Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have decided to match the $2.5 million offer sheet given to restricted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders by the New England Patriots, several are suggesting that they should rescind the $1.323 million tender offer to running back Isaac Redman in order to sign free agent running back Ahmad Bradshaw.
For starters, pulling the tender to Redman only saves roughly $843,000 in salary cap space after displacement takes place. That\’s not a lot of money in the grand scheme of themes and Bradshaw has yet to come in for his second visit yet to see how the rehab of his right foot is coming along.
The Steelers are also not guaranteed to get a top running back in the draft and thus must assume that they will come out of the draft without one until they actually do select one. Pulling the tender from Redman prior to the draft could force them to reach at the position.
With less than two weeks to go until the draft takes place, the Steelers only have running backs Jonathan Dwyer and Baron Batch under contract. Batch is not a lock to make the roster at this point, so essentially the team has just one in Dwyer.
The deadline for restricted tenders to be signed is April 19, so Redman, and nose tackle Steve McLendon will be signing them any day now and I don\’t expect that the Steelers will yank Redman\’s off of the table prior to that.
Contrary to what is being reported elsewhere, restricted tenders are not fully guaranteed.
