and resign at least Polamalu and Timmons. Then we can wait and review players like Wallace, Sweed, Smith, Burnett, Lewis, Urbik etc. The good news is that a bunch of them will be RFA. We should just lock down Troy and then we can deal with Timmons and the RFAs next year.

[mikegrimey]

I'd like to keep Woodley too but wouldn't break the bank for him either.

We always seem to come up with a new beast at OLB to replace the old one.

[SteelKnight]

Originally Posted by mikegrimey

I'd like to keep Woodley too but wouldn't break the bank for him either.

We always seem to come up with a new beast at OLB to replace the old one.

I agree. This is what I'm saying. I'm in my 30s and I panicked eac time we lost a famous LB in the past and every single time the Steelers did alrigt.

Each of those LBs could have finished their careers as a legend by staying and trying to retire a Steeler. Instead, tey all got some money, lost their greatness and will never enter the HOF. IDK. Maybe the Steelers would have eventually cut them because this is a business (look at Townsend).

Kevin Greene, Greg Lloyd, Jason Gildon, Chad Scott, Joey Porter, Hardy Nickerson, Levon Kirkland etc. We ALWAYS SURVIVE. So if we lose Woodley, Worilds will step right in.

Taylor on the other hand is amazingly underated. He will play even better with Troy back to help. I think he gets no credit because of no Picks. They should have him on the JUGG machine and have a QB work out with him throwing balls. If he could get 5 picks a year, he would make the probowl. We need to get him back. Even if you found 2 great replacements, you could always still use a shutdown nickel corner so unless you can find 3 corners to beat our number 1, you must sign him.

[xXTheSteelKingsXx]

Woodley is a definant must. My hope is he gets a new contract this offseason.

Dixon will probably be tendered.

Taylor shouldn't be too hard to resign. He is always restructuring deals with us and I think he realizes he isn't going to break the bank by signing with anyone else.

My feeling is that Colon wants to get paid and will probably leave to someone who is willing to give him top RT money.

Fox, Essex, and Sep are not really high priority but it would be nice to get them back.

The other guys probably already have their backups in place or will be easily replaced.
* Hoke may be done because at some point we have to draft Hamps replacement and I would much
rather do it while we are getting production from Casey.
* Moore is probably an easier one to replace if we can't sign him cheap.
* Gay's replacements are already here
* Reed probably wants more than he's worth. See ya

As for Spaeth, Frazier and Hills, I'm not so sure they even make it past camp let alone until next season.

[PhantomJB93]

Originally Posted by SteelKnight

Not the rookie free agents ...but the veteran free agents. We usually redo te contracts of those we are interested in one year before it expires to avoid having them hit the open market.

Next year should be pretty easy but brace yourself because 2012 has many many stars that come up. In fact I think the steelers should break that 1 year rule and use the non-salary cap year to include one time payments like bonuses to sign some of our 2012 free agents so the deam doesn't get totally destroyed.

Here goes 2011:

Dennis Dixon 24 2011 (RFA)
Mewelde Moore 28 2011
Matt Spaeth 24 2011
Willie Colon 26 2011
Trai Essex 26 2011
Tony Hills 24 2011
Chris Hoke 33 2011
LaMarr Woodley 24 2011
Andre Frazier 27 2011
Keyaron Fox 27 2011
Ike Taylor 29 2011
William Gay 24 2011
Jeff Reed 30 2011
Daniel Sepulveda 25 2011

Thanks to Walter Football
http://walterfootball.com/freeagentscontractspit.php

Share your thoughts. Mine will be in a separate post.

These are the guys I think we need to make a priority to resign. I think if we start Dixon the first 6 games this year and he plays extraordinarily well, franchise him and trade him to another team. I wouldn't mind trading Colon either as long as we select another tackle early in the draft or acquire a good one via trade.

[solardave]

Woodley will not make it to free agency so not to worry. Sign Ike cheap (not gonna happen) so we replace him in the draft I guess or with a FA. After last year I'm no longer an Ike fan. It all depends on if Dixon fills in for Ben and how well he does. I think if he does well we need to keep him. As much as we've heard about Ben's woes if he loses the civil suit he may miss the 2011 season.( and probably be gone) In that case we need Dixon too. Just my opinion,I could be wrong.

[Psyychoward86]

Originally Posted by SteelKnight

LaMarr Woodley
Ike Taylor
Jeff Reed
Willie Colon
Keyaron Fox
Chris Hoke
Dennis Dixon
Mewelde Moore
Daniel Sepulveda

In order of most to least important, here's who i think we need/want back the most. I cut out the kids i hate.