What's the plan?

[supersteeler]

[QUOTE=papillon;554730]


When it comes right down to it, wouldn't it have been better to:

Cut Taylor and go into the season with Allen and Lewis (younger)
Release or trade Polamalu (younger via the draft)
Release Keisel and put the LDE position into Heyward's hands (younger)
Release Clark (younger via the draft)
(Let me say, I don't know the financial ramifications of the above or if any of the above is possible, but to get younger this group needs to be dealt with in some fashion)



1. I don't know if it would be practicle to cut a proven vet like Taylor based on 1 good year that Lewis had. There is no guarantee he would play be as good as Ike just because he's younger. The Better senario would of been to sign Lewis instead of Gay making the secondary a strength.

2. No to Troy at this point, he may play an entire year injury free we just don't know, but to replace him with a rookie or Golden would be taking a big risk, they simply wouldn't be ready


3. Keisel was our best D-lineman, I could see the Steelers alternating more with him and Heyward this coming season until Heyward can win the job outright. We still need depth on that line so I wouldn't release Keisel just to get younger, I would only release him if his play was falling

4. Same with Clark, he was one of our better defenders last season, cutting an older player to get younger is ok only if that younger starter can do the job which is unlikely his first year

[papillon]

[QUOTE=supersteeler;554768]

When it comes right down to it, wouldn't it have been better to:

Cut Taylor and go into the season with Allen and Lewis (younger)
Release or trade Polamalu (younger via the draft)
Release Keisel and put the LDE position into Heyward's hands (younger)
Release Clark (younger via the draft)
(Let me say, I don't know the financial ramifications of the above or if any of the above is possible, but to get younger this group needs to be dealt with in some fashion)



1. I don't know if it would be practicle to cut a proven vet like Taylor based on 1 good year that Lewis had. There is no guarantee he would play be as good as Ike just because he's younger. The Better senario would of been to sign Lewis instead of Gay making the secondary a strength.

2. No to Troy at this point, he may play an entire year injury free we just don't know, but to replace him with a rookie or Golden would be taking a big risk, they simply wouldn't be ready


3. Keisel was our best D-lineman, I could see the Steelers alternating more with him and Heyward this coming season until Heyward can win the job outright. We still need depth on that line so I wouldn't release Keisel just to get younger, I would only release him if his play was falling

4. Same with Clark, he was one of our better defenders last season, cutting an older player to get younger is ok only if that younger starter can do the job which is unlikely his first year

Supe, I agree 100% with you on everything you said in your post. I asked the question about a plan, because the important free agents that have been lost were young key ingredients to the offense and the age of the team has remained the same. So, now the defense is still aging and expensive while the offense is young and probably not as good as last year's version that helped the team go 8-8.

And, as it turns out, the Steelers really didn't have any plans to retain Wallace, Lewis, Mendenhall and possibly Sanders if someone is giving up a 3rd round pick for him, so now they have to rebuild what was an average offense with rookies and other team's castoffs. As the song (Thrift) goes, "One man's trash is another man's come up".

The Steelers managed to get themselves painted into a corner with large contracts on older players that are still playing good football and then having to try and sign young players that have proven to be pretty good NFL talent based on the contracts they are signing. This problem has been accruing for a few years especially since the gray beards refused to allow their play to slip to a point where you could make the case for releasing a veteran. Of the list below, pick out a player that was detrimental to the defense.

James Harrison
Troy Polamalu
Ryan Clark
Brett Keisel
Larry Foote (some will pick him, but he really wasn't)
Ike Taylor
Casey Hampton (Here's the winner, but no one could replace him that was on the roster)
Ben Roethlisberger

There you are, all 30 somethings still playing good football with large contracts and young guys playing well, but not at any of these positions. All the young guys were playing other positions with no real veteran in front of them to be moved to free up cap space.

Interesting times ahead that's for sure.

Pappy

[SteelerOfDeVille]

James Harrison
Troy Polamalu
Ryan Clark
Brett Keisel
Larry Foote (some will pick him, but he really wasn't)
Ike Taylor
Casey Hampton (Here's the winner, but no one could replace him that was on the roster)
Ben Roethlisberger

Trouble with this list Pap is that a few of these guys missed games... and their replacements did OK, but, not better than them... Think back to Polamalu looking better than (who was it? Mike Logan)... or Maddox filling in for Kordell... then Ben filling in for Maddox...You knew with those guys, that the backup was better and their performance was detriental.

Other than injury, i can't see that Troy's PERFORMANCE was detrimental... or Clark's... or Ike's... or Caseys... just sayin... Now, some of their contracts hurt like a sunnavabitch! lol

Question... would you have rather they chose Farrior over Foote last year? or Foote over Farrior?... think about it... ponder... hmmmm... scratches chin.
Answer: for the purposes of this discussion, i'll say which one you chose doesn't matter (though I preferred Farrior)... what does matter is you had to think about it. With the other guys on your list and last year's choices, you wouldn't have chose differently at that time... Let's try another position... Troy or Mundy?... no wait... Ben or Leftwich No hesitation with any of the choices...

Not saying they can't be improved upon, just saying that before we look at the first stat or first anything, think of the choices the FO had.

I'm convinced that for most of the postions that we see need, they also see need. I'm also convinced that some of these guys were allowed to bolt because of legitimate reasons: A) they're NOT the answer (Mendenhall) or B) a youth injection is needed (Harrison) or C) You had a close battle in camp last year and barely won - you're not 6 million per year better than the next guy (Lewis).

Unless Harrison lands back in Pittsburgh, there will be at least one young OLB brought in - either via FA or the draft. I also fully expect to see one or more of the following: a corner, A safety, a d-lineman, an o-lineman, WR, a RB and an ILB.

It's important to point out "getting younger" DOES NOT MEAN "getting better"...at least not necessarily... Worilds, for example... is he better than Deebo?