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Sugar
01-20-2013, 11:13 PM
This offseason it is looking increasingly like the Steelers may be forced to cut James Harrison because of the cap. My question to the board is, who do you see as the biggest cut in Steeler history? Who was the most personally disappointing for you?

Remember, I'm thinking about players that are cut- not those who are traded or retire.

DukieBoy
01-20-2013, 11:15 PM
Johnny Unitas, if that counts as recent enough history.

jj28west
01-20-2013, 11:36 PM
Mike Vrabel? Was he cut?

SidSmythe
01-20-2013, 11:41 PM
Mike Vrabel? Was he cut?

Vrabel was a free agent.

supersteeler
01-20-2013, 11:45 PM
Rod Woodson?

DBR96A
01-20-2013, 11:48 PM
Len Dawson was another legendary QB the Steelers cut.

SteelerOfDeVille
01-21-2013, 12:11 AM
Woodson was also a FA, wasn't he?

"Recent history"? James Farrior comes to mind - I suspect the team woulda been playing this January, had they not cut him.

Does depend on how "recent"... In 2000's, possibly Kraig Urbrik, starting OG for the Bills... Santonio comes to mind. Cant think of any true "cuts" that weren't warranted, though... the Urbrik cut irked me... too early to give up on a 2nd rounder...

Djfan
01-21-2013, 12:32 AM
Johnny U is the real answer. Farrior is my recent answer.

The dude who played the dad on "Married With Children" is the funniest answer.

SteelBucks
01-21-2013, 12:34 AM
Len Dawson without a doubt.

SteelBucks
01-21-2013, 12:38 AM
The dude who played the dad on "Married With Children" is the funniest answer.

Ed O'Neill went to my high school....and yes, he's in our HOF. :D

supersteeler
01-21-2013, 08:38 AM
Len Dawson without a doubt.


Yeah, he went on to win a Super Bowl with the Chiefs, he could of helped the Steelers be a better team for sure.

BradshawsHairdresser
01-21-2013, 10:03 AM
"Recent history"? James Farrior comes to mind - I suspect the team woulda been playing this January, had they not cut him. There's a reason no other team signed Farrior after we cut him. He's done. Foote was no worse at that position than Farrior was last season, IMO.

7 UP
01-21-2013, 10:12 AM
Woodson was also a FA, wasn't he?

"Recent history"? James Farrior comes to mind - I suspect the team woulda been playing this January, had they not cut him.

Does depend on how "recent"... In 2000's, possibly Kraig Urbrik, starting OG for the Bills... Santonio comes to mind. Cant think of any true "cuts" that weren't warranted, though... the Urbrik cut irked me... too early to give up on a 2nd rounder...

Santonio was traded to the Jets.

How about David Little who Cowher actually cut in camp 1 year after making the Pro Bowl?

SidSmythe
01-21-2013, 10:41 AM
A lot of reaches here.
I say we gotta go back to Dawson and Unitas.

Farrior?? the dude is old and never played again.
Kraig Urbrik??? LOL!!!!! If that's at the top I say the Steelers have done a good job.

phillyesq
01-21-2013, 11:04 AM
Joey Porter was a tough cut, but having Harrison step in and play as well as he did eased the blow.

fordfixer
01-21-2013, 11:30 AM
Ed O'Neill went to my high school....and yes, he's in our HOF. :D
You went to Polk High?

lloydroid
01-21-2013, 04:41 PM
Since this list is so limited and/or old, I'd like to modify it to include players who were allowed to walk in free agency. And even that list is quite short. But I'd have to say the two top best players we let leave was Woodson and Kevin Greene. Almost all other seemingly good players we let walk did little to nothing on their new teams. Chad Brown seemed like a major loss but he never did that much in Seattle. Neil O'Donnell went on to suck at the Jets, really badly and then just back up in TN. Eric Green had a few decent years in Balt. but wasn't a star. Yancy Thigpen seemed like a huge loss, but went on to just stay injured all the time at TN. Leon Searcy had a few good years in Jax but not many. One of the most underrated FA we lost was Orpheus Roy, who had 8 years in Cleveland but on all bad teams. He was good.

anger 82&95
01-21-2013, 05:42 PM
Losing Levon Kirkland hurt a bit...

lloydroid
01-21-2013, 05:46 PM
Losing Levon Kirkland hurt a bit...

Did he even play any where else? Was he any good?

skyhawk
01-21-2013, 07:51 PM
Ok, I will go with someone not mentioned here. Not sure if he was cut or a free agent. But Hardy Nickerson kicked butt after leaving the Steelers. 5 pro bowls and the all decade team.

skyhawk
01-21-2013, 07:52 PM
He went to Seattle didn't for a year or two? Then rode the bench in Philly for a year.

BATMAN
01-21-2013, 09:43 PM
Kevin Green, Leon Searcy, Mike Vrabel........I was very upset about them allowing Vrabel to go and I know we had Joey Porter but, I still thought he could place with our team. Johnny Unitas for sure along with Dawson but, they proved their skills after they left the Steelers so I really don't believe we let these talents go after knowing how great they were. I didn't miss Woodson because for one, he insisted upon remaining a corner and his time had passed. Had he just played guys straight up instead believeing he could still cover the field with his great speed, Rod could have still been a factor two more season with the Steelers after he had left.
The few that come to mind that left and still had something to offer our team and make the team better were, Vrabel, Kevin Green and Gary Anderson, Hardy Nickerson.

fezziwig
01-22-2013, 11:22 AM
I was upset for a long time when they allowed Vrabel to leave. So in my life time in watching the Steelers, Carnell Lake leaving and Kevin Green. I thought the Gary Anderson was a good flashback too.

lloydroid
01-22-2013, 12:05 PM
Ok, I will go with someone not mentioned here. Not sure if he was cut or a free agent. But Hardy Nickerson kicked butt after leaving the Steelers. 5 pro bowls and the all decade team.

Wasn't he replaced by Kirkland? If so, I don't think we missed anything with that move, might even been an upgrade. Levon, before he got too fat, was awesome. Hardy was expensive at that point. Not a bad move at all.

ikestops85
01-22-2013, 02:57 PM
Overall I would have to say Unitas but if you are talking somewhat recently then Hardy Nickerson would be my choice. That guy was one helluva linebacker. Most of the guys who left (Kevin Green, Carnell Lake, etc) had very little left in the tank. I'm getting old and can't remember names anymore but I think we also lost a very good offensive lineman to the 49ers who played on a couple of their SB teams. Maybe someone here can help me out.

Jigawatts
01-22-2013, 03:07 PM
You went to Polk High?

Now that's funny.:lol:

lloydroid
01-22-2013, 03:29 PM
I was upset for a long time when they allowed Vrabel to leave. So in my life time in watching the Steelers, Carnell Lake leaving and Kevin Green. I thought the Gary Anderson was a good flashback too.

Vrabel left because Cowher didn't know how to use him......and Cowher was bothered that MV was smarter than him and more of a real man and better leader. That bothered Cowher and his frail ego needs. When you "don't know how to use" a player like MV, you suck butt as a coach. Belichick certainly had no problem in knowing how to use him.

lloydroid
01-22-2013, 03:36 PM
Overall I would have to say Unitas but if you are talking somewhat recently then Hardy Nickerson would be my choice. That guy was one helluva linebacker. Most of the guys who left (Kevin Green, Carnell Lake, etc) had very little left in the tank. I'm getting old and can't remember names anymore but I think we also lost a very good offensive lineman to the 49ers who played on a couple of their SB teams. Maybe someone here can help me out.

We lost a good OT in John Jackson, but he went to SD for a few years and then to Cinci for a few more. That was a really good OT that we struggled some to replace. Luckily we had Will Wolford and Justin Strzelczyk, but they were a little long in the tooth. Unluckily, we drafted Jermain Stephens, one of the worst draft picks in the team's history. He was such a horrible 1st round pick. Just terrible. They thought they were drafting another Larry Allen and instead they drafted another Larry Bud Melman.

753

skyhawk
01-22-2013, 04:35 PM
We lost a good OT in John Jackson, but he went to SD for a few years and then to Cinci for a few more. That was a really good OT that we struggled some to replace. Luckily we had Will Wolford and Justin Strzelczyk, but they were a little long in the tooth. Unluckily, we drafted Jermain Stephens, one of the worst draft picks in the team's history. He was such a horrible 1st round pick. Just terrible. They thought they were drafting another Larry Allen and instead they drafted another Larry Bud Melman.

753

John Jackson was damn solid. One of my all time fave players!

ikestops85
01-22-2013, 04:49 PM
I'm going to throw a name out that I never knew. Brent Jones was drafted by the Steelers in 1986 in the 5th round. We evidently cut him and he went on to have a great career for the 49ers ... the TE was selected to 4 Pro Bowls.

lloydroid
01-22-2013, 05:04 PM
John Jackson was damn solid. One of my all time fave players!

He was one of the best free agents that we ever lost. He was a 10th round pick who made the Pro Bowl. At the time he was a Steeler we had a damn good OL. I wish we'd attain that level of OL again. It would sure be nice.

bat1816
01-22-2013, 06:12 PM
Thomas Everett was a very good S for the Cowboys. He won 2 Super Bowls and went to 1 pro bowl with them, although I think we traded him away.
Brentson Buckner was a solid DE for us and went on to win a Super Bowl with Carolina. Cowher traded him away due to personality conflicts.
Jeff Graham struggled as a receiver here but went on to be a Pro Bowl receiver with the Bears.
Jeff Zgonina, NT, barely saw the field in Pittsburgh, but played for 17 seasons in the league and won a Super Bowl with the Rams.
Jon Kuhn, FB, won a Super Bowl with the Packers and was a Pro Bowl FB in 2012.
Chris Hope, S, went to the Pro Bowl with the Titans
Oronde Gadsden, WR, put up very good numbers with the Dolphins after Cowher cut him.
WRs Chris Calloway and Leslie Shepherd went on to be reasonably productive receivers with their respective teams.
Willie Williams, CB, was a solid starting CB for several years in Seattle.

Steelerphile
01-22-2013, 06:16 PM
I would echo Jeff Zgonina, that was a surprising cut but the worst cut may have been Dwaine Board. 5th rounder in 1979. Never made the team for the Steelers but played in SF for 9 seasons productively and had 45 career sacks. Terrible cut.

bat1816
01-22-2013, 06:23 PM
I would echo Jeff Zgonina, that was a surprising cut but the worst cut may have been Dwaine Board. 5th rounder in 1979. Never made the team for the Steelers but played in SF for 9 seasons productively and had 45 career sacks. Terrible cut.

I think this was one cut that Chuck Noll admitted he made a mistake. He kept a declining player in L.C. Greenwood over Dwaine Board.

lloydroid
01-22-2013, 06:51 PM
Thomas Everett was a very good S for the Cowboys. He won 2 Super Bowls and went to 1 pro bowl with them, although I think we traded him away.

I don't think we traded him; I think he was a FA. He was decent, for sure. Pretty big hitter.


Brentson Buckner was a solid DE for us and went on to win a Super Bowl with Carolina. Cowher traded him away due to personality conflicts.

I don't think it was a trade.


Jeff Graham struggled as a receiver here but went on to be a Pro Bowl receiver with the Bears.

Only two catches as a rookie, but then went on to have 49 and 38 grabs the next two years. Not a total flop but a little less than you would like for a high 2nd round pick. Then had his best two seasons with the Bears with 68 and 82 grabs before leaving for The Jets, Philly and then SD. Had a decent 10 year career. Not a huge loss for Pgh but he certainly was decent.


Jeff Zgonina, NT, barely saw the field in Pittsburgh, but played for 17 seasons in the league and won a Super Bowl with the Rams.

Maybe because he wasn't quite a fit in a 3-4 DL. I think he played in a 4-3 with the Rams.



Jon Kuhn, FB, won a Super Bowl with the Packers and was a Pro Bowl FB in 2012.

I think letting him go was a mistake; could have been modern day Hoge.


Chris Hope, S, went to the Pro Bowl with the Titans

He was good and got a pretty huge deal from TN. Played there for years. He actually played for ATL this year.


Oronde Gadsden, WR, put up very good numbers with the Dolphins after Cowher cut him.

He did, for sure. I didn't know he was ever a Steeler; I don't think he was drafted.


WRs Chris Calloway and Leslie Shepherd went on to be reasonably productive receivers with their respective teams.

Calloway was a Giant if I recall.


Willie Williams, CB, was a solid starting CB for several years in Seattle.

Willie was decent, but not ideal. Kind of small, but not horrible.

fezziwig
01-22-2013, 07:20 PM
Remember Paul Skansi from the Steelers that went to Seattle ? He had a decent career and wow, you guys have mentioned some names I haven't heard in years. If you put the guys they allowed to go and made a team out of them, they probably would have won a championship.
There was a center also that went t Robert Morris and Cowher kept Okobi over him. The center had several years with the Eagles while we struggled with guys like Hartwig, Okobi.

I didn't mind Yancey Thigpen leaving the team. He was the original glass house.

fezziwig
01-22-2013, 07:28 PM
Brenston Buckner won a Super Bowl with Carolina ? I thought Carolina lost that game or did they play the Patriots and get cheated out of their win ?

supersteeler
01-22-2013, 07:36 PM
How about worst FA signing?

Off the top of my head Center Sean Mahan. We got him from Tampa Bay, if i remember correctly he struggled in every game, so the Steelers traded him back to Tampa Bay the very next season He stunk.

Chucktownsteeler
01-22-2013, 07:55 PM
I'm going to throw a name out that I never knew. Brent Jones was drafted by the Steelers in 1986 in the 5th round. We evidently cut him and he went on to have a great career for the 49ers ... the TE was selected to 4 Pro Bowls.

Very good player, I forgot about him. Big mistake letting him go.

phillyesq
01-22-2013, 08:58 PM
Thomas Everett was a very good S for the Cowboys. He won 2 Super Bowls and went to 1 pro bowl with them, although I think we traded him away.
Brentson Buckner was a solid DE for us and went on to win a Super Bowl with Carolina. Cowher traded him away due to personality conflicts.
Jeff Graham struggled as a receiver here but went on to be a Pro Bowl receiver with the Bears.
Jeff Zgonina, NT, barely saw the field in Pittsburgh, but played for 17 seasons in the league and won a Super Bowl with the Rams.
Jon Kuhn, FB, won a Super Bowl with the Packers and was a Pro Bowl FB in 2012.
Chris Hope, S, went to the Pro Bowl with the Titans
Oronde Gadsden, WR, put up very good numbers with the Dolphins after Cowher cut him.
WRs Chris Calloway and Leslie Shepherd went on to be reasonably productive receivers with their respective teams.
Willie Williams, CB, was a solid starting CB for several years in Seattle.

Great list and welcome to the board. Couple names I never would have thought of. Zgonina in particular...

bat1816
01-22-2013, 09:33 PM
Brenston Buckner won a Super Bowl with Carolina ? I thought Carolina lost that game or did they play the Patriots and get cheated out of their win ?

Sorry, should have said played in a Super Bowl with Carolina and lost. He was also a starter on our SB loss to the Cowboys.

By the way, the C you're thinking of was Hank Fraley. He started quite a few games for the Eagles and Browns.

lloydroid
01-22-2013, 10:43 PM
How about worst FA signing?

Off the top of my head Center Sean Mahan. We got him from Tampa Bay, if i remember correctly he struggled in every game, so the Steelers traded him back to Tampa Bay the very next season He stunk.

I forgot about Mahan. He was weak. But some other stinker FA signings: Duce Staley. We got a total of one decent game out of him the entire time he was here. I KNEW he was washed up, for years Philly had nothing but him so they run the legs off of him; he was hurt the last few years in Philly, so why did Pgh pick him up? I thought it was a bad move from the get go. And, who was that drunk CB they got from Chicago? He never did crap. And, who can forget David Woodley or Todd Blackledge? Or Kent Graham.

fezziwig
01-22-2013, 11:02 PM
Sorry, should have said played in a Super Bowl with Carolina and lost. He was also a starter on our SB loss to the Cowboys.

By the way, the C you're thinking of was Hank Fraley. He started quite a few games for the Eagles and Browns.


Thanks and welcome to the board.

fezziwig
01-22-2013, 11:11 PM
Wow, bad pick ups ! More than I would like to remember. Nothing kills a team more than having guys on the team that suck then bringing guys on the team that are supposed to help you but, suck too.


We got some guy named Nolan Harris or Harrison or something like that from the Raiders and I don't know if I ever saw him play a snap.

Staley was a big waste of a roster spot.

Then there was the quarterbacks that were brought in by the bus load. Woodley, Blackledge, Grahm, Tomceszak, Maddox.

Mayhan had to be the worse of the bunch along with the tackle that came in from Buffalo, Jonathan Scott I think his name is.

We had some corners in Cowhers era too that stunk the place up but, I can't remember thir names.

If I'm not too far off, I think we had some receivers that didn't pan out to well back in the Cowher era also.

jj28west
01-23-2013, 06:35 AM
nice one ike!


I'm going to throw a name out that I never knew. Brent Jones was drafted by the Steelers in 1986 in the 5th round. We evidently cut him and he went on to have a great career for the 49ers ... the TE was selected to 4 Pro Bowls.

feltdizz
01-23-2013, 10:37 AM
I forgot about Mahan. He was weak. But some other stinker FA signings: Duce Staley. We got a total of one decent game out of him the entire time he was here. I KNEW he was washed up, for years Philly had nothing but him so they run the legs off of him; he was hurt the last few years in Philly, so why did Pgh pick him up? I thought it was a bad move from the get go. And, who was that drunk CB they got from Chicago? He never did crap. And, who can forget David Woodley or Todd Blackledge? Or Kent Graham.

I thought Duce was a great pick up... the problem was once he was hurt he stayed in sweats for a long time.

Duce was running hard and gashing teams until the Pats player punched his hammy. Talk about dirty...

phillyesq
01-23-2013, 10:54 AM
I thought Duce was a great pick up... the problem was once he was hurt he stayed in sweats for a long time.

Duce was running hard and gashing teams until the Pats player punched his hammy. Talk about dirty...

I agree. Duce was averaging over 100 yards per game. The Steelers had the two big backs and Ben as a rookie and they were rolling. Duce was a big part of that regular season win over the Pats* until he hurt his hammy (I believe it was reputed to be Rodney Harrison that punched his hamstring in the pile, but cannot recall for sure).

He wasn't the same after he got hurt, but never once complained about his role.

Slapstick
01-23-2013, 11:41 AM
IIRC, Cowher had Duce dress for XL and put him out there on Special Teams, so he could play in a SB...

Classy move...

phillyesq
01-23-2013, 11:57 AM
IIRC, Cowher had Duce dress for XL and put him out there on Special Teams, so he could play in a SB...

Classy move...

Very classy. He dressed and I remember seeing Bill apologize to him on the sidelines that he couldn't get him a carry.

Djfan
01-23-2013, 02:29 PM
Cowher was classy IMO. He even handled shoving a pic into the ref's pocket with class.

phillyesq
01-23-2013, 02:32 PM
Cowher was classy IMO. He even handled shoving a pic into the ref's pocket with class.

That might be one of my fondest Cowher memories ever. If I recall, that was during a strech where the Steelers got apology letters from the NFL in something like 3 consecutive weeks for blown calls.