The annual Willie Colon move to guard talk is back in high swing and so you knew the annual Ziggy Hood move to nose tackle talk would not be far behind it. It is more talked about this offseason it seems being as Casey Hampton has a strong possibility of starting the year on the PUP list as he recovers from his knee surgery. Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin was asked on Tuesday about the possibility of Hood playing nose tackle and he replied, "Hood is potentially part of that. He is a very talented and strong guy, but I think Steve McLendon proved that he is a capable backup a year Read more [...]

There will be several rule and bylaw change proposals on the table at the NFL owners' annual spring meeting that begins down in Florida on Monday and a few of the ones that the Pittsburgh Steelers are pushing for I have briefly outlined in a previous post. Steelers.com has gone into greater detail now on a few of the things the owners will vote on and the one that catches my eye the most is the proposed change to the injured reserve. The proposal seems to state that every team will have the ability to designate one player each to an eight week injured reserve list. According to Bob Labriola, Read more [...]

I am already getting a few questions as to who the Pittsburgh Steelers 2013 free agents will be after the 2012 season, so I thought I would give you a quick peek at the players that are currently under contract and tendered as of right now. Of course the list of unrestricted players is likely to grow, because a few players the Steelers could likely sign back such as Byron Leftwich, Charlie Batch and William Gay, to name a few, will likely only be signed to one-year qualifying contracts. Looking at the unrestricted list, the two names of course that jump out are Mike Wallace and Rashard Mendenhall. Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz We are moving closer to the NFL Draft, and closer to the conclusion to the Mike Wallace speculation. Once Wallace signs his tender or new contract with the Steelers, or once he signs with another team, the direction of the Steelers in the draft will become clearer. For now, considering all of the releases, other roster moves, and external factors such as player visits or organization representation at Pro Days, below is my first attempt at a Mock Draft for the Steelers for 2012 assuming that Wallace stays with the team. Like the Depot’s brain trust, Mr. Dave Bryan’s, my projections Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 88 of The Terrible Podcast is up and with David Todd and I are back for our third and final podcast this week. We open up talking about the pay cut that Casey Hampton took and what it means to his 2012 status and also what it means to the Steelers salary cap situation. We talk about how the extra room is likely enough for Byron Leftwich, Charlie Batch, Jerricho Cotchery and William Gay to be re-signed, should they indeed still be on the market later on in free agency. Is Leftwich being courted by the Indianapolis Colts and former Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians? That's Read more [...]

I have received a few emails concerning the 2012 veteran salary cap credits and thought it would be a good night to post about it. Quite a few people seem to be under the impression that this year is the same as last year and that teams can apply (3) $1,000,0000 million credits on three different veteran players. This is of course false, so let's get that cleared up right off the bat. The truth is that teams can use (3) $500,000 credits in 2012 and they certainly do not have to do so if they do not choose to. Let's look at what the CBA says about the credits for this year: (ii) For the Read more [...]

Judging by the report by Brian McIntyre, Pittsburgh Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton has taken a reduction in his 2012 base salary and eliminated his $1 million workout bonus. Hampton, who is headed into the final year of his three year contract, was scheduled to earn a $4.89 million base salary to go along with a $1 million workout bonus. He also had $2,166,668.00 million worth of signing bonus proration left on the books as well and his cap hit in 2012 was scheduled to be $8,056,668.00 million. Hampton has apparently reduced his base salary to $2.8 million and removed his his workout bonus Read more [...]

Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk posted the latest updated cap numbers of all 32 teams on Sunday and shows the Pittsburgh Steelers as being $10.5 million under the cap. Now in his post he says that those numbers reflect 2011 rollover cap space, which the Steelers will use, and franchise tags amounts, which the Steelers of course did not use. Although Florio does not clarify, I believe that $10.5 number does not include restricted tenders or exclusive rights tenders, which would make sense and match my numbers. I also assume Florio is accounting for the LTBE (likely to be earned) roster bonuses Read more [...]

NFL Insider Jay Glazer reports Saturday night on Twitter that he is hearing that when the 2012 salary cap is set on Monday it'll be right around $120.6 million, which would make it $225,000 more than the 2011 cap number. Teams also should be able to roll over their remaining cap space from 2011 as well, but in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers that equates to just over an extra $500,000. So in essence the Steelers will be initially working with a cap number of roughly $121.1 million. The league is also allowing three, $500,000 credits in 2012 on three veteran players with 5 or more seasons that Read more [...]

By Cian Fahey Leadership is a vital part of sports which does not appear on the game film or statistics sheet. Leadership is something which transcends through a whole club or franchise from the top to the bottom. However, leadership is also something that is needed at every level for teams to be successful. The New England Patriots are the perfect example of a team with leadership that transcends through the whole organization. In New England, Robert Kraft has learned over the years to lead by example opposed to cause friction with his coaches. Bill Belichick is undoubtedly a leader because Read more [...]

By Christina Rivers It was 2001. The Pittsburgh Steelers had drafted two wide receivers in the first round the previous two years (Troy Edwards and Plaxico Burress). The Steelers were targeting defensive linemen, and for the first time since 1990, they ended up doing something they very seldom ever do; trading down. The result was that the man they wanted - Marcus Stroud out of Georgia - was picked by the Jacksonville Jaguars 13th overall. At the time, Coach Bill Cowher said, "If you don't get Dan Morgan, you've got the next best player down the middle." Cowher was talking about Casey Hampton. The Read more [...]

Monday (correction that deadline is the 13th, not today) the deadline for restricted tenders to be issued around the league and while several eyes will be fixed on wide receiver Mike Wallace, and his expected first round tender, the Steelers two undrafted guards, Doug Legursky and Ramon Foster, will also be an interesting tender decision to watch as well. As Ed Bouchette pointed out on Saturday, with the cap room that the Steelers have right now, they could now decide to place second round tenders of $1.927 million on both Legursky and Foster instead of right of first refusal tenders on them Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz Hines Ward was no doubt an integral part of the Pittsburgh Steelers over the last several years and was a primary contributor in Super Bowl wins number six and seven. His physicality and connection with the fans of Pittsburgh will not be forgotten, no matter what jersey he wears next year (with the exclusion of a black and purple one). Ward will always be a Steeler, and someday soon, he will wear a jacket in Canton. However, it was time for him to go. There would have been no way of justifying keeping him on board for the 2012 season with the plentiful young talent at wide receiver Read more [...]

Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe blew it up this past week at the NFL combine and he might very well be a better fit in a 4-3 defense initially according to Len Pasquarelli. Bruce Feldman writes that he was told by a coach that faced Poe this past season said he is a freakish athlete, but took more than his share of plays off. Bob Labriola has his latest segment of Asked and Answered up on steelers.com as covers questions asked about Heinz Field, Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith and Mike Wallace. Speaking of Wallace, Bill Barnwell has a great free agent preview up on him over at Grantland. Monday Read more [...]

By Christopher DiMarino It is no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers have a very important draft ahead of them on April 22nd. I will take it a step further and insist that this draft could impact their success not only in 2012, but likely 2013. With the condition of Pittsburgh’s current roster salary, this draft could be important to the team’s cap stability if they can draft players who are able to step in and start. It has been speculated that Pittsburgh will let many of their veterans test the free agency market in an effort to save cap this upcoming season. What accompanies this is the Read more [...]