that's not necessarily trueOriginally Posted by RuthlessBurgher
we gave haden a really nice deal and also offered Hightower big $$ just a year or so ago
that's not necessarily true
we gave haden a really nice deal and also offered Hightower big $$ just a year or so ago
Gerry Dulac Can Find 10 RBs That Give Steelers Equal Chance of Winning As Bell
By Matthew Marczi
Posted on June 21, 2018
I’m not sure if you’ve ever noticed this before, but it certainly seems as though Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Gerry Dulac is firmly amidst the camp of those who’ve ‘had it up to here’ with Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, two years on into his contract saga as he attempts to become the highest-paid running back in history.
Bell, currently sitting on a franchise tag offer that will not be signed until shortly before the regular season, has now less than a month before the mid-July deadline that allows players who have been given the franchise tag to work out a long-term contract for that season.
Should the two sides fail to reach an agreement—as was the case last season—when Bell will have no choice but to play under the franchise tag. Well, he could choose not to play, but that would cost him money.
Dulac let the sixth-year veteran have it a bit during his public chat yesterday, calling him a “narcissist” and saying that there is no chance of him being on the team in 2019. This is not exactly a departure from his long-standing comments and positions about the first-team All-Pro. But one comment in particular stood out to me.
Responding to a questioner who had the audacity to say that even great running backs like Bell are “a dime a dozen” (how many great running backs are there in the NFL right now? Half a dozen?), Dulac said that he agrees, and that some in the organization agree too.
He wend on to say that he “could find 10 RBs to put back there and the Steelers’ chances of going to the Super Bowl would be no different”, a comment I have a pretty hard time digesting, considering how they performed without Bell against the New England Patriots in 2016, even with DeAngelo Williams.
So who are the Dulac Ten? Todd Gurley, of course, and Ezekiel Elliott. David Johnson, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt, Saquon Barkley, and a few others would be named. But would even half of them really be such an even trade for Bell?
Dulac also said that Bell does not make Ben Roethlisberger better the way Elliott or Gurley make Dak Prescott or Jared Goff better, but rather that Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown make Bell better. This seems to be a pretty strong argument to make regardless of what you think he is worth in terms of the contract he’s out for.
http://www.steelersdepot.com/2018/06...nning-as-bell/
Haden's deal had a relatively small signing bonus and a minimal first year base salary.
His cap hit in year one was well below what you'd expect for a starting corner of his pedigree.
If he wasn't what he once was anymore, we could cut him after the first year with only a minor dead money cap hit.
It wasn't until years 2 & 3, when he had proven that he was a fit in our defense, that he made an 8 figure salary.
So it was really just a reasonable one year deal with a couple of team options that paid full market value in years 2 & 3 as long he proved himself in year 1 here.
As for Hightower and what we offered him, all that we know for sure is that it wasn't enough for him to leave NE and sign here instead.
Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.
Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.
We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.
We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.
So we can afford to lose Bell if we replace him another really good running back? Ya, no **** Dulac, the problem is those guys will eventually have to get paid. Can we replace Bell with James Conner? Is Dulac going to tell us our offense will be the same with Conner, because that is the crux of the argument, I already know that there won't be a huge difference if we plug in Zeke or Johnson, but we can't get them.
What we’ll have to find out this year is if Bell can possibly be replaced by Conner and Samuels in tandem...
Actually, my post was NOT about you...but, if the shoe fits, feel free to lace that &!+€# up and wear it.
This will be the decision, although I'm not sure how much of the field either of those guys will see.
To hear Tomlin tell it.... Conner is going to surprise a lot of folks this year... in a good way.
Tomlin Says Conner Made Same Kind Of Offseason Transformation Bell Previously Did
Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner is now fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered late last season and if that’s not enough, it sounds like he is in much better shape than he was during his rookie season. In fact, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin indicated recently during a question and answer with Steelers Nation United members that Conner made an offseason transformation similar to the one starting running back Le’Veon Bell made several years ago.
“It’s been fun to watch James because he’s a classic example of a guy who’s in his second year, second lap around the track, if you will,” Tomlin said recently when asked about Conner. “It’s reasonable to expect those guys to be significantly better because there are no unknowns. They know what to expect, they’ve been in our program before and James is a reflection of that. He’s highly conditioned. Steeler fans are really going to be impressed with his body and his level of conditioning.
“It really looks like the transformation that Le’Veon went through as a young guy in terms of his level of conditioning and the things that he’s able to display to this point on the field. Obviously, we’re not tackling and tackling is a big part of the running back position so we’ll wait to see how that goes, but I’ve been really impressed with what he’s been able to do with his body, his growth and development there.”
We’ve written a few times already this offseason about Conner and how he looks a lot more sleeker than he did last year at this time. It’s also worth noting that Conner was limited some in his practice participation during last year’s OTA practices due to a minor soft tissue injury and that certainly didn’t seem to be the case this year.
Last year, Conner, the Steelers second of two third-round selections in the 2017 NFL Draft, rushed for 144 yards on 32 carries during his rookie season in very limited offensive playing time. He might have received more playing time than he actually did before suffering his season-ending knee injury in Week 15 had he shown to be better in pass protection. By the sound of things a month ago, that’s an area of Conner’s game that we might see some noticeable improvement in this season.
“He’s a little bit more confident in the playbook, handling protections — he’s just in better shape,” Steelers tight end Jesse James said of Conner during the team’s OTA practices, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. “He’s running fast, running every ball to the end zone. He looks good.”
Even Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger admitted during the team’s OTAs that he’s seen some improvement in the second-year Conner.
“I think he’s looking really well right now,” Roethlisberger said of Conner a few weeks ago. “I like what he’s doing. He took those rookie kind of hiccups last year and has really gotten a lot better, I think. And like I said, we’re in shorts and short sleeves, no pads right now, but I’m excited to kind of get to camp with him. He’s one that I’m excited about.”
Conner and the rest of his Steelers teammates will begin practicing in pads in roughly five more weeks and it will be interesting to hear how the Pittsburgh product holds up this year in the running backs versus linebackers drill. While Conner still isn’t expected to see a lot of playing time in 2018 as long as Bell remains healthy, he’s destined to give the starter a few more breathers than he did during his rookie season and that would be a welcome sight for sure.
Ya but it's only the offseason, I remember when Tomlin talked about how unblockable Chickillo was during the offseason and we all went crazy thinking we had pass rusher. Of course once the real games started we realized the difference between practice and real games.
But the question is can Conner fill Bells shoes, because it wasn't to long ago we had Jonathan Dwyer at RB and that showed us how important it was to have a good RB, which is why we drafted Bell. I'm not saying Conner is Dwyer but just making the point that you can't just plug anyone in there.
Last edited by Mr.wizard; 06-24-2018 at 07:57 AM.
Conner is a high quality player. He is better than Dwyer or Fitz Toussaint or some of the other backup players the Steelers have played with. Some people keep trying to put down Conner. He still has a lot to prove. If you want to question whether he can stay healthy, I think that is a good question; however if it excites you that he was injured his rookie year, that won't necessarily be final determination.
Timmons was injured his rookie season and went on to a career where he was an iron man of sorts and rarely was injured afterwards. Sometimes when you come off cold into the game, which Conner did last season, I think you can more susceptible to being tweaked than when you play more and are warmed up.
Bell is good but he can be replaced, and Conner would do a good job, if Bell doesn't want to accept the contract and come in. I am big Conner fan and if Bell doesn't come into the team until the first game and Conner has been there doing a good job. He should start.
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