Patriots reportedly sign Sanders to offer sheet

[tube517]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/10/patriots-sign-emmanuel-sanders-to-offer-sheet/

Per PFT.

Sent from my HTC Ruby using Tapatalk 2

[zulater]

The offer is reportedly a one-year contract. The Patriots have more cap space than the Steelers this season, so it wouldn’t be hard for New England to offer Sanders a higher salary in 2013 than the Steelers can afford to pay.

From the linked story

Unless it's an insane one year offer I don't think the Steelers wont be able to match it. Five days until we find out. No way will the Steelers not let this go down to the final moment. No reason to give the Patriots that courtesy.

[Devilsdancefloor]

Something shady going on with a 1 year deal... you know it is already to rich of a deal for the Steelers to match. I really thought sanders would stay a steeler, but i guess the power of $$ gets the best of everyone

[cold-hard-steel]

Yeah , this sucks big time . Sanders is just a young buck , but he has potential thats all i can say .

[cold-hard-steel]

Reminds me of that song by Travis Tritt and Marty Stewart . "this ones gonna hurt you for a long time ". But it is what it is .I guess all the Hines are gone . Only when you get older , do you realize that there are some things worth more than money . What a shame .

[86WARD]

Lol...

[fansince'76]

Reminds me of that song by Travis Tritt and Marty Stewart . "this ones gonna hurt you for a long time ".

Due to all the bellyaching it's bound to cause, it reminds me of another song...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ5ob9B9yD4

[one side only]

Sanders caught 44 passes for 626 yards and a touchdown last season. He has five career touchdown catches in three NFL seasons.

A rookie chosen in the third round will exceed that production. The Steelers will control this rookie replacement for a few years at a lower cost. Why all the doom and gloom over losing this guy?

[fansince'76]

Sanders caught 44 passes for 626 yards and a touchdown last season. He has five career touchdown catches in three NFL seasons.

A rookie chosen in the third round will exceed that production. The Steelers will control this rookie replacement for a few years at a lower cost. Why all the doom and gloom over losing this guy?

Agreed. Not to mention Sanders' questionable durability at this point. But Belichick's a GEE-NEE-USS and will turn him into a HoFer!

[cold-hard-steel]

Due to all the bellyaching it's bound to cause, it reminds me of another song...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ5ob9B9yD4

I guess HTG was right . You are a good old boy . I tried to count all the empty jugs sittin in front of them , but i just lost count .

[Psycho Ward 86]

lmao. dont worry guys, we had so much depth that we could afford to laugh at the loss of wallace. dropping another couldnt hurt :lol:

[one side only]

lmao. dont worry guys, we had so much depth that we could afford to laugh at the loss of wallace. dropping another couldnt hurt :lol:

The "loss" of Wallace and Sanders is addition by subtraction. Wallace's departure was inevitable. The Steelers hoodwinked the Patriots into taking Sanders with that 3rd round tender. Again, Sanders produced next to nothing during his tenure. The depth you refer to is in the draft.

[cold-hard-steel]

lmao. dont worry guys, we had so much depth that we could afford to laugh at the loss of wallace. dropping another couldnt hurt :lol:

Thats really not where i was goin with my remark , But a hair more to the right we could enter you in the "sniper" class . Keep on pluggin , thats what i always say . That damned old pulse is there every time i wake up in the mornin . Because you missed the mark .

[Devilsdancefloor]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/10/report-expect-steelers-to-keep-emmanuel-sanders/

it sounds like they are not letting him go or PFT is just doing what they do best

[Spike]

ah, what the hell, even if we lose him we'll take the 3rd, we didn't even get that much for Wallace

WR
RB
WR


I can dig it....Tavon Austin, come on down!

[86WARD]

Patterson and Steve Breaston (+ a 3rd Round Pick) >>>> Mike Wallace and Sanders.

Trade the 3's to move up into the second. First and two seconds...could certainly help...

[Devilsdancefloor]

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/04/dont-expect-steelers-to-match-patriots-offer-sheet-to-emmanuel-sanders/

[cold-hard-steel]

I do like Sanders , he showed big play potential, but would not always follow through with the one and only catch that could have won the game . If the ship is leavin he better get the hell on it .There are more receivers out there that would be more than willing to make a name for themselves , while wearing the coveted "Black and Gold ".

[86WARD]

Removed from the steelers roster and depth chart...

Pittsburgh Steelers | Depth Chart (http://www.steelers.com/team/depth-chart.html)

Pittsburgh Steelers | Roster (http://www.steelers.com/team/roster.html)

[Spike]

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/04/dont-expect-steelers-to-match-patriots-offer-sheet-to-emmanuel-sanders/



I can't see the Steelers loving him enough for basically a one year rental deal for $4M - he'd still be an UFA next year with no guarantee of signing

not when they could get a rookie for 4 years for peanuts

[SteelerFanInStl]

Sanders caught 44 passes for 626 yards and a touchdown last season. He has five career touchdown catches in three NFL seasons.

A rookie chosen in the third round will exceed that production. The Steelers will control this rookie replacement for a few years at a lower cost. Why all the doom and gloom over losing this guy?

I agree. Sanders is easy to replace. The Cheats can have him.

[Psycho Ward 86]

The "loss" of Wallace and Sanders is addition by subtraction.

:toofunny:

of course! why i didnt i think of that! cant wait til we've purged ourselves of those scrubs :toofunny::lol:

[cold-hard-steel]

Hey man , there is a kid from Colgate that can catch any ball that even comes close to him . Even here at Gettysburg College there are receivers looking for a chance . Let Sanders walk , and move on with your storied franchise . He wants some money , and never really earned it .....catch the Greyhound dude and go . If a bus came through Gettysburg , with Sanders on it , i would say follow your heart. Sorry you couldn't stick around , "we gonna miss ya , but have a good life "

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[Spike]

you liked that so much you had to say it twice?

[Spike]

Something shady going on with a 1 year deal...

what's shady?

Steelers tried to lowball him through RFA and they got bit


The Steelers tendered a restricted free agent contract to Sanders of $1.323 million, which protected their rights to match any offer he would sign or receive a third-round draft choice in return, because that was the round in which Sanders was drafted.

They could have given him higher tenders of $2.023 million, which would have brought them a second-round pick, or $2.879 million, which would have brought them a first-round pick as compensation if he signed elsewhere and they passed.


http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/sanders-gets-offer-from-patriots-steelers-have-until-sunday-to-match-682852/

[cold-hard-steel]

The Steeler that i remember most worked as a waiter at the
farnsworth house , he was a student at Gettysburg College . One of the best o-lineman that you could ever hope for . It has been a while .... but his legacy lives on for all the small town athletes that still apply themselves and wants nothing more than carve out a lfe that is comfortable . Name him .

[Dwinsgames]

Sanders caught 44 passes for 626 yards and a touchdown last season. He has five career touchdown catches in three NFL seasons.

A rookie chosen in the third round will exceed that production. The Steelers will control this rookie replacement for a few years at a lower cost. Why all the doom and gloom over losing this guy?


with the pick acquired via the New England Patriots in the 3rd round The Pittsburgh Steelers select WR Da'Rick Rodgers Tennessee

[cold-hard-steel]

The Steeler that i remember most worked as a waiter at the
farnsworth house , he was a student at Gettysburg College . One of the best o-lineman that you could ever hope for . It has been a while .... but his legacy lives on for all the small town athletes that still apply themselves and wants nothing more than carve out a lfe that is comfortable . Name him .

[st33lersguy]

If Sanders is gone, I hope they wait until after the first to get him. Patterson and Austin are overrated and overvalued prospects and there will be plenty of WRs available after the first who can replace Sanders

[Spike]

I demand entertainment

1 Tavon Austin WR
2 Le'Veon Bell RB
3 Aaron Dobson WR

now that's a sexy draft that Ben would approve

[steelreserve]

Sanders caught 44 passes for 626 yards and a touchdown last season. He has five career touchdown catches in three NFL seasons.

A rookie chosen in the third round will exceed that production. The Steelers will control this rookie replacement for a few years at a lower cost. Why all the doom and gloom over losing this guy?

Sanders was a 3rd-round pick. I'd expect a guy we take in the same spot to give us roughly the same production unless we get lucky (or unlucky) which could both happen.

Having said that, receivers with his kind of production are a dime a dozen, so I'm not too worried about finding a replacement.

Frigg'n Patriots with their one-year deal, though. "Here, if we do this we either get a receiver for relatively cheap and maybe he works out, or if not, we jack up the price for our rival." I hope their whole stadium collapses.



with the pick acquired via the New England Patriots in the 3rd round The Pittsburgh Steelers select WR Da'Rick Rodgers Tennessee

I demand entertainment

1 Tavon Austin WR
2 Le'Veon Bell RB
3 Aaron Dobson WR

now that's a sexy draft that Ben would approve

I would advise against drafting guys with apostrophes in their names. That tends to not work out so well for us. Or for any other team that I can remember, actually.

[Dwinsgames]

Sanders was a 3rd-round pick. I'd expect a guy we take in the same spot to give us roughly the same production unless we get lucky (or unlucky) which could both happen.

Having said that, receivers with his kind of production are a dime a dozen, so I'm not too worried about finding a replacement.

Frigg'n Patriots with their one-year deal, though. "Here, if we do this we either get a receiver for relatively cheap and maybe he works out, or if not, we jack up the price for our rival." I hope their whole stadium collapses.





I would advise against drafting guys with apostrophes in their names. That tends to not work out so well for us. Or for any other team that I can remember, actually.

Really ?

[steel striker]

I do like Sanders but, like FS76 said his health has been a question. I still would hate to lose him to the cheats. We don't really have alot of speed at the WR position if Sanders does end up in NE. I know Brown is pretty fast but, after that mostly move the chains type of guys. Plax is more of red zone and, Cotch is more of a move the chains. The draft here we come.

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I do like Sanders but, like FS76 said his health has been a question. I still would hate to lose him to the cheats. We don't really have alot of speed at the WR position if Sanders does end up in NE. I know Brown is pretty fast but, after that mostly move the chains type of guys. Plax is more of red zone and, Cotch is more of a move the chains. The draft here we come.

[blackngldblood]

Apparently its only 2.5 million. Here you go Steelers, balls in your court now.

[tube517]

Sanders was a 3rd-round pick. I'd expect a guy we take in the same spot to give us roughly the same production unless we get lucky (or unlucky) which could both happen.

Having said that, receivers with his kind of production are a dime a dozen, so I'm not too worried about finding a replacement.

Frigg'n Patriots with their one-year deal, though. "Here, if we do this we either get a receiver for relatively cheap and maybe he works out, or if not, we jack up the price for our rival." I hope their whole stadium collapses.





I would advise against drafting guys with apostrophes in their names. That tends to not work out so well for us. Or for any other team that I can remember, actually.

Not fan of Chris Fu or Alameda Tequila Aamu?

Sent from my HTC Ruby using Tapatalk 2

[GBMelBlount]

I think Sanders is worth 2.5 mil.

With Brown as a serviceable #1 and Sanders a serviceable #2 we are not going into the draft "desperate" at wide receiver.

[blackngldblood]

This is where my Steelers pride definitely eliminates me from ever being able to work in the front office even if I were ever so lucky to have that honor bestowed upon me. I take the pick just because that little weasle had the nerve to take an offer from the patriots. Get on over there if you think life's so good under Belechicken. You can come on across the middle of our defense and reunite with your ol' buddy Ryan Clark later on this season and get your come-uppins. Go ask Wes Welker how that worked out for him.

[GBMelBlount]

I don't see it that way. The Steelers offered him less than he is worth and he took something closer to his value. I mean conversely a player could look at it as an insult too.

[Dwinsgames]

not drafting someone because they have an apostrophe in their name is ludicrous ...

No Red headed QB ever succeeded in this league in the history of the game , Maybe someone should tell Andy Dalton that and dam those Bengals are risk takers in drafting such a kid because clearly the color of someones hair or an apostrophe in their name means they have no talent and can not play in the league .....

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I don't see it that way. The Steelers offered him less than he is worth and he took something closer to his value. I mean conversely a player could look at it as an insult too.

I agree and said when the tender offer was made it would be a mistake to give him a 3rd round tender ( unless they really did not care if he stayed ) ... he was / is deserving of a 2nd round tender and if we had given him that he would still be here opening day 2013 without upping the ante any ..

I will take the pick and move on otherwise hard feeling may be present on either side moving forward and the last thing we need is more distractions over money , we had enough of that last year

[fansince'76]

No Red headed QB ever succeeded in this league in the history of the game...

http://nflredskins.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/ap0909030199279.jpg

:chuckle:

[Count Steeler]

Sanders is not that endeared to me. The whole WR corp was eating stupid pills last year. Too many mistakes up and down the line. Time to move on.

[Spike]

Apparently its only 2.5 million. Here you go Steelers, balls in your court now.

yep



ESPN sucks....Schefter's tweets trump Ed Werder

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the offer sheet is worth $2.5 million.

That’s roughly $1.2 million more than the value of Sanders’ one-year tender offer.

As of last week, the Steelers had $2.0 million in cap space. Which means that they could match the Sanders offer sheet, since $1.32 million already counts against the Steelers’ cap for Sanders’ tender offer

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

[blackngldblood]

I don't see it that way. The Steelers offered him less than he is worth and he took something closer to his value. I mean conversely a player could look at it as an insult too.

Yeah, I'm with ya on that. Any other team outside of the AFCN or the patriots, and I'm singing the same tune. I tend not to hold grudges in life, outside of things that go on in SteelerNation. I'm just a young buck here, and this is where it shows the most. :lol:

[86WARD]

I demand entertainment

1 Tavon Austin WR
2 Le'Veon Bell RB
3 Aaron Dobson WR

now that's a sexy draft that Ben would approve

1. Patterson
2. Hunter/Wheaton
3. Lattimore

Would be soooooo much nicer!!!

[blackngldblood]

How come noone is even slightly interested in trying to get Eddie Lacy? That dude is a workhorse power back. Reminds me of Bettis a little. Are we to assume he is gone by pick 17? I personally think that RB is top priority in this draft. Steelers are obviously comfortable with Worilds abilities at ROLB since even if they draft OLB high, he aint playing for at least two years outside of spot duty. The key to this offense and the steelers over all philosophy is at the RB position. Look at the games that Dwyer had a hundo on the ground. No problems on offense, and even in the B-more victory with him being very productive even old man Charley led em to a very unexpected victory.

We all know or feel that Dwyer is no every down, every game back. I say if he's there, get Lacy with the 17th pick and let that guy plow over some LB's and DB's and open up this offense for Ben these last couple of years he has. The line should, SHOULD be improving. Barring any injuries, of course.

[cold-hard-steel]

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH !!!!!! WHY ?

[st33lersguy]

How come noone is even slightly interested in trying to get Eddie Lacy? That dude is a workhorse power back. Reminds me of Bettis a little. Are we to assume he is gone by pick 17? I personally think that RB is top priority in this draft. Steelers are obviously comfortable with Worilds abilities at ROLB since even if they draft OLB high, he aint playing for at least two years outside of spot duty. The key to this offense and the steelers over all philosophy is at the RB position. Look at the games that Dwyer had a hundo on the ground. No problems on offense, and even in the B-more victory with him being very productive even old man Charley led em to a very unexpected victory.

We all know or feel that Dwyer is no every down, every game back. I say if he's there, get Lacy with the 17th pick and let that guy plow over some LB's and DB's and open up this offense for Ben these last couple of years he has. The line should, SHOULD be improving. Barring any injuries, of course.

Lacy is a reach at pick 17 and there will be plenty of solid RBs available in the 2nd and 3rd round.

[GodfatherofSoul]

Let the Pats take him. Sanders had his chance to shine as a co-starter, but didn't do much with it. No. 3 WRs grow on trees. Only thing that sucks about him leaving is we *might* have to burn a draft pick replacing him, assuming no one better is available in FA. But, we'd probably have to do that anyway to get a legit no. 2.

[Pristas]

Lacy is a reach at pick 17 and there will be plenty of solid RBs available in the 2nd and 3rd round.


Yeah, but watching that dude run over people against Notre Dame in the championship was epic. He looked like he was in a different league than everyone else, including Te'o. (Te'o, coincidentally, another apostrophe name to avoid, LOL!)

I really like Lacy, but what is his injury status? Was it a hamstring? Or worse like an ACL?

[Dwinsgames]

How come noone is even slightly interested in trying to get Eddie Lacy? That dude is a workhorse power back. Reminds me of Bettis a little. Are we to assume he is gone by pick 17? I personally think that RB is top priority in this draft. Steelers are obviously comfortable with Worilds abilities at ROLB since even if they draft OLB high, he aint playing for at least two years outside of spot duty. The key to this offense and the steelers over all philosophy is at the RB position. Look at the games that Dwyer had a hundo on the ground. No problems on offense, and even in the B-more victory with him being very productive even old man Charley led em to a very unexpected victory.

We all know or feel that Dwyer is no every down, every game back. I say if he's there, get Lacy with the 17th pick and let that guy plow over some LB's and DB's and open up this offense for Ben these last couple of years he has. The line should, SHOULD be improving. Barring any injuries, of course.

with the rule changes with lowering the helmet Lacy's running style may be to little to late in this league ... If I am a NFL GM I am looking for the shifty RB who has enough power to break a tackle here and there but can outrun any defender he come across ... this is Fast Willie Parkers NFL now in terms to RBs ( I am just looking for one who has the ability to also snag some passes too )

[Pristas]

Also, thanks Manny for the catches and few TDs... but hello extra 3rd round pick. Thanks Bill, enjoy your new number 3.

If we trade back in the first, think of what that could look like for us... Up to 5 picks in the top 100 players. I would LOVE to see this. There is so much talent in that top 100. They'll start calling us Magpul, because we have the unfair advantage. Ha!

[Dwinsgames]

There is so much talent in that top 100. They'll start calling us Magpul, because we have the unfair advantage. Ha!


http://draftsteel.com/ff/images/smilies/rofl.gif

[HollywoodSteel]

I agree with those who said that we should have put a 2nd round tender on him. Then again, if we are going to use the pick on a receiver, we've done much better drafting those guys in the third round than in the 2nd over the past few years...

[X-Terminator]

I think the Steelers will match the offer sheet. But if they don't, it's not the end of the world. Receivers like Sanders are a dime a dozen. From reading the draft threads, there seems to be a lot of value at WR in the 2nd or 3rd round, so they'll simply draft his replacement.

They'll be fine.

[salamander]

I'm a little worried our WR depth at the moment but in the end I think we'll be fine.

[Psycho Ward 86]

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Sanders is not that endeared to me. The whole WR corp was eating stupid pills last year. Too many mistakes up and down the line. Time to move on.

yup, thank god we had cotchery and plaxico stepping up big for us so that we didnt need to depend on scrubs like wallace and sanders :lol:

yeah im not too endeared to sanders either, but who in the hell do we have behind him thats even close to as good? try answering that one without laughing.

lol really people? during the last season and the offseason this whole board was erupting with how we dont need or even want wallace back because he cost too much (which he did thanks to poor salary cap management) and because we had sanders waiting in the wings. Now we dont even care if we lose sanders. LOL. yeah ok....get a grip folks and stop being homers who think the steelers are going to succeed simply because theyre the frickin steelers. believe it or not, weve only successful because we had to do certain shit that any other team has to do to be successful, and right now we arent doing that shit as much as we used to:

1) Losing young talent (including affordable ones like keenan lewis and sanders)
2) Cheap balling what was supposed to be a starting receiver thats significantly better than anyone behind him (literally all we had to do was give him $700k more to deter the patriots from trying to get him OR getting a 2nd round pick out of him)
3) Hanging onto ancient veterans that we would normally let go because we have young talent to replace them (larry foote)
4) Losing ancient veterans in spots where theres a good chance that there is no replacement (i actually have some high hopes for worilds, im just going off of the consensus on this board)
5) Restructuring more contracts in the past couple seasons than any team in the league
6) Keeping the salary cap situation at least somewhat honest so that all of the above isnt happening

im sure some people could add more...

so many picks we could be using elsewhere that we just might not be able to. theres little to nothing in recent years to suggest such confidence in our drafting ability. ive laughed at the notion of sanders being a good starter for us plenty of times, but at least he wouldve held his own. Drafting a receiver with equal or superior production to sanders in the 3rd round isnt even close to being a given. just because we got sanders and wallace 2 years in a row doesnt mean its automatically happening again and again. jesus christ, 2 does not make a pattern...

watch someone below me post something about me panicking just because im pointing out realistic facts.

[steelreserve]

not drafting someone because they have an apostrophe in their name is ludicrous ...

That's why it's a joke, ba-durrr.


Anyway. Moving on. If it's a $2.5M offer sheet we'd be dumb not to match it - unless we don't think Sanders is in our long-term plans, in which case we might as well take the draft pick rather than nothing. But that amount is at or less than the high RFA tender if I'm not mistaken, so ... pretty much the same situation we were facing anyway. This is almost a gift to us at that price - we get the choice in our hands whether to keep an RFA or cash in for a draft pick. Usually that call gets made for you one way or another.

[Psycho Ward 86]

That's why it's a joke, ba-durrr.


Anyway. Moving on. If it's a $2.5M offer sheet we'd be dumb not to match it - unless we don't think Sanders is in our long-term plans, in which case we might as well take the draft pick rather than nothing. But that amount is at or less than the high RFA tender if I'm not mistaken, so ... pretty much the same situation we were facing anyway. This is almost a gift to us at that price - we get the choice in our hands whether to keep an RFA or cash in for a draft pick. Usually that call gets made for you one way or another.

it says its $4 million on one of the previous links: http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/04/dont-expect-steelers-to-match-patriots-offer-sheet-to-emmanuel-sanders/

[steelreserve]

yup, thank god we had cotchery and plaxico stepping up big for us so that we didnt need to depend on scrubs like wallace and sanders :lol:

yeah im not too endeared to sanders either, but who in the hell do we have behind him thats even close to as good? try answering that one without laughing.

lol really people? during the last season and the offseason this whole board was erupting with how we dont need or even want wallace back because he cost too much (which he did thanks to poor salary cap management) and because we had sanders waiting in the wings. Now we dont even care if we lose sanders. LOL. yeah ok....get a grip folks and stop being homers who think the steelers are going to succeed simply because theyre the frickin steelers. believe it or not, weve only successful because we had to do certain shit that any other team has to do to be successful, and right now we arent doing that shit as much as we used to:

1) Losing young talent (including affordable ones like keenan lewis and sanders)
2) Cheap balling what was supposed to be a starting receiver thats significantly better than anyone behind him (literally all we had to do was give him $700k more to deter the patriots from trying to get him OR getting a 2nd round pick out of him)
3) Hanging onto ancient veterans that we would normally let go because we have young talent to replace them (larry foote)
4) Losing ancient veterans in spots where theres a good chance that there is no replacement (i actually have some high hopes for worilds, im just going off of the consensus on this board)
5) Restructuring more contracts in the past couple seasons than any team in the league
6) Keeping the salary cap situation at least somewhat honest so that all of the above isnt happening

im sure some people could add more...

so many picks we could be using elsewhere that we just might not be able to. theres little to nothing in recent years to suggest such confidence in our drafting ability. ive laughed at the notion of sanders being a good starter for us plenty of times, but at least he wouldve held his own. Drafting a receiver with equal or superior production to sanders in the 3rd round isnt even close to being a given. just because we got sanders and wallace 2 years in a row doesnt mean its automatically happening again and again. jesus christ, 2 does not make a pattern...

watch someone below me post something about me panicking just because im pointing out realistic facts.

Believe it or not, I think you're absolutely right about most of that. Although part of it is the price we paid for past success - we had a championship window, we went to extreme lengths to keep it open in the short term, and now it's catching up to us. I can't blame the team for doing it that way, because it got us at least one, maybe two extra Super Bowl trips we might not have had otherwise, which is a trade-off I think most teams would take if you asked them. Yeah, yeah, I know, such-and-such team manages to stay competitive without hanging on to aging players and without as much cap trouble, but we can't all do things the same way, and the fact is that very few teams actually pull that off, so I'm glad for the success we had, however we managed it.

Anyway, the truth is we're in a hole now no matter what way you look at it, and we can't dig ourselves out of it by continuing to do the same thing. Drafting well would've been the one way we could've alleviated some of this trouble, but we would've had to draft so well it would have taken a lot of luck. Instead, I think we've been slightly below-average in the draft, especially with that stink bomb in 2008. We definitely need to take a different approach until we get the championship window back open again.

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it says its $4 million on one of the previous links: http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/04/dont-expect-steelers-to-match-patriots-offer-sheet-to-emmanuel-sanders/

Yeah, if it's that price, I think we're pretty much boned, but IF it's the lower amount, that's very nice for us.

Knowing the Patriots, it's probably $4M, but crossing my fingers.

[X-Terminator]

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yup, thank god we had cotchery and plaxico stepping up big for us so that we didnt need to depend on scrubs like wallace and sanders :lol:

yeah im not too endeared to sanders either, but who in the hell do we have behind him thats even close to as good? try answering that one without laughing.

lol really people? during the last season and the offseason this whole board was erupting with how we dont need or even want wallace back because he cost too much (which he did thanks to poor salary cap management) and because we had sanders waiting in the wings. Now we dont even care if we lose sanders. LOL. yeah ok....get a grip folks and stop being homers who think the steelers are going to succeed simply because theyre the frickin steelers. believe it or not, weve only successful because we had to do certain shit that any other team has to do to be successful, and right now we arent doing that shit as much as we used to:

1) Losing young talent (including affordable ones like keenan lewis and sanders)
2) Cheap balling what was supposed to be a starting receiver thats significantly better than anyone behind him (literally all we had to do was give him $700k more to deter the patriots from trying to get him OR getting a 2nd round pick out of him)
3) Hanging onto ancient veterans that we would normally let go because we have young talent to replace them (larry foote)
4) Losing ancient veterans in spots where theres a good chance that there is no replacement (i actually have some high hopes for worilds, im just going off of the consensus on this board)
5) Restructuring more contracts in the past couple seasons than any team in the league
6) Keeping the salary cap situation at least somewhat honest so that all of the above isnt happening

im sure some people could add more...

so many picks we could be using elsewhere that we just might not be able to. theres little to nothing in recent years to suggest such confidence in our drafting ability. ive laughed at the notion of sanders being a good starter for us plenty of times, but at least he wouldve held his own. Drafting a receiver with equal or superior production to sanders in the 3rd round isnt even close to being a given. just because we got sanders and wallace 2 years in a row doesnt mean its automatically happening again and again. jesus christ, 2 does not make a pattern...

watch someone below me post something about me panicking just because im pointing out realistic facts.

You're right about all that, of course. But I'm still not bothered all that much by losing Sanders and taking the extra pick. Not when you can draft a guy who can put up similar numbers in his rookie season (I know, not a guarantee, just pointing that out).

[Spike]

I demand entertainment

1 Tavon Austin WR
2 Le'Veon Bell RB
3 Aaron Dobson WR

now that's a sexy draft that Ben would approve

1. Patterson
2. Hunter/Wheaton
3. Lattimore

Would be soooooo much nicer!!!

you pimp your ride, I'll pimp mine

ha ha

[Count Steeler]

Mark Kaboly @MarkKaboly_Trib

If #Steelers match #Patriots offer to Emmanuel Sanders, Steelers will be $742,760 under the cap ... give or take a couple bucks.

[Steeltreal]

Master plan, convince Sanders to play for Pats for 1 season, gather intell , take their 2013 3rd, resign him long term in 2014!

[GBMelBlount]

Mark Kaboly @MarkKaboly_Trib

If #Steelers match #Patriots offer to Emmanuel Sanders, Steelers will be $742,760 under the cap ... give or take a couple bucks.

If they pass due to cap issues at least we can sleep tight knowing we have Woodley locked up for the long term....

[Psycho Ward 86]

Mark Kaboly @MarkKaboly_Trib

If #Steelers match #Patriots offer to Emmanuel Sanders, Steelers will be $742,760 under the cap ... give or take a couple bucks.

the funniest part is we only had to pay sanders $700k more to put a 2nd round tender on him. hindsight is 20/20, but this is a real facepalm situation. at least until whatever pick we get out of sanders 3rd rounder (assuming he's gone) proves he is equal to or better in value than sanders. lets hope for the latter

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Master plan, convince Sanders to play for Pats for 1 season, gather intell , take their 2013 3rd, resign him long term in 2014!

lmfao. trolling the patriots would be awfully fun.

[Seven]

A couple things to address here.

The number is 2.5 million, not 4. The Steelers could match it if they wanted. I imagine they might want to get another contract restructure or two tenatively lined up before making that decision but personally, I think they should sign him. The following response will include my reasoning.


Sanders caught 44 passes for 626 yards and a touchdown last season. He has five career touchdown catches in three NFL seasons.

A rookie chosen in the third round will exceed that production. The Steelers will control this rookie replacement for a few years at a lower cost. Why all the doom and gloom over losing this guy?

How do you assume to know that? It seems like a lot of us are taking this as a given when really it is the furthest thing from a guarantee.

Rookie wideouts chosen in the third round last year: Devier Posey, T.J. Graham, Mohamed Sanu, T.Y. Hilton. I'd rather have Sanders than all of those guys except maybe Hilton.

2011: Austin Pettis, Leonard Hankerson, Vincent Brown, Jerrel Jernigan. Again, I'm taking Sanders.

2010: Damian Williams, Brandon LaFell, Jordan Shipley, Eric Decker, Andre Roberts, Armanti Edwards, Taylor Price, and... Sanders.

You get the point. Are there a few guys listed that some of you may argue are more valuable than Sanders? Decker, Brown, or Hilton for example? Maybe... but for every one of those there are five receivers nowhere near as valuable as the player already on our roster.

I think X-T said it best when he said it's not the end of the world if we lose Sanders... but I'd rather not take the gamble of losing a guy who can definitely contribute for a bust. I think he's worth the money.

[steelreserve]

If they pass due to cap issues at least we can sleep tight knowing we have Woodley locked up for the long term....

Heh, more like Woodley has US locked up.

In Soviet Russia ...

nah, never mind

[Texasteel]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm really am not sure about all this, but if we do sign him, that doesn't mean the problem is over. We would have to find a way to extend his contract during the coming year or he becomes an unrestricted FA next year and Sander could try for an even larger pay day.

[blackngldblood]

Turns out Steelers Depot is now reporting it at 4 million. Steelers save around, what, 1.5 mil and a third rounder if he walks. Bradshaws coming back in for a visit and if all checks out gonna try to sign him. No way Sanders is getting 4 mil outta Pitt.

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And there are actual people on twitter stating we should let Keisel walk to get the money to retain Sanders. WTF?

[Seven]

Turns out Steelers Depot is now reporting it at 4 million. Steelers save around, what, 1.5 mil and a third rounder if he walks. Bradshaws coming back in for a visit and if all checks out gonna try to sign him. No way Sanders is getting 4 mil outta Pitt.


Link? Everything I see from SD says 2.5. Everyone else is saying 2.5, too.

[blackngldblood]

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/04/dont-expect-steelers-to-match-patriots-offer-sheet-to-emmanuel-sanders/

This is it, but looks like its from around noon today. Maybe things are more clear now, but I don't know why he would be re-tweeting this info this late at night if it isn't accurate. Is Steelers Depot a reliable source?

[Psycho Ward 86]

Link? Everything I see from SD says 2.5. Everyone else is saying 2.5, too.

links been posted like 3 times

[blackngldblood]

Alright, it looks like that was old info from earlier today when everyone thought it was 4 mil. Seems like SD is jerking people around on twitter.

[Seven]

links been posted like 3 times

I was under the impression there was new information available which is why I asked for a link.


http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/04/dont-expect-steelers-to-match-patriots-offer-sheet-to-emmanuel-sanders/

This is it, but looks like its from around noon today. Maybe things are more clear now, but I don't know why he would be re-tweeting this info this late at night if it isn't accurate. Is Steelers Depot a reliable source?

I would say Depot is definitely usually reliable. But I think that information is old. As of less than an hour ago SD was referring to the offer as 2.5 mill, which is what I've heard all day. So I think the 4 million reported was definitely inaccurate.

4 million doesn't make sense to me. The Patriots want to drive up the price of Sanders to hurt the Steelers cap situation if Pittsburgh decides to match, but at the same time they themselves don't want to get stuck paying Sanders a ridiculous amount if the Steelers let him walk which is why I really thought 4 million was wrong from the outset.

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Alright, it looks like that was old info from earlier today when everyone thought it was 4 mil. Seems like SD is jerking people around on twitter.

Okay, cool, that's kind of what I assumed happened which is why I asked you to check the link. Not your fault, if he is going to be retweeting that post he really should amend it so readers know there is a new number.

[blackngldblood]

http://<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>@<a href="https://twitter.com/dlolleyor">dlolleyor</a> If you read the post you would know that was written when it was thought that the offer sheet was $4M. It is a tip. ;)</p>&mdash; Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) <a href="https://twitter.com/Steelersdepot/status/322190547450220544">April 11, 2013</a></blockquote>

This is what led to me getting throwed off the scent. Sorry guys, back on!

[blackngldblood]

Yeah, that link doesnt work, and it def. looks like the numbers are 2 mil. We'll just have to wait and see. Still can't believe people are throwing Keisel under the bus to get money to sign Sanders back. lol.

[Psycho Ward 86]

4 million doesn't make sense to me. The Patriots want to drive up the price of Sanders to hurt the Steelers cap situation if Pittsburgh decides to match, but at the same time they themselves don't want to get stuck paying Sanders a ridiculous amount if the Steelers let him walk which is why I really thought 4 million was wrong from the outset.


i tend to agree with you, but maybe the the patriots see something in sanders that no one else does. Kind of like when they traded for wes welker for a 2nd round pick when he hadnt done nearly anything close to warranting that (as far as production goes). maybe a good fit for their system or some crap like that as well. i have and always will laugh at the notion that sanders was thought of as a suitable, possibly even better starter for us than wallace, but at the same time im going to take losing sanders hard (if we do) because we just dont have any nearly as good behind him on the depth chart. Funny how we has one of the deepest receiving corps in the league literally ONE season ago. Now the cupboard is drying up...even moreso with the uncertainty of heath's health.

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Still can't believe people are throwing Keisel under the bus to get money to sign Sanders back. lol.

our depth is shady at De if keisel isnt here, but its really damn shady if we lose wallace and sanders in one offseason (+ the uncertainty of when heath is going to be ready to play). the idea isnt all that ludicrous, i mean keisel is a great example of us being forced to cling onto aging veterans for so long because the young guys are either leaving or unable to step up. just in a hypothetical situation, the guy is 34 and on the brink of his career, and were keeping him around in favor of sanders who is only 26 and was looked at by many as a solid replacement for mike wallace, and possibly even better than him

[LLT]

How come noone is even slightly interested in trying to get Eddie Lacy? That dude is a workhorse power back. Reminds me of Bettis a little. Are we to assume he is gone by pick 17? I personally think that RB is top priority in this draft. Steelers are obviously comfortable with Worilds abilities at ROLB since even if they draft OLB high, he aint playing for at least two years outside of spot duty. The key to this offense and the steelers over all philosophy is at the RB position. Look at the games that Dwyer had a hundo on the ground. No problems on offense, and even in the B-more victory with him being very productive even old man Charley led em to a very unexpected victory.

We all know or feel that Dwyer is no every down, every game back. I say if he's there, get Lacy with the 17th pick and let that guy plow over some LB's and DB's and open up this offense for Ben these last couple of years he has. The line should, SHOULD be improving. Barring any injuries, of course.

Simply put...there is more value with a Cordarrelle Patterson/LaVeon Bell combo then a Eddie Lacy/Da'Rick Rogers combo. The talent level of the WR's goes throughout the draft...whereas the RB value seems to be in the 2nd-3rd rounds.

I think we will either go:

1. WR
2. OLB
3) RB

or

1. WR
2. RB
3. OLB

But my money is on the first option.


Ive been saying for several weeks that the Steelers will take either Cordarrelle Patterson or Tavon Austin in the first. There are several very good WR prospects to be had in the 4-6 round...I personally love Jasper Collins as a 5-6 round pick.


Smooth route-runner who shows very good foot quickness and burst out of his breaks to keep the defender off-balance. Does a nice job of setting up his patterns with excellent conviction and patience. Can lure cornerbacks toward him on stop-and-go routes before bursting downfield. Displays good hands and could serve as a punt returner (three punt returns for scores in college).
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/2025463/jasper-collins

A combination of Patterson and Collins would have me VERY excited!!!

[LLT]

Yeah, but watching that dude run over people against Notre Dame in the championship was epic. He looked like he was in a different league than everyone else, including Te'o. (Te'o, coincidentally, another apostrophe name to avoid, LOL!)

I really like Lacy, but what is his injury status? Was it a hamstring? Or worse like an ACL?

I like Lacy as a late 1st or early 2nd pick. NOT as a #17 pick.

I truly believe we will be targeting RB's in the third round..and there should be some pretty good players still on the board.

[zulater]

Basically it comes down to this. The Steelers will either reach a deal with Sanders on a long term deal by Sunday, or they'll let the Patriots have him. No way can I see them matching the Patriots offer on a one year tender. The reason's being that 1) if the Steelers thought Sanders was worth that they would have gave him a second round tender. 2) If they match the offer all they've done is bought one overpaid year and then he walks next year and the Steelers get nothing.

[Seven]

2) If they match the offer all they've done is bought one overpaid year and then he walks next year and the Steelers get nothing.

This is the only reason I don't think matching the offer is a no brainer. While I do believe I would attempt to retain Sanders were I in the Steelers shoes, I'm getting the gut feeling they are just going to let him go. I think this team is ready to move on from the last couple of seasons. I don't think it was quite a "failed rebuild" as we are still very much a contending team, but I do get the sense that the team is starting to question whether or not they have been investing in the right pieces for the future (Wallace, Mendenhall, Woodley, etc...). Who knows, maybe we've dodged a bullet. While I strongly believe what I said in my prior post about not taking quality players for granted, at the same time, who is to say we don't fill these holes with players who ultimately end up being better for the team? Perhaps we sign Bradshaw, get lucky with that third rounder and find another Hines in the draft, get a few good pieces on defense and end up in championship form next year... it's all up in the air right now. But I think no matter what happens, we're going to be just fine.

[one side only]

:toofunny:

of course! why i didnt i think of that! cant wait til we've purged ourselves of those scrubs :toofunny::lol:

Steelers Universe is a unique place. Do the math on Wallace and Sanders.

[LLT]

Steelers Universe is a unique place. Do the math on Wallace and Sanders.

How so?

[steelreserve]

Basically it comes down to this. The Steelers will either reach a deal with Sanders on a long term deal by Sunday, or they'll let the Patriots have him. No way can I see them matching the Patriots offer on a one year tender. The reason's being that 1) if the Steelers thought Sanders was worth that they would have gave him a second round tender. 2) If they match the offer all they've done is bought one overpaid year and then he walks next year and the Steelers get nothing.

I may be wrong, but I think once he's signed another team's offer sheet, you HAVE to match it exactly - you can't go signing the player to a different deal even if it's for more money, more years, or anything like that. So we'd have to sign him to that deal FIRST, then work on a longer deal. I have no doubt that if we match the Patriots' offer, it means we think we can sign him to a longer deal and we want to as part of our plans.

Personally, despite all the confidence everyone is showing (myself included) about finding a replacement, I hope we can sign him for a few years as long as we get him at a reasonable number. Any time you can get guys who you know are legit NFL players instead of rookies, and it doesn't cost you a ton more, it's a good move to get them. This would be the year to sign him too, since he hasn't yet had a chance to have a huge breakout year. If we can get him on a deal that starts at the $2.5M he's being offered now, then goes up to like $4M over the next couple years, it would be a bargain if he turns out to be a legit #2 receiver, and without screwing us over too badly if he doesn't.

[GBMelBlount]

A couple things to address here.

The number is 2.5 million, not 4. The Steelers could match it if they wanted. I imagine they might want to get another contract restructure or two tenatively lined up before making that decision but personally, I think they should sign him. The following response will include my reasoning.


How do you assume to know that? It seems like a lot of us are taking this as a given when really it is the furthest thing from a guarantee.

Rookie wideouts chosen in the third round last year: Devier Posey, T.J. Graham, Mohamed Sanu, T.Y. Hilton. I'd rather have Sanders than all of those guys except maybe Hilton.

2011: Austin Pettis, Leonard Hankerson, Vincent Brown, Jerrel Jernigan. Again, I'm taking Sanders.

2010: Damian Williams, Brandon LaFell, Jordan Shipley, Eric Decker, Andre Roberts, Armanti Edwards, Taylor Price, and... Sanders.

You get the point. Are there a few guys listed that some of you may argue are more valuable than Sanders? Decker, Brown, or Hilton for example? Maybe... but for every one of those there are five receivers nowhere near as valuable as the player already on our roster.

I think X-T said it best when he said it's not the end of the world if we lose Sanders... but I'd rather not take the gamble of losing a guy who can definitely contribute for a bust. I think he's worth the money.

I completely agree.

The odds of picking a receiver of Sanders caliber in the 3rd is not likely plus it takes time to ramp up.

I also think that Sanders light touches are largely due to circumstances....that his injury put him at #3 on the depth chart behind two very good receivers.

In fact, call me crazy but I personally think that Sanders has shown enough that this might be the perfect time to try and lock him up long term at a great value.

[NJarhead]

Let him go. Save the money and take the pick. It's a win-win IMO.

[tube517]

Let him walk. We'll just re-sign him next year. All part of the Steelers' recycling plans. :chuckle:

[zulater]

I like Sanders, but given the choice between paying him 2.5 million for one season, only to have him walk after the season for no compensation, or letting him go and getting a 3rd round pick in return in this year's draft, sign me up for the latter.

People forget that the Steelers team that won SB XL had a receiver core made up of Hines Ward, a rookie 2nd round pick (A.R.E.), and Ced Wilson. So go sign Breaston for 1 million, draft a receiver in the first 3 rounds, and how are you any worse off than you were then?

[NJarhead]

Call Courtney Hawkins up out of retirement and tell him his number is available for 2013.
Sanders will be replaced by morning. lol

[Psycho Ward 86]

People forget that the Steelers team that won SB XL had a receiver core made up of Hines Ward, a rookie 2nd round pick (A.R.E.), and Ced Wilson.

apparently people also forget that we had a sensational O-line and one of the best running games in the league, 2 things we dont have right now. 1 cinderella story from 7 years ago does not make a pattern. We can talk all day long about the potential of the O-line but they havent proven at all that they are capable of being a good/great line, regardless of health.

- - - Updated - - -


Steelers Universe is a unique place. Do the math on Wallace and Sanders.

what are you getting at? That you think were better off kicking off the year with no wallace, sanders, and heath miller?

[zulater]

apparently people also forget that we had a sensational O-line and one of the best running games in the league, 2 things we dont have right now. 1 cinderella story from 7 years ago does not make a pattern. We can talk all day long about the potential of the O-line but they havent proven at all that they are capable of being a good/great line, regardless of health.

- - - Updated - - -
\


what are you getting at? That you think were better off kicking off the year with no wallace, sanders, and heath miller?


The o-line is about as proven as Sanders is.

Perfect world the Patriots wouldn't exist and this wouldn't be a problem. But they do, so the reality is what it is, and the 91st pick in this year's draft > paying Sanders 2.5 million on a walk year and seeing him leave next season and getting a 7th round comp pick in return.

Great quarterbacks can make an average receiver core doable.

And Ahmad Bradshaw could potentially boost the offense to a greater degree than Sanders. So sign him and they'll get some new bodies in at wr and Ben will make it work.

And what are you getting at? If the Steelers don't do what you want them to do you'll pout and cry all summer? :cry02:

[Psycho Ward 86]

The o-line is about as proven as Sanders is.

Perfect world the Patriots wouldn't exist and this wouldn't be a problem. But they do, so the reality is what it is, and the 91st pick in this year's draft > paying Sanders 2.5 million on a walk year and seeing him leave next season and getting a 7th round comp pick in return.

Great quarterbacks can make an average receiver core doable.

And Ahmad Bradshaw could potentially boost the offense to a greater degree than Sanders. So sign him and they'll get some new bodies in at wr and Ben will make it work.

And what are you getting at? If the Steelers don't do what you want them to do you'll pout and cry all summer? :cry02:

lol, if i do recall you were one hell of an advocate of sanders being so much better than wallace and saw him as a good replacement for him. when did you have this sudden epiphany that youre ok with losing a better-than-a-probowler-wide receiver for a 3rd round pick? lol how convenient. yeah, a great quarterback like ben can do that for his team, but in 6 of the past 7 superbowler winners have had elite or at least above average receiving corps.

thats if ahmad bradshaw can even stay on the field. surgeries on both ankles, a surgery on his left foot, and 3 surgeries on his right foot is one hell of a laundry list of injuries. Even if healthy, its no guarantee he'll be productive after all of these injuries, and behind our unproven o-line (which you seem to agree is highly unproven since youre comparing him to sanders....who ironically you thought was better than wallace, a pro bowl receiver?)

nope im not going to cry if the steelers dont do what i want, i just like to pick apart questionable decisions. nodding and agreeing with everybody doesnt happen on forums. do i need to bring back my "trolling in the swamps" quote of you that you so desperately wanted me to take off? :lol:

[zulater]

lol, if i do recall you were one hell of an advocate of sanders being so much better than wallace and saw him as a good replacement for him. when did you have this sudden epiphany that youre ok with losing a better-than-a-probowler-wide receiver for a 3rd round pick? lol how convenient. yeah, a great quarterback like ben can do that for his team, but in 6 of the past 7 superbowler winners have had elite or at least above average receiving corps.

thats if ahmad bradshaw can even stay on the field. surgeries on both ankles, a surgery on his left foot, and 3 surgeries on his right foot is one hell of a laundry list of injuries. Even if healthy, its no guarantee he'll be productive after all of these injuries, and behind our unproven o-line (which you seem to agree is highly unproven since youre comparing him to sanders....who ironically you thought was better than wallace, a pro bowl receiver?)

nope im not going to cry if the steelers dont do what i want, i just like to pick apart questionable decisions. nodding and agreeing with everybody doesnt happen on forums. do i need to bring back my "trolling in the swamps" quote of you that you so desperately wanted me to take off? :lol:

Really? Is that some sort of lame threat?

Do what the fuck you want, since you weren't able to follow the context it was used in at the time and distorted it accordingly, do it again for all I care.

Here's my thing. I've got no power over what the Steelers do, so I'm not going to get my shorts in knots second guessing every move they make.

Obviously there's things about this offseason that concern me, but at the end of the day, imperfect though they are, I still trust the people making the decisions for the Steelers. Therefore I strongly suspect the end product will be a quality football team that with relative luck in regards to health and odd bounces and the like will have a chance to make the post season. And of course as recent history shows, make the postseason and anything can happen.

If I start worrying about what I can't control ineviatably I'll lose control of what i can.

[86WARD]

Let him go. Use the money left to sign Bradshaw and Breaston and have a third round pick to boot.

Draft Patterson, Elam, Lattimore. Bradshaw keeps the seat warm for Lattimore (who would be ranked higher than Lacy if he were healthy) in 2014. IR Lattimore in 2013 from the get go.

[vader29]

Ed Bouchette posted this on twitter:

Even more compelling reasons #Steelers should let #Patriots have Emmanuel Sanders here:

If they matched, they would go through another season with a lame-duck starter at wide receiver, and they will have thrown away the chance to acquire a third-round pick for him.
Matching the Sanders deal might preclude them from signing, say, Ahmad Bradshaw. Or it might force them to restructure a contract they did not want to restructure, that of Troy Polamalu.
If the Steelers really wanted to pay Sanders that kind of money, they could have put a second-round tender on him, which would have cost them $2.023 million. It looks as though they felt Sanders was not worth that much.
Put it this way, if there was another receiver of Sanders’ ability on another team and he was a restricted free agent with a third-round tender, would the Steelers give up a third-rounder for him? Not on your life. Would they trade a third-rounder for a receiver of Sanders’ ability? No.
So, why would they give up a third-rounder to keep him?

[Spike]

Ed is just stealing everything we already said.

What a wanker

[NCSteeler]

Ed Bouchette posted this on twitter:

Even more compelling reasons #Steelers should let #Patriots have Emmanuel Sanders here:

If they matched, they would go through another season with a lame-duck starter at wide receiver, and they will have thrown away the chance to acquire a third-round pick for him.
Matching the Sanders deal might preclude them from signing, say, Ahmad Bradshaw. Or it might force them to restructure a contract they did not want to restructure, that of Troy Polamalu.
If the Steelers really wanted to pay Sanders that kind of money, they could have put a second-round tender on him, which would have cost them $2.023 million. It looks as though they felt Sanders was not worth that much.
Put it this way, if there was another receiver of Sanders’ ability on another team and he was a restricted free agent with a third-round tender, would the Steelers give up a third-rounder for him? Not on your life. Would they trade a third-rounder for a receiver of Sanders’ ability? No.
So, why would they give up a third-rounder to keep him?

I think that is exactly what the pats were thinking making it a 1 year deal. When we tried to sign 49ers kicker a few years ago, all we did was do their negotiating for them, worked out a nice long term deal at the "right" price and 49ers said "gee that looks good to me"

So the Pats , instead of a poison pill(that would hurt them for years) knew it would be very hard for the Steelers to justify not taking the 3rd round pick in lew of likely losing Sanders next year for nothing anyhow. This way pats get to kick the tires for a reasonable price tag and as been said here it's not like they have been doing so hot drafting WRs

[Psycho Ward 86]

This way pats get to kick the tires for a reasonable price tag and as been said here it's not like they have been doing so hot drafting WRs

its kind of a moot point when you're the #1 scoring team with a passing based offense in the league and it isnt even close. the patriots havent even been trying to draft wide receivers, since 2004, theyve drafted 7 wide receivers. That's less than one per year. And theyve been using low ball picks to try to get them: one was drafted in the 2nd round, 2 were drafted in the 3rd round, 2 were drafted in the 5th round, and 2 were drafted in the 7th round.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/draft.htm

[steelreserve]

Ed Bouchette posted this on twitter:

Even more compelling reasons #Steelers should let #Patriots have Emmanuel Sanders here:

If they matched, they would go through another season with a lame-duck starter at wide receiver, and they will have thrown away the chance to acquire a third-round pick for him.
Matching the Sanders deal might preclude them from signing, say, Ahmad Bradshaw. Or it might force them to restructure a contract they did not want to restructure, that of Troy Polamalu.
If the Steelers really wanted to pay Sanders that kind of money, they could have put a second-round tender on him, which would have cost them $2.023 million. It looks as though they felt Sanders was not worth that much.
Put it this way, if there was another receiver of Sanders’ ability on another team and he was a restricted free agent with a third-round tender, would the Steelers give up a third-rounder for him? Not on your life. Would they trade a third-rounder for a receiver of Sanders’ ability? No.
So, why would they give up a third-rounder to keep him?

I don't see why he's so sure about that. The Patriots are apparently willing to give up a third-round pick for a guy of Sanders' ability; what's so different about us that we wouldn't?

Sanders might not be a huge star - but like I said before ... everything else being roughly equal, if you can choose between a known NFL player and an unknown mid-round draft pick, you take the player. Our choice is essentially between a third-round pick where we don't know how it will turn out, or a third-round pick that we know turns out pretty well but not necessarily great. Unless you're somehow sure we'll hit a home run with that late third-rounder, taking the player we know is the smart move.

[Mistah Q]

I like Sanders and if we hadn't had such a bizarre offseason for personnel I would spring for keeping him. If Sanders gets over his injuries he'll have a nice productive career, good for him. The deal is win-win in a way - investments like this are why the Patriots keep winning. For the Steelers it's more of a tradeoff, and one that makes sense too given our position. We'd just better make that third rounder (and indeed most of our draft picks) count.

Now imagine we have the leeway to sign Ahmad Bradshaw, and then we are able to pull off a draft that goes something like this-

1) Kenny Vaccaro
2) Kevin Minter
3a) LeVeon Bell
3b) Ryan Swope
4) William Gholston
5) Jake Stoneburner
6) Ace Sanders
7a) Zach Boren
7b) Chris Jacobson

[Count Steeler]

Pats resigned Edelman. Maybe they know something we don't?

[zulater]

Pats resigned Edelman. Maybe they know something we don't?

Patriots also recently signed OchoStinko and Albert Haynesworth to great fanfare, so it's not as if they never get it wrong.

[Count Steeler]

Patriots also recently signed OchoStinko and Albert Haynesworth to great fanfare, so it's not as if they never get it wrong.

No, I am wondering if they sense that the Steelers are going to sign Sanders, so they inked Edelman.

[steeldawg]

No, I am wondering if they sense that the Steelers are going to sign Sanders, so they inked Edelman.

I figure eldelman would replace welker and sanders would replace lloyd.

[steeldawg]

No, I am wondering if they sense that the Steelers are going to sign Sanders, so they inked Edelman.

I figure eldelman would replace welker and sanders would replace lloyd.

[Dwinsgames]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm really am not sure about all this, but if we do sign him, that doesn't mean the problem is over. We would have to find a way to extend his contract during the coming year or he becomes an unrestricted FA next year and Sander could try for an even larger pay day.


exactly , so if they intend to match IMO they need to take it a step further and lock him up for at the very least 3 years otherwise they are much better off taking that 3rd round pick

[Count Steeler]

I figure eldelman would replace welker and sanders would replace lloyd.

But they also got Amendola, which was supposed to replace Welker.

[TomlinSteelTribe]

Don't post much but love this forum. It's where I go for my dose of Black n Gold news.

It's concerning how much of our young, drafted talent is leaving. If Sanders leaves, along with Lewis and Wallace in one offseason... These are all guys who should just be entering their primes! I don't want to get all doom n gloom. I believe the team will be competitive next season (I would prefer to say "championship caliber"--but it's April, whateva). But some of you saying the Sanders loss won't hurt, to just find the replacement in the draft... Finding a rookie to fill in as a slot guy is one thing, asking him to start is a completely different proposition. Signing Breaston is an option, I guess, but comparing the upside potential between Sanders and Breaston, the difference is pretty drastic in my mind. As others have said, this is likely the price we're paying for championship years, but I seriously can't recall losing this many talented 2nd contract guys in one offseason since I've been a fan.

[Texasteel]

Don't post much but love this forum. It's where I go for my dose of Black n Gold news.

It's concerning how much of our young, drafted talent is leaving. If Sanders leaves, along with Lewis and Wallace in one offseason... These are all guys who should just be entering their primes! I don't want to get all doom n gloom. I believe the team will be competitive next season (I would prefer to say "championship caliber"--but it's April, whateva). But some of you saying the Sanders loss won't hurt, to just find the replacement in the draft... Finding a rookie to fill in as a slot guy is one thing, asking him to start is a completely different proposition. Signing Breaston is an option, I guess, but comparing the upside potential between Sanders and Breaston, the difference is pretty drastic in my mind. As others have said, this is likely the price we're paying for championship years, but I seriously can't recall losing this many talented 2nd contract guys in one offseason since I've been a fan.

From my point of view, I like Sanders and would like to see him stay. What I do not want is to sign him and watch him walk out the door after next year anyway. If we can sign him and then work out an extention quickly I'm all for it. If not,,,,,, I think I would rather have a 3rd round pick and get a kid we can keep under contract for 3 years.

A well thought out post, I hope you will consider joining in on our conversations more.

[SteelerFanInStl]

I'm really hoping that we'll just let New England have him. Sanders hasn't shown much in the 3 years that he's been in the league. I don't think that he's worth a new contract and I feel that we can easily replace him with that 3rd round pick. The Rams took Chris Givens in the 4th round last year and he out performed Sanders on a team that struggled offensively.

[salamander]

The more I think about it, the more I would just rather take the 3rd round draft pick rather than sign Sanders.

[Psycho Ward 86]

I'm really hoping that we'll just let New England have him. Sanders hasn't shown much in the 3 years that he's been in the league. I don't think that he's worth a new contract and I feel that we can easily replace him with that 3rd round pick. The Rams took Chris Givens in the 4th round last year and he out performed Sanders on a team that struggled offensively.

not realistic at all to think a 3rd round pick will just walk in the building and be a good starter. especially not on day 1.

( I'm quoting Seven here)....

Rookie wideouts chosen in the third round last year: "Devier Posey, T.J. Graham, Mohamed Sanu, T.Y. Hilton. I'd rather have Sanders than all of those guys except maybe Hilton.

2011: Austin Pettis, Leonard Hankerson, Vincent Brown, Jerrel Jernigan. Again, I'm taking Sanders.

2010: Damian Williams, Brandon LaFell, Jordan Shipley, Eric Decker, Andre Roberts, Armanti Edwards, Taylor Price, and... Sanders."

What exactly makes you feel so confident that a 3rd round pick can walk in and be better than sanders? if its because we got wallace and sanders in the 3rd and brown in the 6th, i think youre forgetting that was 3-4 years ago. that doesnt make them deadshot draft magicians. sometimes stuff just goes your way. and more recently, sometimes it doesnt.

sanders was an overrated sack of shit when everybody was hating on wallace last season and all of a sudden people are having an epiphany about it. but he's still way better than anybody behind him on the roster and at least we know what were getting out of him. Heck, who even said were going to draft a wide receiver in the 1st 3 rounds? On top of that, what are the chances we'll be reaching for one out of desperation? Or maybe missing out on other great talents in the mid rounds because were going to need receivers pretty badly if sanders walks? everyone seems to agree the true value of this draft comes in the middle rounds. we need to be MONEY for this year's draft. We need replacements for troy and clark. We need an ILB to replace foote. We need a pass rusher opposite of woodley, and if it isnt worilds, things could get ugly. Even if he does pan out, we need depth at ILB and OLB. They arent immortal.

- - - Updated - - -


I like Sanders and if we hadn't had such a bizarre offseason for personnel I would spring for keeping him. If Sanders gets over his injuries he'll have a nice productive career, good for him. The deal is win-win in a way - investments like this are why the Patriots keep winning. For the Steelers it's more of a tradeoff, and one that makes sense too given our position. We'd just better make that third rounder (and indeed most of our draft picks) count.

Now imagine we have the leeway to sign Ahmad Bradshaw, and then we are able to pull off a draft that goes something like this-

1) Kenny Vaccaro
2) Kevin Minter
3a) LeVeon Bell
3b) Ryan Swope
4) William Gholston
5) Jake Stoneburner
6) Ace Sanders
7a) Zach Boren
7b) Chris Jacobson

dont know any of those guys except the 1st 3 but i would be in love if that happened. And even happier if were able to keep sanders

[zulater]

I like Sanders. I think he has a lot of potential. But that's just it, 3 years in and you still can't say for sure. That's why the Steelers designated him as they did. I do think they wanted to keep him, and by 30 other teams standards they almost did. But all it takes is one, and the Patriots have thrown the dice and are taking that chance.

So when given lemons make lemonade. In other words, while it would have been nice to keep Sanders, take the 3rd round pick and move on. It's too big of gamble to restructure Polamalu to fit the 2.5 million under the cap. And even if you do he's most likely gone next year anyway. So make the best of it and take the pick and draft wisely.

[Shoes]

I like Sanders. I think he has a lot of potential. But that's just it, 3 years in and you still can't say for sure. That's why the Steelers designated him as they did. I do think they wanted to keep him, and by 30 other teams standards they almost did. But all it takes is one, and the Patriots have thrown the dice and are taking that chance.

So when given lemons make lemonade. In other words, while it would have been nice to keep Sanders, take the 3rd round pick and move on. It's too big of gamble to restructure Polamalu to fit the 2.5 million under the cap. And even if you do he's most likely gone next year anyway. So make the best of it and take the pick and draft wisely.

That's about how I feel........I think the Steelers will move on....but at some point it would be nice to keep our draft picks. :chuckle:

[86WARD]

Funny the reaction to Sanders now, compared to the reaction to Sanders when Wallace was potentially leaving...and after he ultimately left.

[zulater]

Funny the reaction to Sanders now, compared to the reaction to Sanders when Wallace was potentially leaving...and after he ultimately left.

It's called living in the moment. Perhaps you might try it some time?

[GBMelBlount]

exactly , so if they intend to match IMO they need to take it a step further and lock him up for at the very least 3 years otherwise they are much better off taking that 3rd round pick

Completely agree.

[Psycho Ward 86]

It's called living in the moment. Perhaps you might try it some time?


Steelers Universe Forum circa 2009: Wallace is so clutch. What an impact rookie!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2010: Wallace is the best deep threat in the league!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2011: Wallace has really polished into a complete probowl receiver!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2012: "Omgosh wallace sucks and he wants way too much money. Sanders is better, cheaper, and more well rounded anyways."

Steelers Universe now: "Lol sanders. He's replaceable and he was never even that good"

:lol:

[Mojouw]

As has been said on here by others, it all comes down to risk and risk buffering. Signing Sanders to the offer sheet is a risky move because he could walk next year with no compensation. At the same time Sanders is an excellent buffer against risk because it is known that he can play WR in the NFL. A 3rd round draft pick is a totally unknown quantity. Willie Reid anyone? I would pay 2.5 million to make sure that doesn't happen again!

Also, if you let Sanders walk, you enter the season with only one credible NFL WR on the roster. Burress is about done. Crotchery can't really run anymore, and the rest of the roster is practice squad guys. Not a pretty picture.

[zulater]

As has been said on here by others, it all comes down to risk and risk buffering. Signing Sanders to the offer sheet is a risky move because he could walk next year with no compensation. At the same time Sanders is an excellent buffer against risk because it is known that he can play WR in the NFL. A 3rd round draft pick is a totally unknown quantity. Willie Reid anyone? I would pay 2.5 million to make sure that doesn't happen again!

Also, if you let Sanders walk, you enter the season with only one credible NFL WR on the roster. Burress is about done. Crotchery can't really run anymore, and the rest of the roster is practice squad guys. Not a pretty picture.

If you let Sanders walk it doesn't mean you go into the season with the roster as it stands on April 15.

There's an argument to be made for matching, and there's an argument against. My guess is they wont match. But if they do, I'm fine with that too.

Put it this way. Sanders staying or leaving wont make or break the 2013 season.

[steelreserve]

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2009: Wallace is so clutch. What an impact rookie!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2010: Wallace is the best deep threat in the league!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2011: Wallace has really polished into a complete probowl receiver!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2012: "Omgosh wallace sucks and he wants way too much money. Sanders is better, cheaper, and more well rounded anyways."

Steelers Universe now: "Lol sanders. He's replaceable and he was never even that good"

:lol:

Most of those observations are true, actually. Wallace WAS a great impact rookie in 2009, then the best deep threat in 2010, then (more or less) a complete Pro Bowl receiver in 2011, then sucked in 2012 and wanted too much money.

The Sanders part I don't know about, except that he's cheaper. And he IS replaceable, but I'd rather not roll the dice if we don't need to. He's pretty good and he ought to be cheap enough to re-sign.

[Mistah Q]

Maybe we can just start employing a mix of the Patriots and Broncos' strategy:

Don't get into cap hell, and have an O-line so good that guys like Ed McCaffrey are productive.

[SteelerFanInStl]

What exactly makes you feel so confident that a 3rd round pick can walk in and be better than sanders? if its because we got wallace and sanders in the 3rd and brown in the 6th, i think youre forgetting that was 3-4 years ago. that doesnt make them deadshot draft magicians. sometimes stuff just goes your way. and more recently, sometimes it doesnt.


I didn't say that he needed to be better than Sanders this year. He needs to be better than Sanders in a year or two. Sanders hasn't shown me anything to make me believe that he's worthy of a new contract. After 3 years in the league, his best season was 600 yards and 1 TD. Those are not good numbers for a #2 WR. He's very inconsistent, dropping easy catches and fumbling the ball. He's also been injured too much. Not the kind of player that I feel inclined to offer a new contract. Time to move on.

[86WARD]

It's called living in the moment. Perhaps you might try it some time?

Sunshine, I live every day and stick by my feelings and values and am realistic. Some people don't. Some people aren't. Some people like to just live in the moment and drink whatever color Kool Aid makes them happy that minute, hour, day, week, year. Me, I try to stick to one or two colors...from your reaction, I'm guessing your lips are a bit of a rainbow mustache over the last few years.

Lol...little defensive are we?

[86WARD]

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2009: Wallace is so clutch. What an impact rookie!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2010: Wallace is the best deep threat in the league!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2011: Wallace has really polished into a complete probowl receiver!

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2012: "Omgosh wallace sucks and he wants way too much money. Sanders is better, cheaper, and more well rounded anyways."

Steelers Universe now: "Lol sanders. He's replaceable and he was never even that good"

:lol:

Couldn't be a more accurate and to the point post in this Forum. There really isn't...:lol: :lol: :lol:

[LLT]

Some of the rhetoric is getting condescending and personal. ANYONE who thinks that there isnt merit on either side of this debate is just being self-serving and closeminded.

Lets get back on track and state your argument WITHOUT flame baiting attempts to make each other look foolish.

[Mojouw]

If you let Sanders walk it doesn't mean you go into the season with the roster as it stands on April 15.

There's an argument to be made for matching, and there's an argument against. My guess is they wont match. But if they do, I'm fine with that too.

Put it this way. Sanders staying or leaving wont make or break the 2013 season.

Good point. I should have indicated that I meant even if you draft a couple of guys they will be unproven and the remaining FA WR's are uninspiring.

I do take your point though.

[fansince'76]

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2009: Wallace is so clutch. What an impact rookie!

Interesting point, seeing as how we didn't launch the site until May 2010. :chuckle:

[LLT]

Originally Posted by Psycho Ward 86

Steelers Universe Forum circa 2009: Wallace is so clutch. What an impact rookie!


Interesting point, seeing as how we didn't launch the site until May 2010. :chuckle:

:rofl2:

[zulater]

Sunshine, I live every day and stick by my feelings and values and am realistic. Some people don't. Some people aren't. Some people like to just live in the moment and drink whatever color Kool Aid makes them happy that minute, hour, day, week, year. Me, I try to stick to one or two colors...from your reaction, I'm guessing your lips are a bit of a rainbow mustache over the last few years.

Lol...little defensive are we?

Sunshine? You mistake me for your daughter or dog? :scratchchin:

And just because I'm not all doom and gloom and over reacting to every offseason move doesn't mean I lack objectivity.

Again for about the million'th time, what it comes down to is that to me, the Steelers have built some equity based on their sustained success over the years. So I give them credit for having some idea what they're doing out there, because they have a proven track record. In the end I'm confident that the product that takes the field come September will have a genuine chance to compete for a championship.

I'm also confident that they'll manage to put receivers on the field that will at least play as well as the 2012 group of receivers did. While at times I was enthusiastic about Mike Wallace and Emanuel Sanders during their Steelers career, neither are coming off a good year. In fact you could easily claim both to have been more liability than assett in 2012, so their loss while noteworthy isn't exactly insurmountable. Wallace and Sanders may or may not have better 2013's than they did 2012's. And that may be where a lot of people focus. But I don't. Where my focus will be is how the Steelers top 3 wideouts perform. And given how mediocre they performed last season I have little doubt whoever they put on the field this season will exceed the production of the 2012 trio. In fact I'll even bet you if you want. I'll bet this years wideout's will be more productive than 2012's? You on Morticia?

[86WARD]

That's going out on a limb...lol.

[GBMelBlount]

While I personally think Sanders can be every bit is good as Brown and I hope we lock him up long term on the cheap I will trust the FO on this one.

[Shoes]

Interesting point, seeing as how we didn't launch the site until May 2010. :chuckle:

:chuckle:

[Dwinsgames]

its simple lets break it down in as few of words as possible ...

1) N.E signed him to a 1 year deal worth 2.5 mil

2) if we felt he was worth 2.5 mil we would have given him the 2nd round tender as I suggested the day the tenders came out

3) Matching the N.E. offer nets him for just 1 year costs us basically all our remaining cap money and forces us to renegotiate someone elses contract to futures money or to cut another member of the team to sign our rookie class ..

4) matching the offer costs us a 3rd round pick whom we would control for small ball money for 3 additional years

5) because of 4 if you are not going to sign him to 3 or more years , then matching makes no sense due to losing the 3rd round pick , renting a player for 1 year at the cost of a mid round pick is never a good idea

[Mojouw]

its simple lets break it down in as few of words as possible ...

1) N.E signed him to a 1 year deal worth 2.5 mil

2) if we felt he was worth 2.5 mil we would have given him the 2nd round tender as I suggested the day the tenders came out

3) Matching the N.E. offer nets him for just 1 year costs us basically all our remaining cap money and forces us to renegotiate someone elses contract to futures money or to cut another member of the team to sign our rookie class ..

4) matching the offer costs us a 3rd round pick whom we would control for small ball money for 3 additional years

5) because of 4 if you are not going to sign him to 3 or more years , then matching makes no sense due to losing the 3rd round pick , renting a player for 1 year at the cost of a mid round pick is never a good idea

I will only quibble with point 4. That kinda seems like you are assuming some kind of perfect information type of situation. We know that Sanders can get open, make plays (and yes fumble the ball), etc at an NFL level against NFL DB's. We do not actually know that about any player in this draft class. WR projects to be deep and there are many prospects that grade out to Round 2 or 3 that appear to be dynamic and talented. But, I will just stick with Steelers here...Willie Reid, Limas Sweed, Fred Gibson, Troy Edwards (the last time this team made a panicky early "need" pick at WR).

[Dwinsgames]

most of those selection came with warning signs the FO chose to ignore and many of us fans where quick to point out , but point taken , us fans are not making the pick that same ( for the most part ) FO is making them ... 2 of the 4 picks mentioned above had bad pick written all over them and the other 2 had question marks but seemingly good value at the point taken in the draft ( Gibson and Sweed ) ....

The biggest Factor Sweed failed was mental , simply no way to foresee that in a draft prospect unless he is completely loco in which case he would have never made it that far to begin with ... no pick is 100% ...

I feel there are a half dozen guys who will be drafted late 2nd to late 3rd round that will succeed at or above what we are giving up in this particular draft class with a lesser health liability and contract $$s ...

I am all for taking the draft pick and letting him go * even though I like him as a player and think he has a high ceiling * his durability is a major concern for me when he would be counted on as a starter for 16 weeks

[Carolina Steelers]

I will only quibble with point 4. That kinda seems like you are assuming some kind of perfect information type of situation. We know that Sanders can get open, make plays (and yes fumble the ball), etc at an NFL level against NFL DB's. We do not actually know that about any player in this draft class. WR projects to be deep and there are many prospects that grade out to Round 2 or 3 that appear to be dynamic and talented. But, I will just stick with Steelers here...Willie Reid, Limas Sweed, Fred Gibson, Troy Edwards (the last time this team made a panicky early "need" pick at WR).

Good points the whole Draft is nothing but a crap shoot anyways, draft and hope for the best

[SteelerFanInStl]

Some of the rhetoric is getting condescending and personal. ANYONE who thinks that there isnt merit on either side of this debate is just being self-serving and closeminded.

Lets get back on track and state your argument WITHOUT flame baiting attempts to make each other look foolish.

Thank you LLT. Unfortunately there seems to be way too much of that here on the forum lately.

[Spike]

can't we all just get along?

http://media.giphy.com/media/14ex81eFtldcu4/original.gif

[86WARD]

can't we all just get along?

http://media.giphy.com/media/14ex81eFtldcu4/original.gif

:drool:

[Psycho Ward 86]

Interesting point, seeing as how we didn't launch the site until May 2010. :chuckle:

ah my bad lol. in 2009 that was back when we were all on steelers fever forum. hard to tell the difference

[Psycho Ward 86]

I didn't say that he needed to be better than Sanders this year. He needs to be better than Sanders in a year or two.

so who's supposed to be holding down the #2 spot while our hypothetical green receiver is developing for a year or two? I have a hard time believing anyone will be comfortable with antonio brown being the only established receiver on the team going into the season. No wallace, no sanders, and more than likely no heath for quite a bit of time. we laugh about flacco having a letdown year next season just because he's missing one guy in Anquan boldin. Its looking like we'll be without wallace, sanders, and miller. sucks to be us right now (assuming that sanders is gone of course)

[steelreserve]

I don't know about a few of these ...


2) if we felt he was worth 2.5 mil we would have given him the 2nd round tender as I suggested the day the tenders came out

It seems just as likely that we felt he was worth $2.5M or even more, but were crossing our fingers that we could sneak him by for $1M because we needed every penny of cap space. The original offer may have nothing to do at all with what we do now.


3) Matching the N.E. offer nets him for just 1 year costs us basically all our remaining cap money and forces us to renegotiate someone elses contract to futures money or to cut another member of the team to sign our rookie class ..

Don't forget we get another $5M on June 1 when Colon's release becomes official. Is there any rule that says you HAVE to sign all your rookies before June 1? I don't think there is.


4) matching the offer costs us a 3rd round pick whom we would control for small ball money for 3 additional years

If we want to control them for 3 years. Don't forget Quincy Morgan, Willie Reid, Lee Mays ... I don't even want to talk about Sweed because that's the Steelers forum equivalent of resorting to Hitler comparisons to prove your point, although this is the one case where it actually applies.

Point is, yes, it's great in theory if we turn out to get a receiver as good or better than Sanders, but that's a 50-50 shot. We may still be able to get Sanders for 3 years for relatively small-time money anyway and not have to go through that roll of the dice.

[Dwinsgames]

I don't know about a few of these ...



It seems just as likely that we felt he was worth $2.5M or even more, but were crossing our fingers that we could sneak him by for $1M because we needed every penny of cap space. The original offer may have nothing to do at all with what we do now.



Don't forget we get another $5M on June 1 when Colon's release becomes official. Is there any rule that says you HAVE to sign all your rookies before June 1? I don't think there is.



If we want to control them for 3 years. Don't forget Quincy Morgan, Willie Reid, Lee Mays ... I don't even want to talk about Sweed because that's the Steelers forum equivalent of resorting to Hitler comparisons to prove your point, although this is the one case where it actually applies.

Point is, yes, it's great in theory if we turn out to get a receiver as good or better than Sanders, but that's a 50-50 shot. We may still be able to get Sanders for 3 years for relatively small-time money anyway and not have to go through that roll of the dice.


not sure how much of this I should even address considering a quick scan of it has Quincy Morgan listed he was a draft pick of the Cleveland Browns and then a Cowboy before ever becoming a Steeler ...Just sayin

[Psycho Ward 86]

not sure how much of this I should even address considering a quick scan of it has Quincy Morgan listed he was a draft pick of the Cleveland Browns and then a Cowboy before ever becoming a Steeler ...Just sayin

you should address all of it because its still a valid point that tells you how much of a crapshoot it can be to draft wide receivers, even if theyre higher round picks (2nd/3rd)

[ALLD]

Maybe we can just start employing a mix of the Patriots and Broncos' strategy:

Don't get into cap hell, and have an O-line so good that guys like Ed McCaffrey are productive.

You are right. Then dink and dunk 80 yards 4 times per game.

[Mojouw]

you should address all of it because its still a valid point that tells you how much of a crapshoot it can be to draft wide receivers, even if theyre higher round picks (2nd/3rd)

The actual numbers and data are worse than I even imagined. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/WR-1980-now.htm

[SteelerFanInStl]

so who's supposed to be holding down the #2 spot while our hypothetical green receiver is developing for a year or two? I have a hard time believing anyone will be comfortable with antonio brown being the only established receiver on the team going into the season. No wallace, no sanders, and more than likely no heath for quite a bit of time. we laugh about flacco having a letdown year next season just because he's missing one guy in Anquan boldin. Its looking like we'll be without wallace, sanders, and miller. sucks to be us right now (assuming that sanders is gone of course)

There are a number of free agents that could step in and give us what we got from Sanders last year, such as Breaston.

I don't envision this team going to the Super Bowl this year so we might as well start building for the future.

If we match the offer for Sanders, we're going to have to re-work another contract, putting us in even worse cap position in the future. If he then leaves after next season, we're screwed.

Because of that, I'd rather have the draft pick.

[steelreserve]

not sure how much of this I should even address considering a quick scan of it has Quincy Morgan listed he was a draft pick of the Cleveland Browns and then a Cowboy before ever becoming a Steeler ...Just sayin

OK, but the point is still the same: He was a WR we thought would be at least Sanders-level good and turned out to suck. You want to get that specific, then replace Morgan's name with Troy Edwards, and then go back and look at our draft record with WRs through basically all of the 1990s:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/draft.htm

In rounds 1-4 we got Hines Ward and then like 0-for-10. There were a couple guys that managed numbers as good or better than Sanders for a year or two. This fourth-to-last pick of the third round that we'd be getting from the Patriots is hardly the sure thing it's being made out to be.

[steelreserve]

There are a number of free agents that could step in and give us what we got from Sanders last year, such as Breaston.

I don't envision this team going to the Super Bowl this year so we might as well start building for the future.

If we match the offer for Sanders, we're going to have to re-work another contract, putting us in even worse cap position in the future. If he then leaves after next season, we're screwed.

Because of that, I'd rather have the draft pick.

Also, why would we have to re-work another contract? I'm pretty sure we can manage without it.

We may not be championship material next year, but as far as building for the future, Sanders is a guy who's likely to be in the league for the rest of Ben's productive career, which is basically the same thing as our remaining championship window. So if we think he could help us win, say, 3 years from now, it'd still be smart to keep him. Don't forget, a number of our big monster contracts (plus Harrison's dead money and Colon's dead money) will be off the books by then.

[Dwinsgames]

The actual numbers and data are worse than I even imagined. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/WR-1980-now.htm


they are bad , always have been bad ...

the difference is now a days teams will take a guy who is very good at one thing and use him in that manner instead of trying to make him do many things ( see Mike Wallace ) they literally gave him 2 routes to run his first year in the league forcing teams to respect his speed ... he couldnt run a decent slant to save his life at that point yet he was still effective and so was everyone else because his speed drew the coverage ...

if you take a guy and expect him to do everything day 1 more times than not it will be a failed experiment , take a guy who is elite at something and teach him the rest as you go along and your chances of success at the WR pos are much greater IMO ...

does not mean they can not be on the field as decoys running those same couple routes over and over again and here and there letting them take on another route to advance their skill set ( again see Wallace as a prime example of such )

[Shoes]

(http://www.nfl.com/player/benroethlisberger/2506109/profile)

Ben Roethlisberger has every right to be nervous

It wasn't long ago that Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders were calling themselves the "Young Money Crew." Now they're getting money from other teams.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000159483/article/big-ben-reportedly-lobbying-steelers-to-keep-sanders

Maybe Dan Rooney will call this one.

[zulater]

Good points the whole Draft is nothing but a crap shoot anyways, draft and hope for the best
Here's the way I look at it. You draft two wr's in the first four rounds, and at least one of them will work out.

[Psycho Ward 86]

Here's the way I look at it. You draft two wr's in the first four rounds, and at least one of them will work out.

history says youre making a dangerous assumption: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/WR-1980-now.htm

[Bluecoat96]

I think this is interesting. You could take Sanders's tweet many different ways. To me, it sounds like he doesn't want to leave.


Emmanuel Sanders ‏@E_Sanders88 (https://twitter.com/E_Sanders88)11 Apr (https://twitter.com/E_Sanders88/status/322458004458991618)
Lame duck huh? lol ok... JUST DISRESPECTFUL �� RT @EdBouchette (https://twitter.com/EdBouchette): reasons #Steelers (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Steelers&src=hash) should let #Patriots (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Patriots&src=hash) have Sanders :http://sulia.com/my_thoughts/63574b63-c7c8-4805-af23-0727fee0b191/?source=twitter … (http://t.co/gSigyFymK6)

[GBMelBlount]

The actual numbers and data are worse than I even imagined. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/WR-1980-now.htm

Thanks.

It's simple.

Keep Sanders and lock him up long term on the cheap if possible.

[NCSteeler]

The actual numbers and data are worse than I even imagined. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/WR-1980-now.htm

Sure we drafted Willie Reid 24 spots before Brandon Marshall and 258 spots before Marque Colston, but surely we wouldn't make that mistake again, LOL draft=crapshoot, BUT so does keepign Sanders, he could easily be injured again this year, he could easily not be capable of beating the #2 coverage and he could easily have a great year and leave after 1 more season for a deal wee couldn't afford

- - - Updated - - -


I think this is interesting. You could take Sanders's tweet many different ways. To me, it sounds like he doesn't want to leave.

Then he could have very easily turned down the Pats deal

[NCSteeler]

Sometimes it's the team not the player. We drafted many WR busts whiel we were a heavy run oriented team. Maybe they didn't get enough reps, maybe we were bad at evaluating talent at a position we didn't care much about. Quincy Morgan went to Cleveland 3 spots behind Reggie Wayne to Indy, you think if that was reversed Reggie would be some All-pro in cleveland today??

[GBMelBlount]

msafford

I think this is interesting. You could take Sanders's tweet many different ways. To me, it sounds like he doesn't want to leave.



NCSteeler

Then he (Sanders) could have very easily turned down the Pats deal

Why in the world should he take the Steelers offer for much less than he feels he is worth?

I could understand your point if Sanders had been with the Steelers for his entire career and wanted to retire a Steeler but is no reason for him to take a big hometown discount this early in his career.

It works both ways at this point imo.

[Dwinsgames]

Sometimes it's the team not the player. We drafted many WR busts whiel we were a heavy run oriented team. Maybe they didn't get enough reps, maybe we were bad at evaluating talent at a position we didn't care much about. Quincy Morgan went to Cleveland 3 spots behind Reggie Wayne to Indy, you think if that was reversed Reggie would be some All-pro in cleveland today??


true it is not always the player that is the " bust" sometimes its the team and or the system they are drafted into ....

square peg round hole almost never works out

[Bluecoat96]

Then he could have very easily turned down the Pats deal

I should have included this tweet as well.


Emmanuel Sanders‏@E_Sanders8822h (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/E_Sanders88/status/322722024810233857)Ugh... Hate the business side of the NFL ����


I look at it this way. He doesn't want to leave, but he has a chance to make a little more money with a team that doesn't suck. My gut says the Steelers will take the draft pick, but who knows?

[steeldawg]

I just hope AB is ready to take his game up a few notches because are recieving corp doesnt look good and our running game doesnt look good. AB will be our biggest offensive weapon next season (besides Ben) and he has 7 career tds in 3 years, Im a little worried.

[BlastFurnace]

Why in the world should he take the Steelers offer for much less than he feels he is worth?

I could understand your point if Sanders had been with the Steelers for his entire career and wanted to retire a Steeler but is no reason for him to take a big hometown discount this early in his career.

It works both ways at this point imo.

I agree with you Tom. It's not like his offer is with the Jags where players disappear.

For an a chance to double his salary, go to a winning team that emphazis passing. Why not?

It's not every players dream to play for the Steelers.

[zulater]

history says youre making a dangerous assumption: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/WR-1980-now.htm

I'm not making an assumption, I'm making a guess as to how the Steelers will procede and why.

We wont really know until sunday night or Monday morning I guess?

Bottom line though it's out of my hands and I can see the logic in keeping him or letting him go.

[cold-hard-steel]

Something i forgot about but was curious about .What round did we get Hines ?

[steeldawg]

Something i forgot about but was curious about .What round did we get Hines ?

We didnt draft Hindes he was born a steeler.

[cold-hard-steel]

It's not like his offer is with the Jags where players disappear.

For an a chance to double his salary, go to a winning team that emphazis passing. Why not?

It's not every players dream to play for the Steelers.

Wow man , there you go firing up the "blast furnace " Just had to chime in .

[zulater]

Something i forgot about but was curious about .What round did we get Hines ? 3rd, I think he was our second third round pick in that draft.

[cold-hard-steel]

We didnt draft Hindes he was born a steeler.

LOL i'm tryin to be for real. I just forgot what round he came from . You're cool dude .

[Dwinsgames]

http://drafthistory.com/

[cold-hard-steel]

So if we let him go , there is a chance we can find another bud that will blossom ?

[steeldawg]

I say let him go, we know what we have with sanders, i dont think he just breaks out and starts tearing it up. At least in the draft maybe we can find a better option, and im sure at worst we can find a guy who can match 600yds and 1 td.

[cold-hard-steel]

All of the kids out there , i'm sure there is another Hines Ward out there . I just am not permitted to say it . You don't want our offer.....Its easy as pie , Go to New England and don't even think to ask the question why ? He wants ta go , then i see him walkin . He would like ta stay , then i see him stayin . All is up ta him .

[steeldevil]

I'm fine either way.

One thing though, if we take the pick we can't afford to waste it. That is generally true, but its even more important this year that we make good selections this draft with losing key guys and others surely in their last 2 or so years. So having Sanders would really help out, but having 4 top 3 round picks (with the chance to trade back for more obviously) would really help out too if we make them count.

The past couple drafts have either looked bad from the start, injuries make them look bad, or players fizzling out/jumping ship make them look bad. I think more than most years we need a couple guys that can come in and play right away. At least some quality snaps. And with our team I think we would all agree it is easier to play right away on offense. WR or OL first round? Or maybe OLB Jones? Trading back is a good option as well as always.

[cold-hard-steel]

Sanders needs to live his own life . I understand that part . But if you don't want to be a STEELER , get your azz movin down the pike . Philly is lookin for talent . Go down there and begin your life . Course you could go a little up the east coast,and end that very life up in the place that was cold to you . Or do you want to stay in "The red hot steeler portion of the coast "?

[cold-hard-steel]

I liked Sanders , my favorite is his spot on the bench after missing a sure catch , that could have won the game . You want more money ? Then earn it . Just be happy with where you "were" and have a nice life .

[Psycho Ward 86]

I liked Sanders , my favorite is his spot on the bench after missing a sure catch , that could have won the game . You want more money ? Then earn it . Just be happy with where you "were" and have a nice life .

where are you getting this notion that sanders is a habitual choke artist? Proof?

[cold-hard-steel]

Sorry Sanders , if you are a true sander , hope ya got your dust mask on , seems your going where you need it . Don't breath in the "New England " saw dust . Has salt in it .

[cold-hard-steel]

where are you getting this notion that sanders is a habitual choke artist? Proof?

Well my "steel brother " i do not ever remember anything about saying he was a "habitual choke artist " . Proof enough ? Show me your proof i said that . You love to inflame me , don't you ?

[cold-hard-steel]

Thats messed up dude , if i had some extra sakrete i'd put it on my own feet . I am the concrete cobbler right ?

[NCSteeler]

Why in the world should he take the Steelers offer for much less than he feels he is worth?

I could understand your point if Sanders had been with the Steelers for his entire career and wanted to retire a Steeler but is no reason for him to take a big hometown discount this early in his career.

It works both ways at this point imo.

I was just replying to mssafford's comment about sounding like he doesn't want to leave. If he didn't want to leave the answer for him would have to not signed the offer. It's really that simple.

[Shoes]

I feel pretty good about this no matter what the front office decides. I believe Dan is steering this one and hopefully the others (coaches and FO personal) will learn something.

[steelreserve]

I was just replying to mssafford's comment about sounding like he doesn't want to leave. If he didn't want to leave the answer for him would have to not signed the offer. It's really that simple.

Easy to say from where we're sitting. But if you were him, and someone offered you $1.5 MILLION to go move to another town for a year, and either way you were going to be a free agent at the end of the year, you'd have to be a fucking idiot not to take it. Maybe the Steelers match it, maybe they don't. But either way he's more than doubled the amount of money he gets, which it should be mentioned is also more than he's made in his entire career so far.

[Count Steeler]

Hard to fault Sanders here. He is looking out for himself, and if he doesn't, no one else will. Especially with his injuries, got to cash in now that he is healthy. Steelers have to be careful not to overplay their home town discount. Yeah, it would be amazing to play for the Steelers, but if someone doubles my salary, I may still love the Steelers, but I'll take the other's guy green for sure.

[steelreserve]

You've got to also believe that if he really wants to be in Pittsburgh, he's considered things like ... is it likely the Steelers will match the offer, is it likely he'll be signed to a longer deal if they do, could he come back as a free agent after a year. In fact, he and/or his agent probably talked about all of that with the team before he even signed it. This doesn't all happen in a bubble with no communication whatsoever, like it's a game of poker or something.

[Count Steeler]

On the Steelers: Keeping Sanders, not letting him go, would be the real gamble

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/on-the-steelers-keeping-sanders-not-letting-him-go-would-be-the-real-gamble-683373/#ixzz2QQuDteiU

[GBMelBlount]

Matching the Sanders deal might preclude them from signing, say, Ahmad Bradshaw. Or it might force them to restructure a contract they did not want to redo, that of Troy Polamalu, and push even more cap accounting into future years. By passing on Sanders, they would pick up about $900,000 more in cap space immediately, giving them more than enough to sign another veteran or two in free agency before June.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/on-the-steelers-keeping-sanders-not-letting-him-go-would-be-the-real-gamble-683373/#ixzz2QRAwiF3S

Do the Steelers really have the cap space to do everything they feel they need to do and also sign Brown?

Was Brown also part of the cancer in the locker room as was implied by the first comment after the article?

If so, that would justify purging another cancer imo.

On the surface I look at it as we can ill afford to lose Sanders but all things considered, much of which the FO may know that we don't, I will trust their decision.

It also states the compensatory pick is 2014...

[tube517]

In essence, they would go through another season with a lame-duck starter at wide receiver, and they would have thrown away the chance to acquire a 2013 third-round pick for him (if he joins the Patriots, the Steelers likely would pick up a third-round compensatory pick in 2014).

This is why they will probably let him walk.

[steeldawg]

This is why they will probably let him walk.

I think you have to here, he just hasnt done enough on the field to justify keeping him.

[Spike]

I tired of all this jibber jabber



what time is the deadline today?

[Dwinsgames]

IMO I would take the pick and if to nervous to wait for the draft turn around and offer Denario Alexander a contract forcing the Chargers hand , if they do not match we get a WR for a WR we give up a 3rd round pick and gain a 3rd round pick ...sure Alexander has some injury concerns but so does Sanders .... Alexander when healthy is a more productive WR than Sanders is when healthy .....

also lets not forget there is first round talent at WR not expected to go until round 3 or 4 because of off field concerns .... that drop in stock is more than enough to merit the risk / reward factor IMO and if he does not get in trouble Da'rick Rogers is a top 15 pick while cordarrelle patterson goes undrafted or a late round flier by some team ( Patterson could not get on the field when Rogers was on the team except as a 3rd wr )

[stillers4me]

I tired of all this jibber jabber



what time is the deadline today?


I think it's noon today.

Edit: Or...
Dov Kleiman‏@NFL_RealUpdates2m (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/NFL_RealUpdates/status/323464560377995264)
If the #Steelers (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/search?q=%23Steelers&src=hash) don't match the offer the #Patriots (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/search?q=%23Patriots&src=hash) signed WR Emmanuel Sanders to by the end of the day, Sanders will be a Patriot.

[steeldawg]

IMO I would take the pick and if to nervous to wait for the draft turn around and offer Denario Alexander a contract forcing the Chargers hand , if they do not match we get a WR for a WR we give up a 3rd round pick and gain a 3rd round pick ...sure Alexander has some injury concerns but so does Sanders .... Alexander when healthy is a more productive WR than Sanders is when healthy .....

also lets not forget there is first round talent at WR not expected to go until round 3 or 4 because of off field concerns .... that drop in stock is more than enough to merit the risk / reward factor IMO and if he does not get in trouble Da'rick Rogers is a top 15 pick while cordarrelle patterson goes undrafted or a late round flier by some team ( Patterson could not get on the field when Rogers was on the team except as a 3rd wr )

Alexander is a guy i would love to take a flyer on, I think him and Ben would be a great match.

[Dwinsgames]

I think it's noon today.

Edit: Or...
Dov Kleiman‏@NFL_RealUpdates2m (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/NFL_RealUpdates/status/323464560377995264)
If the #Steelers (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/search?q=%23Steelers&src=hash) don't match the offer the #Patriots (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/search?q=%23Patriots&src=hash) signed WR Emmanuel Sanders to by the end of the day, Sanders will be a Patriot.


The Steelers (http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/profile?team=PIT) must match the Patriots (http://www.nfl.com/teams/newenglandpatriots/profile?team=NE)' offer by 11:59.59 p.m. ET on Sunday so before Midnight tonight

[Carolina Steelers]

I read some where Ben has told team he wants to keep him anychance the FO would listen to him?

[stillers4me]

I read some where Ben has told team he wants to keep him anychance the FO would listen to him?

Have they ever?

- - - Updated - - -

Steelers Depot‏@Steelersdepot3m (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/Steelersdepot/status/323490471253008384)
If the #Steelers (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/search?q=%23Steelers&src=hash) don't match Sanders offer sheet, this will likely be a key reason why: http://bit.ly/ZSG3hZ (http://t.co/Q6WJ0QF18a)

[Dwinsgames]

I read some where Ben has told team he wants to keep him anychance the FO would listen to him?


I bet if you could get a peek at Bens mock draft pertaining to the Steelers he would have 1 LT 1 Guard 1 TE 3 WR and a RB who can catch as his wish list too ..... but they are not going to try and make Bens mock draft come true either

[SteelerFanInStl]

I read some where Ben has told team he wants to keep him anychance the FO would listen to him?

Of course he would say that. Do you think any QB in the NFL would say that they didn't want to keep a WR?

[blackngldblood]

The Steelers (http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/profile?team=PIT) must match the Patriots (http://www.nfl.com/teams/newenglandpatriots/profile?team=NE)' offer by 11:59.59 p.m. ET on Sunday so before Midnight tonight

Hopefully whatever their decision is, they aren't using fax machines to get it done tonight. Wa Wa Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

[Dwinsgames]

Hopefully whatever their decision is, they aren't using fax machines to get it done tonight. Wa Wa Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.


I think we would have to see some other moves made first to predicate any deal with Sanders , since we have not seen or heard of any it becomes more and more doubtful with every passing hour it is not going to happen ...

I am fine with that , sure would be nice to keep him but at the same time and extra pick to maneuver with would also be nice ....

working on a mock for just such a thing now ...

[steelreserve]

Of course he would say that. Do you think any QB in the NFL would say that they didn't want to keep a WR?

Well, they could just say nothing ...

[Mojouw]

Got to figure if you don't match Sanders, the team is locked into picking a WR in 2 of its first 4 picks. Not sure how "forcing" picks is ever a good thing. On paper this team has gone from a very talented offense to a distressingly talent deficient group. 1 legit WR, next to nothing at RB, nothing at TE, unproven tackles...uggghhh. Of course, Mendenhall never lived up to his physical attributes, Wallace was turning into a diva....yeah...can't talk myself into things looking better...

[blackngldblood]

I still think they're trying to hold out for Bradshaw, and don't want to restructure anyone else and damn sure can't afford to lose anymore vets at this point. I feel the FO see's Sanders as expendable and will draft WR high. On a side note, I dreamed the Steelers drafted Cordarelle Patterson at #17 last night. I dont know a damn thing about this kid, and the last time I had a dream about the Steelers it was prior to last season starting when in my dream Polamalu was sitting on the sideline holding his leg. He played the first game, and damn near didnt return last year. We'll see, but if I'm right about this one, we'll set up a paypal account and I'll start taking bets around September, lol.

[Texasteel]

Whatever the team decides to do, we fans have to live with. It would be arrogant of me to think that I know better. The FO will do what they think is best not only for next year, but for the years to follow. I don't think they are working from the position that its all of nothing for 2013, nor should they. They have been doing a pretty good job in years past and I see no reason to think this will change. I trust my team. This is only my oppinion, after all I am not really a football guy, just a football fan. A Steelers fan.

[X-Terminator]

Since the Steelers have reportedly matched the offer, I will now close this thread.