Tribune Review columnist John Harris thinks Mike Tomlin is better at handling the media than Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is. Harris must be struggling for subject matter. Time is running out to launch Cinderella into the 2010 Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament finals. If you do not vote for me, at least vote. Will you really let a Bucco blog beat a Steelers blog though? Just saying. Vote here! On a side note, many of asked if I will have the 2010 NFL Combine Results as they come in this week and next. The answer is of course yes. I am a junkie and will have the same great coverage as last year. Former Read more [...]

I know the Chargers early release of running back LaDanian Tomlinson might have been a shock to some, but as soon as it happened, the fans of 31 other teams started pondering what LT would look like in their teams colors. One uniform I guarantee you will not see him in, is a Steelers uniform. As sexy as it seems to have LT teamed up with Rashard Mendenhall in the backfield, you can get that thought out of your head right now. First, LT is on the wrong side of 30 with declining skills and productivity. Second, the price tag regardless of what it is will still be too expensive for the Steelers, Read more [...]

I wanted to clarify a few things for my readers regarding the 2010 Restricted Free Agents for the Steelers. First off, the Steelers have 6 restricted free agents and 1 Exclusive Rights Free Agent. The Exclusive Rights player is linebacker Patrick Bailey and he only has 2 accrued seasons, meaning the Steelers can keep him by offering him the minimum salary for a 3rd year player and he must accept the offer. The other Restricted Free Agents are then gauged by their accrued seasons. An accrued season is defined by a player having 6 or more regular-season games on a club’s active/inactive roster, Read more [...]

Buffalo News writer, Allen Wilson, has his first mock draft of 2010 up and has the Steelers taking Mike Iupati from Idaho. If the Steelers do indeed draft offense with the first round pick, I can see Iupati being it right now. However, I am still thinking we draft defense first at this point in time. Well, thanks to all of our readers of the blog, Twitter and Facebook, we have made it to the Final Four of the 2010 Pittsburgh Sports Blog contest. I do not think they are happy to have a #8 seed crash the party and they surely have the wrong info up on our post dates. Our blog page is set up to Read more [...]

Former Steelers scout and journalist, Bill Nunn, will be part of a distinguished group of an 11-member inaugural class of the Black College Football Hall of Fame. The induction will be held on Saturday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta. Starting center Justin Hartwig and reserve safety Ryan Mundy underwent shoulder surgeries since the end of the season, but no other details on the corrective measures were made available. The NFL Labor website has the complete list of 2010 Unrestricted Free Agents and the Restricted Free Agents posted along with the players agent and number of accrued seasons. It Read more [...]

Steelers.com has a piece up on new Hall of Famer and Steelers defensive coordinator, Dick LeBeau. Thanks to our blog readers, Facebook fans and Twitter followers, Steelers Depot has made it to the Elite 8 round of the 2010 Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament. One more win would put us in the Final Four out of the MOE MANTHA DIVISION. We are humbled and thankful. Please keep this Cinderella run alive, vote here! The Ratbirds have signed wide receiver Donte' Stallworth. The Ravens have five receivers on their roster who will become free agents in some capacity. I can't help but snicker at this Read more [...]

Steelers Depot has moved to the Sweet 16 of the 2010 Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament. We sure would like to go to the Elite 8 with some help from our readers. Please vote here! Steelers guard Chris Kemoeatu and brother Maake Kemoeatu of the Panthers along with more than 20 NFL players are in Hawaii and will be conducting football skills camps for youth and high school players Thursday and Saturday in addition to several school visits throughout the week. You can read about the Kemoeatu Brothers Foundation here! Ed Bouchette's latest Steelers chat transcript is up on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Read more [...]

The Steelers signed free agent wide receiver Brandon London to a futures contract this past week. London has spent time with both the Giants and Dolphins since graduating from Massachusetts and will be competing at training camp for one of 4 or 5 receiver spots on the 2010 roster. Steelers Depot caught up with Brandon and he was gracious enough to answer a few questions for us. Steelers Depot: Not many people know that your father is the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers. How is having a coach for a father? Does it make you more coachable than most players? What advice has he given you since Read more [...]

Below are the newly released amounts for the 2010 NFL Franchise tag and Transition tag for free agency which began today. The amounts are listed by position Franchise & Transition Tag Amounts Quarterback Franchise Tag $16.405 million Transition Tag $14.546 million Running Back Franchise Tag $8.156 million Transition Tag $7.151 million Wide Receiver Franchise Tag $9.521 million Transition  Tag $8.651 million Tight End Franchise  Tag $5.908 million Transition Tag $5.248 million Offensive Linemen Franchise Tag $10.731 million Transition Read more [...]

I had a few emails this past week asking about the Steelers offensive line stats for the 2009 season. I finally got around to compiling them thanks to Stats.com. I have ranked the lineman by sacks allowed. I also included the sack yardage allowed, penalties as well as penalty yardage. Player Games Started Pen Pen Yards False Starts Holding Sacks Allowed Sack Yards Max Starks 16 16 7 55 3 4 8 44.5 Willie Colon 16 16 6 40 4 2 8 38.0 Justin Hartwig 16 16 3 31 0 3 7 49.0 Chris Kemoeatu 12 12 4 35 1 3 4.5 37.5 Trai Essex 16 16 3 20 2 1 1.5 21.5 Ramon Read more [...]

There are a few incomplete versions of the 2010 NFL Calendar floating around and I have had a few emails asking if I can post a more complete version. So here is the 2010 NFL Calendar of important dates. February 8 - Waiver system begins for 2010 season. February 11 - First day clubs can designate franchise or transition players. February 24 - March 2 - NFL Scouting Combine, Indianapolis, Indiana. February 25 - Deadline for clubs to designate franchise and transition players. March 4 - Deadline for clubs to exercise options for 2010 on all players who have option clauses in their Read more [...]

Troy Polamalu is back in the Super Bowl again. This time it is in a commercial only as I posted this yesterday but in case you missed it, Polamalu is featured in a truTV Super Bowl commercial in which Troy plays Punxsutawney Polamalu. He sees his shadow and thus 6 more weeks of football are proclaimed. Below is the commercial and under that is the behind the scenes of the making of the Super Bowl ad. Read more [...]

Super Bowl media day is here, the Senior Bowl has come and gone. The NFL combine is just three weeks away and I have enough info to make my first huge prediction for the 2010 draft concerning the Steelers. The Steelers will not draft a nose tackle in round 1. There, I said it. That prediction will make a few of Steeler Nation mad and please the same amount. There is no doubt that the Steelers need depth and future at the position, especially considering that Casey Hampton could be gone in 2010 if no deal is reached or the franchise tag is not used on him. Even if he stays just one more year, Read more [...]

The Senior Bowl is perfect opportunity to get a look at the top Senior college football players that you may not have gotten a chance to see during the season. It is the best of the best and you have to be invited to play in the Senior Bowl. The coaching is done by NFL staffs and scouts, head coaches and other team coaches show up to get their first initial, up close looks at the future NFL stars. Many teams take the opportunities to interview several of the players prior to the NFL combine. The practices really tell a ton during the week with the game being the dessert so to speak. On Saturday, Read more [...]

Below are the 2010 Senior Bowl measurements for the North and South rosters. The height and weight measurables are done just like the NFL combine does in eighths. 2010 NFL Combine Results here: 2010 Senior Bowl South Squad No. Squad Name POS Height Weight Arm Hand School 5 South Allen, Nate FS 6005 205 30 ½ 9 ⅜ South Florida 28 South Arenas, Javier CB 5085 195 30 ½ 9 ⅜ Alabama 56 South Atkins, Geno DT 6013 286 31 9 ⅞ Georgia 70 South Black, Ciron T 6045 331 33 ¼ 10 ¼ LSU 16 South Brown, Jarrett QB 6026 219 33 Read more [...]

The 2009 season was a disappointment overall for Steelers fans, but it did offer up some very enjoyable and memorable plays. Below I have ranked what I believe to be the top 15 most memorable plays of the 2009 season. The countdown will start at #15 and go backwards to #1. #15 The Big Legursky - Backup center Doug Legursky got to play fullback on a short touchdown run by Rashard Mendenhall against the Chargers. Legursky makes a nice block on the play, but it was the last time we saw him in that role in 2009. [flv:http://video.nfl.com/films/s2009/nflcom/w04/091004_phl_wk4_bp_mendenhall_1yd_td_700k.mp4 Read more [...]

The word came down last weekend that Art Rooney II wants to run more effectively in the redzone and in games in which the Steelers have the lead. Here is what Rooney II told Scott Brown in a recent interview. “We need to be better at running the football. We were not consistently good at running the football this year, and I think that was a problem, and it’s certainly something that traditionally has been one of the foundations of the team and we need to get back to that. We need to be able to run the ball to be successful. Some of or troubles in the red zone this year, I think, can be traced Read more [...]

A few people have emailed me concerning how many compensatory draft picks the Steelers will be rewarded for the 2010 draft. You have to start first with what they lost free agency wise last offseason. The Steelers lost what looks to be three qualifying players in free agency and they did not sign any that qualified as replacements for those lost players. The three players they lost that should qualify were, cornerback Bryant McFadden, wide receiver Nate Washington and quarterback Byron Leftwich. All three should qualify. As far as the rounds go for the compensatory draft picks rewarded, below are Read more [...]

The Steelers officially named Sean Kugler as the new offensive line coach on Thursday and instantly it sent shock waves through Steeler Nation. Kugler spent the last 2 seasons as the Bills offensive line coach before being let go at the end of the season. Kugler coached a Bills offensive line in 2009 that was ravished by injuries and saw 9 different starting line combinations during the season. Center Geoff Hangartner was the only lineman to play every game at the same spot and 4 linemen who started during the season finished on injured reserve. The Bills 2009 line had only 91 combined career starts Read more [...]

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was spotted last week at a University of Kentucky basketball game and speculation has mounted that Tomlin was not only there to do some pre draft recon, but maybe also visit with then offensive line coach Jimmy Heggins. Heggins has since been told he would not be retained by new Wildcat head coach Joker Phillips. Heggins said, he was going to hang around Lexington for a while and see what I can do as far as getting a job somewhere. Heggins joined Kentucky in 2005 and offensive line was considered a strength of UK this past season, when they finished 21st in the Read more [...]