Steelers Acquire CB Brandon Boykin In Trade With Eagles

[TD's & Beer]

I thought Allen was having a good camp so far(?)

A couple days running around in shorts doesn't replace an entire season of horrible play on tape, we needed help badly

I can't believe they handed him a 5 year $26M contract....then they benched him for half the year for poor play!

But I'm not picking on him, the entire secondary was terrible...except for maybe Gay...he was our shining star.

[BigNastyDefense]

If he can play on the outside like he wants to, then this is a good pickup.

Allen is having a good camp so far from what I have read and heard, but there's no guarantee that it will translate to actual games.

Boykin can at the least play in the slot, which is a big help of Golson's injury is serious. Boykin might get moved around some. He instantly becomes at least the second best corner on the team behind Gay.

[TD's & Beer]

If he can play on the outside like he wants to, then this is a good pickup.

He instantly becomes at least the second best corner on the team behind Gay.

truth

plus he doesn't seem to have hands of stone

[stillers4me]

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[stillers4me]

[Mojouw]

Could be that Boykin is simply better than Blake (I suspect he is). Taking an optimistic outlook about Golson's injury, the CB depth chart looks like this:

Allen
Gay
Boykin
Blake
Golson

Grant - Practice Squad

Guessing that leaves Webb and Fogg on the outside looking in?

[BigNastyDefense]

truth

plus he doesn't seem to have hands of stone

So you're saying he's no Ike Taylor?

[polamalubeast]

Could be that Boykin is simply better than Blake (I suspect he is). Taking an optimistic outlook about Golson's injury, the CB depth chart looks like this:

Allen
Gay
Boykin
Blake
Golson

Grant - Practice Squad

Guessing that leaves Webb and Fogg on the outside looking in?

No way Grant will be in the practice squad, especially because he is a 4th round pick and he has a good training camp

[Mojouw]

No way Grant will be in the practice squad, especially because he is a 4th round pick and he has a good training camp

I doubt they carry more than 5 corners on the 53 man roster. So someone has to go somewhere. Operating on the assumption that Golson is NOT hurt in a significant way and that he is BETTER than Grant (I realize these are two rather large assumptions at this point) then Golson gets the 5th CB spot over Grant. I doubt they are going to cut Grant - so practice squad?

Of course, that would mean that Grant could leave, so maybe they roster him w/ the safeties? But there is a roster crunch there as well. Figure Thomas, Mitchell, and Allen are all gonna get spots.

[steelreserve]

I'm not overly thrilled with this trade. He's in the last year of his contract...unless they re-sign him, it could be a wasted pick.

Aren't most 5th-round picks wasted anyway? I think William Gay is the only one for over a decade who did more than play special teams for a year or two and then get cut.

Getting a legitimate NFL player for a 5th-round pick is beyond a steal.

As for Golson...I don't think we'll see him in 2015.

Unfortunately, that's probably it. I don't see us making that move at random.

On the bright side, it shows that we noticed we had a personnel problem at a key position other than linebacker, and then actually did something about it? That's almost unheard of. That kind of thinking probably would've gotten you dismissed as a heretic under ol' Round-peg-square-hole LeBeau.

[polamalubeast]

Boykin isn’t sure what role he’ll play with the Steelers, but he maintained he’d play any role enthusiastically.

“I played in every scheme,” Boykin said. “I feel like I’m a versatile guy. I feel like that’s what I pride myself on, just being able to play everything, whether it’s special teams, nickel, inside, outside. I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do and do it with a smile on my face.

“You’ll always see me smiling. That’s just kinda how I am.”

read more

http://www.steelers.com/news/article...a-43c9c16248dc

[Steelman]

Pretty happy about this trade. Even if it escalates to a 4th it will still be a worthwhile value. We have too many BW Webb-caliber players on the roster (Blake being barely better) which doesn't translate to good depth. Boykin is basically a much better version of Brice McCain, which we all saw the value of late last season. Very glad the FO didn't overpay to keep McCain.

This trades does sound ominous for Golson's status this year. Hopefully at worst it'll turn out to be an IR-designated-return situation.

[polamalubeast]

Pretty happy about this trade. Even if it escalates to a 4th it will still be a worthwhile value. We have too many BW Webb-caliber players on the roster (Blake being barely better) which doesn't translate to good depth. Boykin is basically a much better version of Brice McCain, which we all saw the value of late last season. Very glad the FO didn't overpay to keep McCain.

This trades does sound ominous for Golson's status this year. Hopefully at worst it'll turn out to be an IR-designated-return situation.

Golson can stay on the pup list for the first 6 week of the season.....

[polamalubeast]

[hawaiiansteeler]

Golson can stay on the pup list for the first 6 week of the season.....

this is exactly what may very well happen, allow Golson's shoulder to heal and give him time to learn the defense. the Steelers don't really like to throw rookies into the line of fire right away anyways...

[TD's & Beer]

Welcome aboard!

https://twitter.com/Teresa_Varley

[hawaiiansteeler]

Be prepared to give up a 4th round pick....

Alex Kozora ‏@Alex_Kozora -

If Boykin truly is the nickel back, the Steelers use it about 50% of the time. So barring injury, no slam dunk he hits escalator. #Steelers

https://twitter.com/Alex_Kozora

[TeeTee]

I think it does. Hopefully it isn't a rotator cuff injury.

That's what I suspected all along. But Pgh was trying to get Boykin before the draft too, so who knows?

I love this news, but is it deserving of 5 separate threads?

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Alex Kozora ‏@Alex_Kozora -

If Boykin truly is the nickel back, the Steelers use it about 50% of the time. So barring injury, no slam dunk he hits escalator. #Steelers

https://twitter.com/Alex_Kozora

I actually think he might win a starter job and Gay will be nickelback.

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this is exactly what may very well happen, allow Golson's shoulder to heal and give him time to learn the defense. the Steelers don't really like to throw rookies into the line of fire right away anyways...

All true

[st33lersguy]

I like this. Hopefully he can help the team out

[86WARD]

Could be that Boykin is simply better than Blake (I suspect he is). Taking an optimistic outlook about Golson's injury, the CB depth chart looks like this:

Allen
Gay
Boykin
Blake
Golson

Grant - Practice Squad

Guessing that leaves Webb and Fogg on the outside looking in?

Boykin is probably better than Gay.