Free agencies will mean changes for the Steelers

[GBMelBlount]

....

It wasn't a typical Friday for the Steelers.

Teammates walked from locker to locker collecting autographs for friends and relatives. Several players sat in small groups, knowing this might be the final time they gathered in this room to close a work week.

One out of every three players on this Steelers team becomes a free agent after the season ends — perhaps as soon as late Sunday afternoon — and they realized this might be one of their final times together.

Brett Keisel, the 35-year-old defensive end who is one of those free agents-to-be, offered some advice for players such as Jason Worilds, Ziggy Hood and Emmanuel Sanders, who are going through this for the first time.


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[Psycho Ward 86]

worilds, velasco, woods, and cotchery seem like obvious resignings for me. Cotchery should be cheap, but im admittedly afraid to lose him. sounds like he is satisfied with the money he has made in the NFL and just wants a championship, and i wouldnt blame him if he thought we werent the right place for him. i wouldnt be surprised if 2 of our top 3 receivers left in the offseason. wheaton is going to have to grow up in a hurry, and hopefully we wont have to burn a draft pick early for another receiver

[Dwinsgames]

worilds, velasco, woods, and cotchery seem like obvious resignings for me. Cotchery should be cheap, but im admittedly afraid to lose him. sounds like he is satisfied with the money he has made in the NFL and just wants a championship, and i wouldnt blame him if he thought we werent the right place for him. i wouldnt be surprised if 2 of our top 3 receivers left in the offseason. wheaton is going to have to grow up in a hurry, and hopefully we wont have to burn a draft pick early for another receiver


I think we have to spend a rather early pick on WR and TE , lets face it we are Thin thin thin at WR and we have witnessed what this team is like when we have Paulson as the top TE . Spaeth is not a Receiving threat that anybody respects and Heath is not gonna be around forever .... we are going to have to do some dealing in the draft to acquire more picks to help us out a bit with as many needs as we are going to have in 2014 like it or not

[GBMelBlount]

We have a top 5 - 10 receiver in Brown.

...and aren't #2 and #3 receivers a dime a dozen?

Assuming we resign Cotchery, even though I don't have a problem with a LT or WR early I just don't see the urgent urgency everyone else does on the O line or at WR.

TE is another story though.

[Psycho Ward 86]

We have a top 5 - 10 receiver in Brown.

...and aren't #2 and #3 receivers a dime a dozen?

Other than a TE I just don't see the urgent urgency everyone else does on the line or at WR.

did wheaton and moye do something this season that inspired confidence for you? not that i blame them, i mean moye is undrafted and wheaton has had a cluster of injuries and had a steep learning curb because he had to go finish his classes. still, the fact is that the 2 have combined for 8 catches, 84 yards, and a touchdown all season. that looks like something antonio brown does in a game if he's bored. i like to see tangible evidence from my players that tell me they can actually do something

[Dwinsgames]

did wheaton and moye do something this season that inspired confidence for you? not that i blame them, i mean moye is undrafted and wheaton has had a cluster of injuries and had a steep learning curb because he had to go finish his classes. still, the fact is that the 2 have combined for 8 catches, 84 yards, and a touchdown all season. that looks like something antonio brown does in a game if he's bored. i like to see tangible evidence from my players that tell me they can actually do something

semi agree ... my issue is pretty much that if we trot wheaton out as the number 2 next year teams are going to triple cover AB and force Wheaton to beat them in the passing game ( something he has not been able to prove worthy of doing to this point ) ...

where I do not agree is he had MONTHS to learn the system and still could not stay healthy for more than a few snaps at a time , the missing learning time early only gets you so far and its no excuse by mid season unless he is stupid ? ( if that is the case don't count on an off season helping much ) lots of players have to over come school responsibilities before getting into the building to learn ...

[GBMelBlount]

By dime a dozen I was referring to free agency.

In the same manner we picked up a solid Cotchery in FA on the cheap and who now looks fantastic arguably due to Ben.

It's obvious we don't have enough to go on with Wheaton or Moye.

[Dwinsgames]

By dime a dozen I was referring to free agency.

In the same manner we picked up a solid Cotchery in FA on the cheap and who now looks fantastic arguably due to Ben.

It's obvious we don't have enough to go on with Wheaton or Moye.

sure I am all for a FA WR to compliment A.B. problem is I do not see where the money to do all the things we need to do is coming from .....

people want to resign Valesco ( I understand why )

people want to resign Woods ( I get it )

people want to sign Worilds ( ok ya got me again I understand )

Cotchery , Will Allen , ok ok .....

we have a boatload of FA's ..... we only have so much money ( well actually we have like 13 million and only 30 something guys under contract for 2014 ) we will be hard pressed to roster 53 men worthy of rostering ......

that is why I want to wheel and deal in the draft to obtain some more selections that hopefully pan out to be worth a dam , we just can not afford to do things the same way we have been or before you know it we will have to start playing both ways again like the old days .. ( could you see Ike as a WR ? YIKES )

[Chidi29]

Just going to go throw out a couple ideas for free agents we could look at. Just putting it out there.

Ryan Pickett - Green Bay NT. Apparently hasn't heard much from them and not sure if they're interested in re-signing though not surprising talks are dormant during the season. Team is going to have to pay Raji and he won't come cheap. I like McClendon but if you want your "traditional" NT (even though McClendon is 325) there he is. Can have Woods be the first man to rotate at DE next year if you let Da Beard go and re-sign Hood. Pickett at 34 will be cheap and I wouldn't even consider him a lock to make the team. One or two year deal so no worries if he doesn't do well in camp and you cut ties.

Hakeem Nicks - Yes, bit bigger name than we are used to. But a down year in a crappy offense so you can't just blame him. He's got just one catch in the red zone this year! Not utilized well. But his price is down. If you want a big receiver, and I don't think you need to have one, even for the red zone, issues run deeper than that, he's a big fish.