CPW
There are two articles in today's Tribune-Review, and to vary degrees they both miss the point when evaluating the Steelers offseason moves so far.
Sam Ross writes an article titled, "Why the rush to sack Maddox?," in which he argues that many fans are willing to get rid of Maddox in favor of retread, Tim Couch, or three-year project, Drew Henson. While many fans may have been frustrated with Maddox's play last season, I have yet to hear one knowledgeable fan advocate jettisoning Maddox in favor of the mentally fragile and physically comparable, Tim Couch. In fact, Ross points out that Maddox and Couch had similar numbers last season.
I tend to agree however, with Ross's following statement:
"But the people who felt Couch or Henson were desirable, are still fixated on quarterback. They have identified North Carolina State's Philip Rivers as a good first-round pick for the Steelers.From the questionable to the preposterous
It's not considered out of the question that the Steelers would go that way. The argument is that the team needs to get a franchise-quality quarterback of the future on board.
Here again, there's room for argument. Tom Brady, who has quarterbacked New England to Super Bowl wins two of the past three seasons, was a sixth-round pick. The man he displaced, Drew Bledsoe, had been taken first overall in 1993."
In his article, Joe Starkey gets caught up in the "sign as many people as possible" hype as he denounces the signing of Staley because the Steelers won't use the draft to address the long term needs at RB (with either Kevin Jones or Steven Jackson). He writes:
"It now appears they will pass on their pick of talented tailbacks -- Kevin Jones or Steven Jackson -- in the first round. Jones is a striking specimen, standing 6 feet, 220 pounds with tree-trunk legs and sprinter's speed."Maybe Starkey thinks the Steelers only have one pick in this year's draft because even a cursory perusal of any mock draft shows that Greg Jones (the beastly RB from FSU) should be available in the second round. Starkey goes on to write:
"If the Steelers were going to spend money on a second-tier, aging free agent, why not a cornerback such as Troy Vincent or Bobby Taylor? Either could have provided a nice stop-gap while Ike Taylor learns the trade."That's the entire point of signing Staley. It allows the Steelers to get a good RB in the second round if they choose and also allows them to address the immediate need of an athletic CB in the first round. Starkey proceeds to prove that he hasn't been paying attention at all this offseason with the following observation:
"You'd think a team scrambling for cheap alternatives would have taken a look at quarterback Drew Henson, whom the Dallas Cowboys acquired for a third-round pick and guaranteed only $3.5 million.One question--why would the Steelers waste a pick on a three year project? If you're looking for a blueprint of how that will turn out, just look at Chad Hutchinson. Not only that, but Polamalu is certainly more likely to have a breakout season this year than Drew Henson will in his second year.
Henson would have been a top-five pick in 2002 if he hadn't opted to play baseball. He's obviously a risk, but so was dealing a third-round pick to move up for safety Troy Polamalu, who got $5.26 million in guaranteed bonus money."
Starkey makes several other questionable claims. I would suggest he spend more time studying why teams make the offseason moves they do and maybe he'll be better equipped to make cogent arguments.
Steelers News
Jerry DiPaola writes about how many CB's got bigger paydays than their talent warrants this free agency, how the Steelers are interested in keeping SS Mike Logan and long snapper Mike Schneck.
