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Thread: Steelers reasoning for letting Lewis go...

  1. #91
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    "Those guys were trying to offer more money, but I had it set in my mind the whole time if the Saints offered me I was going to come home. I had to get it done," Lewis said. "I looked at it like I'm home. I'm from Algiers. I went to O.P. Walker. A lot of guys don't really have that opportunity to play for their hometown team. Then when I had the opportunity to sit down with Sean Payton, Mickey Loomis, Rob Ryan and my position coach, (Wesley) McGriff, they really made me feel at home. And that's something I had in Pittsburgh."

    "When I first walked in there I felt like I was at home. I had opportunities to go to teams that offered me a lot more money. But everybody can't say that they had the opportunity to play in their back yard. Even when I was in Pittsburgh I would go back and watch four or five Saints games just to get acquainted with what they were doing."
    You didn't source the article, but I'll assume you found it at [URL]http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2013/03/new_orleans_saints_have_reache_1.html[/URL]. I find it interesting that you don't include what comes before that particular quote. If you do, you see that when Lewis was speaking about the teams that he passed up in order to sign with the Saints, he was talking about the Chargers, Raiders, Titans and Eagles (all of whom were pursuing him)--not the Steelers. He himself tweeted that the Steelers never made him an offer.

    "I almost didn't get drafted because I told all the teams my wish was to play for the Saints," he said. "I let that be known when I was coming out of college at the Senior Bowl."
    I found that quote in the above referenced article; I had never read it before. Still, does it absolutely mean there's no way Lewis could have been swayed by an offer from the Steelers? And even if not, why would the Steelers not at least let him know they were interested? Again, they were able to send feelers to Dumervil and Freeney, when they knew they had a snowball's chance in Hadestown of getting either of those guys signed...So even if it is a longshot, if you really want to retain the guy, don't you at least let him know that?

  2. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by BradshawsHairdresser View Post
    You didn't source the article, but I'll assume you found it at [URL]http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2013/03/new_orleans_saints_have_reache_1.html[/URL]. I find it interesting that you don't include what comes before that particular quote. If you do, you see that when Lewis was speaking about the teams that he passed up in order to sign with the Saints, he was talking about the Chargers, Raiders, Titans and Eagles (all of whom were pursuing him)--not the Steelers. He himself tweeted that the Steelers never made him an offer.



    I found that quote in the above referenced article; I had never read it before. Still, does it absolutely mean there's no way Lewis could have been swayed by an offer from the Steelers? And even if not, why would the Steelers not at least let him know they were interested? Again, they were able to send feelers to Dumervil and Freeney, when they knew they had a snowball's chance in Hadestown of getting either of those guys signed...So even if it is a longshot, if you really want to retain the guy, don't you at least let him know that?

    knowing this, it makes tomlin picking lewis one of his dumbest selections to date. knowing the guy would jump ship as soon as possible and you draft him anyway?
    i would almost certainly bet the steelers sent out a feeler to lewis' agent about what dollar amount it would take for him to stay. the answer was either way more than they could afford or the answer was 'hes going home'
    just because the steelers didnt make it public, doesnt mean it didnt happen
    steelers = 3 ring circus with tomlin being the head clown

  3. #93
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    My frustration with the Lewis matter is the Steelers developing his talent and then getting one good year out of him before losing him to FA. Hope that is not Worilds' pathway.






  4. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by DukieBoy View Post
    My frustration with the Lewis matter is the Steelers developing his talent and then getting one good year out of him before losing him to FA. Hope that is not Worilds' pathway.
    But wasnt it Lake that helped turn him into a baller? Lake was only here for Lewis' last season with us.

  5. #95
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    Quote Originally Posted by feltdizz View Post
    That doesnt make any sense at all... this is said to dull the sting. There is no way Keenan turns down a deal if we gave him a fair shot and made an offer a year earlier. I'm 100% sure we would have seen enough to realize he had star potential.

    Dwyer came in fat... and we still gave him meaningful touches and every chance possible to make an impression.

    Try again. It's not always about the money. KEENAN LEWIS WANTED TO PLAY IN NEW ORLEANS and said so BEFORE THE DRAFT (his own words). I know. Shocking! How can any player NOT want to play for the Steelers.?!

    Can we please put this issue to bed after reading the following?:

    By TED LEWIS
    Advocate sportswriter
    June 12, 2013
    METAIRIE — San Diego, Oakland, Tennessee, Philadelphia and Atlanta — especially Atlanta — never had a chance.
    Not when free agent cornerback Keenan Lewis was being peppered with texts from his mother, Muriel, to “Sign! Sign! Sign!” while he was at Saints headquarters. The O. Perry Walker graduate was there to negotiate what ended up being a five-year, $26.3 million contract — $10 million of it guaranteed with a $6 million signing bonus — negating any need to visit other would-be suitors.
    But Muriel’s urgency was not just because the Saints were offering a plum deal, one that enabled her son to surprise her with a house for Mother’s Day. And it wasn’t just because the Lewis family is full of diehard Saints fans who couldn’t bear to see Keenan, who spent the first four years of his career with Pittsburgh, playing for anyone but his hometown team.
    The real reason was that Kalise Genie Lewis — Keenan and wife Dannel’s 2-year-old daughter — would be close enough for Maw-Maw to see her whenever she wants.
    “Yeah, she put the pressure on me,” Keenan recalled after the Saints’ Thursday organized team activity. “But I’ve always wanted to play for the Saints, too. Before I was drafted, I said some things about it which were disrespectful to other teams. But that’s the way I felt then, and I still do.”
    Lewis’ dream of one day being a Saint also was the goal of the Rev. Joseph Lewis, Keenan’s grandfather. He died in 2004, the year Keenan signed with Oregon State.
    “When Keenan was little, his grandfather would tell him, ‘If you play as hard as you can, one day you can play for the Saints,’ ” Muriel said. “He would have so much joy about this.”
    Keenan agreed.
    “He was the biggest Saints fan in the world,” he said. “Since he died, I’ve dedicated every game I played to him. I sure will now.”
    Playing for your hometown team can have its pitfalls. Perhaps that’s why there’s surprisingly little of it in the NFL.
    Relatives and friends — some you’ve forgotten or never knew in the first place — come out of the woodwork to request tickets, ask for a “loan” or offer a can’t-lose business deal.
    “My rookie year, everybody assumed I just got all the tickets I wanted for free,” said Tyrone Hughes, a St. Augustine grad who was the Saints’ fifth-round pick in 1993 and spent four years with the team. “At the end of the season, my mom saw how much they’d charged me and told me, from then on, if somebody wanted something, have them call her. Next year rolled around, and when people would call her and she’d tell them the price, they’d usually say, ‘Let me get back to you’ — and that was the end of it.”
    And sometimes reuniting with old friends can lead to more than money problems.
    “I tell Keenan all the time that things have changed a lot since he went to Oregon State,” said Muriel, a seventh-grade teacher at Martin Behrman Charter School in Algiers. “A lot of his friends have taken different directions and didn’t make the right choices like Keenan did.”
    Lewis following the wrong path seems unlikely. Married to a local girl — Dannel is the daughter of the late Lionel Delpit, also known as Big Chief Black Feather, and the cousin of former OPW teammate Kendrick Lewis (no relation), now a safety with the Kansas City Chiefs — Lewis benefits from being part of a close-knit family. More than that, he wants to use his voice and foundation to “help people to keep from getting caught up in the foolishness” that has inflicted his old West Bank neighborhood.



    Plus, Lewis is a five-year veteran, not someone fresh out of college with money in his pocket for the first time. He’s also coming from perhaps the league’s most respected organization in Pittsburgh, where he was mentored by fellow New Orleanians Mike Wallace (an OPW teammate now with Miami), Ike Taylor and Ryan Clark, plus veterans such as Troy Polamalu and Hines Ward.
    “Those guys showed me how you take care of your business on and off the field,” Lewis said. “They were great leaders, just like we’ve got here.”
    But there still will be expectations to deal with. Not only did the Saints make Lewis their No. 1 target in free agency, they’re counting on him to shore up a secondary that ranked 31st in the league last year, contributing to the worst statistical defense in NFL history.
    The Saints look on Lewis as their No. 1 cover corner, probably supplanting former first-round pick Patrick Robinson as a starter. All this for a player who has had only one season in that role under his belt.
    Quarterback Bobby Hebert, who prepped at South Lafourche and signed with the Saints in 1985, said being in a spotlight position puts a local player under extreme pressure.
    “You can be the quarterback and go to Seattle and (stink) but still come back home,” he said. “But when you’re from here, you’re either the hero or the goat. Remember that guy the Saints signed a few years ago, (cornerback) Jason David, who was so bad? Nobody cared when he left. For Keenan, that’s the worst-case scenario, and it’s not going to happen. I think he’s going to embrace the added pressure.”
    He already has.
    “Every game won’t have the outcome we hope it will,” he said. “But this is a Super Bowl-caliber team, and I’m going to give it 100 percent to help us get there.”
    Lewis’ signing wasn’t just a hometown thing. He said he was heavily influenced by the presence of new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, whom he considers a guru of the 3-4 the caliber of longtime Steelers assistant Dick LeBeau.
    “He’s one of the best out there,” Lewis said. “It’s not just the tactical side but the energy he brings to every drill. He always has you up and ready. I’m proud to be working with him.”
    But even if Ryan had been elsewhere, Lewis is where he has long wanted to be.
    “It still feels a little weird,” he said. “But I’m adjusting to it.”
    And so is Maw-Maw.
    “They know I’ll baby-sit any time,” Muriel said. “It feels so good to get them back home.”

  6. #96
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    Quote Originally Posted by squidkid View Post
    knowing this, it makes tomlin picking lewis one of his dumbest selections to date. knowing the guy would jump ship as soon as possible and you draft him anyway?
    i would almost certainly bet the steelers sent out a feeler to lewis' agent about what dollar amount it would take for him to stay. the answer was either way more than they could afford or the answer was 'hes going home'
    just because the steelers didnt make it public, doesnt mean it didnt happen
    You do know that Tomlin is not the only one making these choices right? I mean Colbert and ARII have both said that they have say in the picks. I would also think that Tomlin has input on what FA to keep, but Colbert, ARII and even Kahn (capologist) have input too. But, you blame the pick, and the failure to keep him, solely on Tomlin. A squid has many tentacles ... some shorter than others it seems.

  7. #97
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    dave: Why didn't they re-sign Keenan Lewis last year? Was it a money issue, or did they underestimate his ability?

    Ed Bouchette: I think a little bit of both

    [URL]http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2014/01/14/Ed-Bouchette-s-Steelers-chat-transcript-1-14-14/stories/2014011401560000000#ixzz2qReFTSQ1[/URL]
    Steel Maniac's Time-Based Prediction: Lamar Jackson will be a bust and total flop in the NFL.

    What Actually Happened: Lamar Jackson became the youngest two-time NFL MVP winner ever.

    Gloat gloat gloat


    Boom........

    Hahahahahahaha

  8. #98
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    What we know:

    1) Lewis has always wanted to play for the Saints.

    2) The Steelers did not make him an offer.

    3) Lewis turned down more lucrative contracts to play with the Saints.

    Now, you can second guess the Steelers based upon what you think...that is the entire reason for the message board...

    But, based upon what we know​, Lewis is where he always wanted to be and was willing to take less money in order to be there...

  9. #99
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteelBuckeye View Post
    You do know that Tomlin is not the only one making these choices right? I mean Colbert and ARII have both said that they have say in the picks. I would also think that Tomlin has input on what FA to keep, but Colbert, ARII and even Kahn (capologist) have input too. But, you blame the pick, and the failure to keep him, solely on Tomlin. A squid has many tentacles ... some shorter than others it seems.
    Nah.. its all Tomlin all the time.

  10. #100
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slapstick View Post
    What we know:

    1) Lewis has always wanted to play for the Saints.

    2) The Steelers did not make him an offer.

    3) Lewis turned down more lucrative contracts to play with the Saints.

    Now, you can second guess the Steelers based upon what you think...that is the entire reason for the message board...

    But, based upon what we know​, Lewis is where he always wanted to be and was willing to take less money in order to be there...
    Maybe I missed it but I didnt see anything that suggested he took less money. Regardless... we had a chance to make an offer and didn't. Maybe he says no but at least it shows we are interested. Without an offer it leaves the door open for Lewis to say "I was shocked they didn't even attempt to make an offer"

    As far as his love for the Saints.. c'mon. Larry Fitzgerald said this:
    I grew up a Vikings fan and I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I was still a Vikings fan. Growing up in Minnesota it’s second nature. I still pull for them when I’m not playing them. A lot of my closest friends in the NFL are Vikings. I’m close with (Everson) Griffen, Jared Allen, Phil (Loadholt), [URL="http://bleacherreport.com/adrian-peterson"]Adrian Peterson[/URL], Kyle Rudolph. You pull for your friends.

    Cam Newton said this: "I've always been a Falcons fan, and I'm still a Falcons fan except for those two times a year [when the Panthers play Atlanta."

    Every player in the NFL has a favorite team they grew up cheering for but if a team drafts them and gives them a contract offer BEFORE their favorite team makes them a great offer they will take it.

    We messed up, it happens but it's OKAY to admit we screwed the pooch with the FO in cap hell and thinking Allen was/is better than Lewis.
    Last edited by feltdizz; 01-15-2014 at 10:15 AM.

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