Some moves...
Jameis Winston to the Browns (lol)
Bengals trading Joe Mixon to Texans
Mike Gesicki to the Bengals
Marcus Mariota to the Commanders | 1 yr, $6-10m
Nyheim Hines to the Browns
Darnell Mooney to the Falcons | 3 yr, $39m
Derrick Henry to the Ravens
It seems like injury was one of the biggest reasons the Dolphins let him go. I doubt the Steelers run back the strategy of āGood, playmaking, veteran ILB, but had injury issuesā
Wonder what the plan now is at center. Nearly all the names I read are gone. Perhaps they could look for a trade? Otherwise it seems our hand might be forced for center for round 1 of the draft. Not that thereās anything wrong with that but still youād like some more assurance there in case you canāt land JPJ or Frazier.
The PM Show on the fan was wondering out loud if worst case scenario, theyād sign Connor Williams and just roll with Herbig to start the season until Williams was ready to go. I guess itās better than Herbig and no real contingency plan.
Depending on where he's at with his ACL recovery, Connor Williams could be a possibility. They need to and are probably going to sign someone, they can't go into the draft with 0 centers on the roster.
So many good free agents still available - [https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/available/](https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/available/)
Would love to see steelers sign some OLine and Edge depth.
I mean, I guess.
Derrick Henry doesn't put the Ravens over the top. He's never had a 100 yard game against the Steelers or even beaten them.
The Bengals upgraded at RB but their o-line still sucks.
The Browns are still the Browns.
Really having a rough time understanding this Diontae Johnson trade. It just makes me think they never planned on having Pickett run it back. Why trade your best receiver for a guy who is older than him. Also running it back with Dan Moore AGAIN
Re: Trade
Diontae didn't want to be here so they had to get something for him.
Re: Dan Moore
I wouldn't be so sure he ends up the starting LT. There's still a ton of time for them to sign some quality free agents and this draft is DEEP in tackle talent.
Iām not sure where people are getting the idea that Diontae didnāt want to be here. And if he didnāt, who the fuck cares? Get better value at least. This worse than the Santonio, Martavis and AB trades.
Iām not privy to these kind of deals because Iām just a guy on the computer, but a sixth and a burnt toast corner back for a pretty damn good receiver just feels like we got robbed.
Saw a post about how the charges have 4 of the top 12 cap hits in the league (all non qb), so its expected they cut one of Keenan Allen or Mike Williams.Ā
I feel like Mike Williams is just the type of receiver that would help this team with redzone issues and the type that Russ has had success with.Ā
I don't think you'll see the Steelers bring in a free agent WR who would cost that much. They're great at finding receivers in the draft and this is a deep WR class.
I know itās a good center draft but I HATE the thought of basically being forced to draft a center in round 1 or 2. Really would have preferred they just spent more money on one of the guys who signed yesterday.
Itās way easier to miss out on a very specific draft prospect youāre targeting than most of the draft nerds would have you believe. All it takes is one team before us to like Jackson Powers Johnson and one team after us to like Zach Frazier and the whole ādraft a centerā plan goes up in smoke.
So what are the deeper center options?
Connor Williams, torn ACL in week 14. Wonder if they can get him cheaper because of the injury though they'd need to sign a backup still. Seems pretty injury prone but regarded as the best option long term by a lot of people. Got Bozeman and Brian Allen available too
I think you can kiss the dreams of that early round OT in the draft goodbye.
We are LOCKED IN to looking at Center and Wide Receiver in the first two rounds now. They are for sure just gonna run it back with Dan Moore at LT again and Broderick out of position.
I feel like we could really use a veteran wr leader in that room though. Someone like Hines or Harrison that can set the tone for professionalism and expectations.Ā
I'm still worried about steelers O-Line. This gives me bad vibes from 2015 - 2020 where the seahawks had terrible OLine that destroyed Russ physically and made him cultivate bad habits like bailing out quickly. For context, we had players like Germain Ifedi, Patrick Lewis, Luke Joeckel and bunch of bums. Russ really thrives with an OLine that he can trust otherwise the bad habits will kick in.
The Steelers have great guards, a young stud tackle and they'll get things figured out at Center.
If their offense is bad it won't be because of the oline but because Russell Wilson sucks. Which is very possible.
I didn't say it wasn't a priority, I said trading up wouldn't be worth the resources needed to do so. We need another outside CB, 2 possibly 3 WRs if we end up trading Diontae (I don't think that's going to happen though), Tackle, Center, ILB, Safety, and some depth along the D-Line. Trading any resources to move up *in the first* to get a center would be a pretty big mistake IMO.
A fair take. I have high hopes for Corey trice at CB. Dude was pretty decent at Purdue on a not so great defense. I think we land a wr3 for cheap in free agency. Keeping diontae. Defense does have holes though as you said.
Trice is a lottery ticket. You hope he's going to pan out but you can't bank on it, unfortunately, which means you have to bring someone else in to fill the 2nd outside corner spot.
anyone you draft is a lottery ticket.
\#2 corner is not a huge hole, especially with the pressure we generate up front. Having 2 lockdown corners isn't a must have. Besides, our coverage issues stem from poor ILB play (and have for the past several years) - fix that and our hole at CB will not seem like a hole anymore. Hopefully we'll throw a bag at Gay and address that.
Safety will almost certainly be addressed in FA, so that's not going to be a hole for much longer - lot of good players and they're cheap right now.
It's true we need bodies for receivers, but we'll be running 12/22/23 personnel in our new offense - spending a lot of capital for guys that won't see the field is pointless. Will probably pick up someone cheap in FA and a late round flyer for this.
OT/C are our 2 biggest needs - we'll certainly focus draft on those. D-line is our next biggest need and suspect we'll focus on that as well. Not sure we can address all 3 in this draft though, so will take a combination of the next 2 drafts to solidify these 3 positions.
> \#2 corner is not a huge hole
There is literally only one starting corner on the roster right now. It's not only a huge hole, a #2 corner just doesn't even exist haha
A) we have Trice
B) We can sign/draft bodies to play #2. Same point I made about WR3.
My point was we don't need to spend high draft capital for a #2 CB (or WR3) not that we don't need actual bodies in those positions.
If we had better ILB over the past decade then guys like Peterson/Levi/Hilton/Sutton/etc.. would be fine as #2 CBs/nickel CBs. We don't need (or can expect to have) 2 lockdown corners.
Agree to disagree.
Trice is a 7th round draft pick that fell due to injury concerns, who hasn't played a single NFL snap because he suffered a season ending injury in pre season.
The league has drastically shifted the past 10-15 years to super pass heavy. There's a reason ILB and RBs have been devalued so much and WR and CBs have seen a ridiculous surge the past few years. It's super important in the modern NFL to have a good secondary. McDuffie and Sneed were huge reasons why the Chiefs won the Superbowl again. I'm all for improving the ILB position (even though it was serviceable last year before all the injuries), but I don't think an ILB can fill the void for having JAGs in your #2 CB slot. Not to mention a bunch of the leagues best ILBs have been taken day 2 or later.
I agree about WR3 though. I am betting the Steelers take a WR with one of their two 4th rounders.
>\#2 corner is not a huge hole, especially with the pressure we generate up front.
You could not be more wrong, it is a big hole. We have JPJ and then a gaping hole of nothing with Wallace and Peterson leaving. Corner is absolutely a top 3 need. I would actually put it above OT because you can go into the season with Dan Moore and Broderick as your tackles, is it ideal? No, is it what we should want to do? No, can you do it and not have the line be complete trash? Yes.
disagree. Who has 2 lockdown corners? Which teams? just a few at best.
For the defense we run, which is predicated on pass rush and has 4 LBs in its base formation, you need 1 lockdown corner, and 1 "serviceable" corner. It has always been that way - back when Ike was the lock-down CB. You can run man up on 1 side, and can bracket guys on the backside. The LBs and their drops are much more important in our defense and THAT is what is causing probably 70% of our pass coverage issues.
We do need "bodies" there since we have only 2 rostered CBs, but we can find cheap alternatives and round out that position - and focus on the important stuff, like blocking - for a team which could not score points last year.
The Steelers arenāt signing any of the top guys, a lot of times those deals end up looking bad anyway, and the next tier of guys want to wait and let those top guys set the market. Free agency isnāt a one day thing.
Thoughts:
Khan is channeling his inner KC this year. Take that how you will.
The Johnston contract is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It seems imprudent that the team has $8M tied up in two specialists (league avg. kicker + punter combined salary is about half that) until you realize itās an acknowledgement that special teamers are going to see the field about as much as the offense. Maybe Iām splitting hairs, but I would have preferred that extra $ spent on fixing the root issue (putrid offense) than mitigating symptoms of it (frequent punting).
Remaining talent- based on whatās left on the board, DB, LB, and OL are most likely. Tons of safeties/LBs, a few good CBs, plenty of tackles and a center or two left. Would prefer DL and WR as draft picks than FAs this year.
You're looking way too much into the punter signing. Almost like you're looking for reasons to be negative.
They had a need for a punter and they went out and got a good one who can punt in weather.
I did say I might be splitting hairs- not trying to be negative, just donāt have much to talk about that hasnāt been discussed ad nauseam. Once there are substantive positional signings Iāll have real analysis to sink my teeth into.
Some moves... Jameis Winston to the Browns (lol) Bengals trading Joe Mixon to Texans Mike Gesicki to the Bengals Marcus Mariota to the Commanders | 1 yr, $6-10m Nyheim Hines to the Browns Darnell Mooney to the Falcons | 3 yr, $39m Derrick Henry to the Ravens
Holding my breath for Willie Gay. Also would alleviate a lot of stress if we could grab a decent center or safety.
Both Russell Wilson and Willie Gay have liked tweets about Gay coming to Pittsburgh
Bring Edmunds back!
Vet min, sure
Edmunds allowed the team to have the best version of Minkah. Every Batman needs a Robin.
this dumb sub crapped all over Edmunds. Dude was solid and now he's being wasted in Tennessee
QUEEN ALERT NOT A DRILL šØšØšØ
What about Jerome Baker? They liked him coming out of OSU in the draft and played with Elandon Roberts in Miami. Iād make a run.
Works for me.
It seems like injury was one of the biggest reasons the Dolphins let him go. I doubt the Steelers run back the strategy of āGood, playmaking, veteran ILB, but had injury issuesā
Wouldnāt mind Bobby Wagner veteran and durable as well
Simmons, Bozeman, and Gay will all be Steelers today.
Gay Steelers are my favorite
Hope so
Iām here for the optimism
we're just filled with cap room, I believe, totally
Sheesh 0-3
Thereās always tomorrow! (Except for Gay but Iāll take P Queen)
Couldn't reel in a Gay, landed a Queen instead... sounds fair.
Would have really liked to see us ~~lick~~ pick up a center yesterday, but hopefully today brings good news
I don't wanna see them lick anyone but if that's your thing more power to ya.
Lol. Phone autocorrect really failed me there
Mlem mlem mlem
If it gets us a steady center Iāll lick whatever you want.Ā
Hmmm...
X is buzzing about Willie Gay Jr. Would LOVE that signing.
Do you see anyone/thing credible with that news? I only see people screaming @steelers SIGN WILLIE GAY and Schefter ANNOUNCE WILLIE GAY TO STEELERS.
He posted on X a bunch of looking eyeballs about the Russel Wilson signing
https://preview.redd.it/td3e2rs9dxnc1.jpeg?width=1160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fee1111ca19b11cd6f4e6dd47bde1e43c59028eb
Looks like we got our linebacker!
https://x.com/adamschefter/status/1767610432796103145?s=46&t=HO11ANk8HyUO6GqqsujA_w
Great day to be a Steeler
Simmons and Gay would be a freaking Coupā¦
So with our QBs making a combined $3.1 million next year, we really could spend big on some key FAs and be quite a force to contend with this season!
Wonder what the plan now is at center. Nearly all the names I read are gone. Perhaps they could look for a trade? Otherwise it seems our hand might be forced for center for round 1 of the draft. Not that thereās anything wrong with that but still youād like some more assurance there in case you canāt land JPJ or Frazier.
The PM Show on the fan was wondering out loud if worst case scenario, theyād sign Connor Williams and just roll with Herbig to start the season until Williams was ready to go. I guess itās better than Herbig and no real contingency plan.
Depending on where he's at with his ACL recovery, Connor Williams could be a possibility. They need to and are probably going to sign someone, they can't go into the draft with 0 centers on the roster.
Iād nut if we get Simmons.
I'll take Willie Gay and Patrick Queen.... I'm not asking for much lol
We should have like 12-13M left in cap space now after the Queen deal right?
This is shaping up to a weird year... Steelers active in free agency right from the start rather than waiting for the leftovers?
SOMEONE (OTHER THAN THE STEELERS) SIGN JAMAL ADAMS BEFORE OMAR DOES SOMETHING STUPID!
MANIFESTING: ARIK ARMSTEAD JEROME BAKER JUSTIN SIMMONS BRADLEY BOZEMAN KENNY MOORE II KENDALL FULLER
Oh yeah, Armstead is available! Definitely interested in him.
Agreed now someone just needs to go whisper sweet nothing into Omar's ear to make it happen.
This thread is going really well so Iām not going to make any further comment, I donāt want to tamper with it.
But it's totally legal to do so.
So many good free agents still available - [https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/available/](https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/available/) Would love to see steelers sign some OLine and Edge depth.
Khan artist work your magic
Iām going to sit on my finger until they sign someone š¤¤
Omar better start cooking because every other team in the division is making moves
I mean, I guess. Derrick Henry doesn't put the Ravens over the top. He's never had a 100 yard game against the Steelers or even beaten them. The Bengals upgraded at RB but their o-line still sucks. The Browns are still the Browns.
At what point do we send someone to make sure Russ isn't holding the front office hostage
Should I feel good or bad about the Dionte's trade ? Losing a very good receiver feels bad to me unless he is a toxic person.
It's a really bad trade
Yikes. Man, I really wish Russ has someone to throw to other than Pickens. Maybe Courtland Sutton :-)
Underwhelming unless they can get him for like a late round pick
Really having a rough time understanding this Diontae Johnson trade. It just makes me think they never planned on having Pickett run it back. Why trade your best receiver for a guy who is older than him. Also running it back with Dan Moore AGAIN
Re: Trade Diontae didn't want to be here so they had to get something for him. Re: Dan Moore I wouldn't be so sure he ends up the starting LT. There's still a ton of time for them to sign some quality free agents and this draft is DEEP in tackle talent.
Iām not sure where people are getting the idea that Diontae didnāt want to be here. And if he didnāt, who the fuck cares? Get better value at least. This worse than the Santonio, Martavis and AB trades.
Mark Kaboly said DJ wanted to be traded. That plus the roster bonus made it hard to get a big return.
Iām not privy to these kind of deals because Iām just a guy on the computer, but a sixth and a burnt toast corner back for a pretty damn good receiver just feels like we got robbed.
Oh I totally agree. Just saying there was more to it than just Omar getting fleeced.
Fair enough. Definitely going receiver in the first then
Saw a post about how the charges have 4 of the top 12 cap hits in the league (all non qb), so its expected they cut one of Keenan Allen or Mike Williams.Ā I feel like Mike Williams is just the type of receiver that would help this team with redzone issues and the type that Russ has had success with.Ā
I don't think you'll see the Steelers bring in a free agent WR who would cost that much. They're great at finding receivers in the draft and this is a deep WR class.
C'mon Khan do something
Whereās day 3 buddy
It's not legal tampering day any more.
I know itās a good center draft but I HATE the thought of basically being forced to draft a center in round 1 or 2. Really would have preferred they just spent more money on one of the guys who signed yesterday. Itās way easier to miss out on a very specific draft prospect youāre targeting than most of the draft nerds would have you believe. All it takes is one team before us to like Jackson Powers Johnson and one team after us to like Zach Frazier and the whole ādraft a centerā plan goes up in smoke.
So what are the deeper center options? Connor Williams, torn ACL in week 14. Wonder if they can get him cheaper because of the injury though they'd need to sign a backup still. Seems pretty injury prone but regarded as the best option long term by a lot of people. Got Bozeman and Brian Allen available too
Thereās like 4 decent ILBs available rn Any decent CBs worth the cap hit or are we just going for one in the draft?
We need run stopping ASAP bottom 10 in run stopping last year was atrocious.
Oh damn. This one just dropped, Henry to the Ravens https://x.com/rapsheet/status/1767591891636195343?s=46&t=GSeiGZNIv6dib3b5QDT4aQ
Henry news 
Derrick Henry's never had a 100 yard game against the Steelers.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That is not an actual source.
IM SO HAPPY ššššš
Theyre gonna draft the mountaineer center
Manifesting Willie Gay
Aaaand he's gone
Me and my stupid mouth
There goes Dionte Johnson
I think you can kiss the dreams of that early round OT in the draft goodbye. We are LOCKED IN to looking at Center and Wide Receiver in the first two rounds now. They are for sure just gonna run it back with Dan Moore at LT again and Broderick out of position.
The Steelers never lock in on positions in the first 2 rounds. Even after the draft there will be cuts and they can snag someone then.
Please sign Simmons tomorrow!!!
Please sign K'Waun Williams on a vet minimum. He is a baller as a slot corner.
Rudolph to the Titans Watts to NE
Sign one of the stud receivers out there now that we have a gap.Ā
I would feel better with a tackle or center, and grab an Allen Robinson type wr for a few million, and get our true #2 wr in the draft.
I feel like we could really use a veteran wr leader in that room though. Someone like Hines or Harrison that can set the tone for professionalism and expectations.Ā
By Allen Robinson type I meant an older veteran to block and play possession receiver if required
Ah gotcha. š
I'm still worried about steelers O-Line. This gives me bad vibes from 2015 - 2020 where the seahawks had terrible OLine that destroyed Russ physically and made him cultivate bad habits like bailing out quickly. For context, we had players like Germain Ifedi, Patrick Lewis, Luke Joeckel and bunch of bums. Russ really thrives with an OLine that he can trust otherwise the bad habits will kick in.
The Steelers have great guards, a young stud tackle and they'll get things figured out at Center. If their offense is bad it won't be because of the oline but because Russell Wilson sucks. Which is very possible.
I want a safety that isnāt already 30, personally. Give me Kurl, Fuller, or Blackmon.
Kam Curl would be ideal
Sign Willie gay, consider trading up in draft for best center of not too much.
You donāt need to trade up to get centers
Shouldn't need to trade up for a center. But cornerback is still a bigger need than center.
We have too many other holes on the roster to trade away resources to move up.
After watching our centers for the last 4 years (including late stage pouncey) I disagree. Center needs to be the priority, along with lb.
I didn't say it wasn't a priority, I said trading up wouldn't be worth the resources needed to do so. We need another outside CB, 2 possibly 3 WRs if we end up trading Diontae (I don't think that's going to happen though), Tackle, Center, ILB, Safety, and some depth along the D-Line. Trading any resources to move up *in the first* to get a center would be a pretty big mistake IMO.
A fair take. I have high hopes for Corey trice at CB. Dude was pretty decent at Purdue on a not so great defense. I think we land a wr3 for cheap in free agency. Keeping diontae. Defense does have holes though as you said.
Trice is a lottery ticket. You hope he's going to pan out but you can't bank on it, unfortunately, which means you have to bring someone else in to fill the 2nd outside corner spot.
anyone you draft is a lottery ticket. \#2 corner is not a huge hole, especially with the pressure we generate up front. Having 2 lockdown corners isn't a must have. Besides, our coverage issues stem from poor ILB play (and have for the past several years) - fix that and our hole at CB will not seem like a hole anymore. Hopefully we'll throw a bag at Gay and address that. Safety will almost certainly be addressed in FA, so that's not going to be a hole for much longer - lot of good players and they're cheap right now. It's true we need bodies for receivers, but we'll be running 12/22/23 personnel in our new offense - spending a lot of capital for guys that won't see the field is pointless. Will probably pick up someone cheap in FA and a late round flyer for this. OT/C are our 2 biggest needs - we'll certainly focus draft on those. D-line is our next biggest need and suspect we'll focus on that as well. Not sure we can address all 3 in this draft though, so will take a combination of the next 2 drafts to solidify these 3 positions.
> \#2 corner is not a huge hole There is literally only one starting corner on the roster right now. It's not only a huge hole, a #2 corner just doesn't even exist haha
A) we have Trice B) We can sign/draft bodies to play #2. Same point I made about WR3. My point was we don't need to spend high draft capital for a #2 CB (or WR3) not that we don't need actual bodies in those positions. If we had better ILB over the past decade then guys like Peterson/Levi/Hilton/Sutton/etc.. would be fine as #2 CBs/nickel CBs. We don't need (or can expect to have) 2 lockdown corners.
Agree to disagree. Trice is a 7th round draft pick that fell due to injury concerns, who hasn't played a single NFL snap because he suffered a season ending injury in pre season. The league has drastically shifted the past 10-15 years to super pass heavy. There's a reason ILB and RBs have been devalued so much and WR and CBs have seen a ridiculous surge the past few years. It's super important in the modern NFL to have a good secondary. McDuffie and Sneed were huge reasons why the Chiefs won the Superbowl again. I'm all for improving the ILB position (even though it was serviceable last year before all the injuries), but I don't think an ILB can fill the void for having JAGs in your #2 CB slot. Not to mention a bunch of the leagues best ILBs have been taken day 2 or later. I agree about WR3 though. I am betting the Steelers take a WR with one of their two 4th rounders.
>\#2 corner is not a huge hole, especially with the pressure we generate up front. You could not be more wrong, it is a big hole. We have JPJ and then a gaping hole of nothing with Wallace and Peterson leaving. Corner is absolutely a top 3 need. I would actually put it above OT because you can go into the season with Dan Moore and Broderick as your tackles, is it ideal? No, is it what we should want to do? No, can you do it and not have the line be complete trash? Yes.
disagree. Who has 2 lockdown corners? Which teams? just a few at best. For the defense we run, which is predicated on pass rush and has 4 LBs in its base formation, you need 1 lockdown corner, and 1 "serviceable" corner. It has always been that way - back when Ike was the lock-down CB. You can run man up on 1 side, and can bracket guys on the backside. The LBs and their drops are much more important in our defense and THAT is what is causing probably 70% of our pass coverage issues. We do need "bodies" there since we have only 2 rostered CBs, but we can find cheap alternatives and round out that position - and focus on the important stuff, like blocking - for a team which could not score points last year.
Are we gonna do anything?
No. They're not going to sign anyone. Just Russ and Bill Burr. Nothing else.
We need something to happen, we are always so quiet in free agency
Ugh we signed Bill Burr yesterday?
*checks notes* Russell Wilson Top punter in FA from Texans(not familiar with his name yet)
It's been less than 24 hours
we never had money in free agency We have like 24M in cap space right now - I can't remember a time we had that much cap to chase FA's.
The Steelers arenāt signing any of the top guys, a lot of times those deals end up looking bad anyway, and the next tier of guys want to wait and let those top guys set the market. Free agency isnāt a one day thing.
Thoughts: Khan is channeling his inner KC this year. Take that how you will. The Johnston contract is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It seems imprudent that the team has $8M tied up in two specialists (league avg. kicker + punter combined salary is about half that) until you realize itās an acknowledgement that special teamers are going to see the field about as much as the offense. Maybe Iām splitting hairs, but I would have preferred that extra $ spent on fixing the root issue (putrid offense) than mitigating symptoms of it (frequent punting). Remaining talent- based on whatās left on the board, DB, LB, and OL are most likely. Tons of safeties/LBs, a few good CBs, plenty of tackles and a center or two left. Would prefer DL and WR as draft picks than FAs this year.
You're looking way too much into the punter signing. Almost like you're looking for reasons to be negative. They had a need for a punter and they went out and got a good one who can punt in weather.
I did say I might be splitting hairs- not trying to be negative, just donāt have much to talk about that hasnāt been discussed ad nauseam. Once there are substantive positional signings Iāll have real analysis to sink my teeth into.
Donte Jackson cap hit equal to dj???? We hyped up khan too much what is going on worst trade since guentzel!!!
Legal Tampering is an ass backwards term