The Post Gazette has a story about the potential changing of the guards at the Pittsburgh QB position. Both Tommy Maddox and Ben Roethlisberger each made their first appearance in Pittsburgh yesterday -- Maddox to begin workouts, Roethlisberger to interview before the draft. Of course the talk turns immediately to Maddox's salary, at which point Maddox quips:
"I could go into the season starting and being the third-highest-paid guy." (currently behind backup, Charlie Batch)This story has already been told a few times too many this offseason and I suspect as the draft comes and goes, this story will resurface a couple of more times as well.
Cue Ron Cook. He also has an article in today's Post Gazette where he speculates that the Steelers will take a QB in the draft, try to trade Maddox because of his cap-friendly salary, and let Batch run the show until presumably, Philip Rivers is ready to take the reins. Then Cook goes on to say something I agree with (I think this is the first time I've ever agreed with Ron Cook):
"...The best chance of it happening is if the Steelers take, say, a cornerback in the first round of the draft and an offensive tackle in the second. Presumably, that would mean Maddox is their guy, at least for the next few seasons. That would force them to finally get around to revisiting his contract. But even then, there would be no guarantees. They might have one figure in mind for an upgrade. Maddox might have one completely different. He still might be a holdout. Batch still could be the starter.Finally. Someone writes something rational -- these two paragraphs that make me wonder why the article was even written -- but Cook doesn't disappoint. In his very next breath he goes on to say:
Part of me hopes the Steelers fill their immediate needs, go for that cornerback and offensive tackle and stick with Maddox. He was well down the list of their problems last season. He can win with the right supporting cast."
"But Maddox will be 33 before the first game this fall. He's not the Steelers' long-term answer, no matter how young he says he feels or how much football he thinks he has left. That's why a bigger part of me wants to see them take that quarterback with their No. 1 pick. It's not every year they're going to be drafting high enough to get a franchise player. They blew it a few years ago when they picked Burress at No. 8 instead of Chad Pennington. They can't afford to blow it again if Roethlisberger or Rivers is available."Now I remember why I don't like most of what Cook writes. He's a poor man's Dan Shaughnessy -- he seems to delight in writing articles about the home town team in the hopes that they do poorly so he can say, "Gotcha! I told you so! I knew _______ (insert the name of any player here) would be a bust! What short-sightedness on the part of the front office!"
If Cook thinks that Philip Rivers is the long term answer to the Steelers QB problems, he hasn't seen him play. I know, he has great numbers, is a winner, has great 'football instincts', blah, blah, blah. He also throws sidearmed, can't throw the ball deep without it looking like a punt and has horrible footwork. I'm not sure everyone thinks the Steelers blew it by taking Burress over Pennington, either. Pennington has won a few big games, but it will be interesting to see how he does this year. If he has a good year, then the Steelers may have been mistaken in taking Burress, but until that time, I still think Plax was a solid pick -- and he just might have a bigger year than Pennington.
