Diesel Time

Last week I listed my priority free agent signings (and everybody else listed theirs), from top to bottom, and now seems like as good a time as any to talk in more detail about what the Steelers might do during the offseason. And given that other teams are free to sign any player no longer under contract starting on March 3rd, Pittsburgh might want to get moving on a few guys in particular.

One of these players is DE Brett Keisel. I put him at the top of my Guys Pittsburgh Must Re-sign list, but I have no idea what the Steelers really think about him, and whether he's any more or less important in the grand scheme of things than, say, Chris Hope or Antwaan Randle El. Whatever. I'm still going to talk about him here, and see if I can articulate why he's an important part of the Steelers' defense, and more importantly, worth re-signing. (By the way, I've written some really crappy stuff in my life, but these last two paragraphs rank right up there. I'm just mentioning it so if anybody calls me on it, at least I can say, "I know. I suck.")

Before I get started, it's probably worth mentioning that I have no real conception of the Steelers' salary cap situation, what the salary cap might be in 2006 (after accounting for inflation), and the various predicaments and scenarios that might best put Pittsburgh in some blissful salary cap state. Yeah, this stuff is important, and certainly worth knowing, but I figure we can learn it as we go. I know that the Bus will save the Steelers roughly $5 million this season, while Jeff Hartings is slated to count $8 million against the cap. In fact, here's what Gerry Dulac wrote in the Sporting News on Monday:

The team will have to re-negotiate the contract of Pro Bowl C Jeff Hartings before the season because he will count more than $8 million against the cap. It is unlikely the team will get rid of Hartings because he is coming off back-to-back seasons in which he was named All-Pro. His backup is Chukky Okobi, who has been with the team five years, waiting for Hartings to retire. Okobi is strong and has long arms, allowing him to lock on a pass rushers. But he needs more playing time to develop into a solid run blocker...

Hartings is kinda like Seattle center, Jeff Tobeck; he's been around forever, just won't retire, and keeps getting better in the meantime. If Hartings will redo his contract, why wouldn't the Steelers bring him back? I like Okobi, but I have no real idea how good he might be. The last real action he got was when he was Drew Brees' center at Purdue, and that was some time ago. I've mentioned previously that I'm all for the Steelers taking someone like Ohio State center, Nick Mangold, early in the draft, but a lot of what happens on draft day will be determined by what happens over the next six weeks or so.

Briefly, back to the cap stuff, there are also murmurs that Duce Staley might be asked to take a Jerome Bettis-styled paycut or could potentially get the ax. And speaking of axes, Tommy Maddox is as good as gone (unless, god forbid, Charlie Batch bolts for a chance at a starting job), and I read somewhere that Deshea Townsend would be interested in coming back to Pittsburgh, even if that meant he'd have to take less money. That's good, because I'm guessing the Steelers will do just that. (By the way, I just realized that a lot of this stuff is courtesy of Israel, courtesy of Ed Bouchette, from an article in the Post-Gazette last week.)

OK, back to Mr. Keisel. First of all, everybody knows that Kimo Von Oelhoffen's contract is up, and even though he's 35-years-old, he's still very effective. He's also mentioned wanting to come back to Pittsburgh, but Kimo might end up being a victim of the numbers:

The Steelers have decided to make backup defensive end Brett Keisel a priority to re-sign. They believe he can be an impact player. That leaves veteran starter Kimo von Oelhoffen in limbo because he, too, becomes a free agent. At 35, von Oelhoffen had one of his best seasons, though, and it's possible they would offer him a one-year deal.

So maybe I should amend my previous statement above about "having no idea what the Steelers really think about Keisel." If Bouchette is to be believed (must ... fight ... urge ... to .... type .... snarky joke ... here), this is good news. For the sake of argument, here's the list of free agent defensive ends, ranked according to the Sporting News's ultra-cryptic grading system. After looking this list over, TSN could very well throw darts at a bunch of names and rank them accordingly. Either way, here goes:

Rank Name          Ht. Wt.  FA     '05 team
1    D. Howard     6-3 275  UFA    NO
2    J. Engelbrgr  6-4 268  UFA    DEN
3    J. Abraham    6-4 258  UFA    NYJ
4    R. Brock      6-4 274  UFA    IND
5    A. Weaver     6-3 280  UFA    BAL
6    R. Mathis     6-2 235  RA     IND
7    M. Wiley      6-4 275  UFA    JAX
8    J. Cesaire    6-2 295  RA     SD
9    C. Redding    6-4 290  RA     DET
10   A. Cochran    6-4 299  UFA    ARI
11   R. Denney     6-7 275  UFA    BUF
12   K. Edwards    6-6 265  UFA    DET
13   T. Hall       6-5 295  UFA    SF
14   L. Johnstone  6-4 253  UFA    MIN
15   J. DeVries    6-4 275  UFA    DET

I'd be lying if I said a whole hell of a lot about defensive ends that don't play in the AFC North, or in a system featuring three defensive linemen. Honestly, I've never really had the occasion to pay all that much attention to them. For starters, the Steelers run a 3-4, and their DEs are more like DTs on other teams, and their OLBs would be DEs anywhere else. That said, I know John Abraham might be good, but he seems like a monumental pain in the ass, and on top of that, he'll cost a lot of money. I'll mark that down as 0 for 2. The Colts Raheem Brock is a part-time player who's primarily a pass rusher, which is basically useless in the Steelers' scheme. Robert Mathis is another guy ill-suited for the 3-4. He's smaller than either Joey Porter or Clark Haggans and excels primarily as a pass rusher. The Ravens' Anthony Weaver is also unrestricted, but he's no better than Keisel, and he'll probably be looking for more money.

Interestingly, all of the guys on this list are ranked ahead of both Keisel and Kyle Vanden Bosch. And even though he's not listed above, our good friend Rodney Bailey is ranked above both Keisel and Vanden Bosch, which further proves that whoever put this list together was also taking bong hits.

OK, that's all I got. There's really no way to pretty up the list of free agent DEs. Plus, it can't be overstated: Keisel is a demon on special teams. He's 6'5" and runs something like a 4.6-forty. In a perfect world, Pittsburgh would bring Kimo back for another year, sign Keisel to a long-term deal and start worrying about their next important piece of the puzzle: Chris Hope.

Previous Free Agent Stuff
Antwaan Randle El

PS. I don't know if this will help, but I figure it sure can't hurt: Dear God, please tell Randle El to stay in Pittsburgh.

PPS. And oh yeah, hugs and kisses for Valentine's Day. I could spend the next 4,000 words complaining about how this holiday was created by The Man to make me spend money for no apparent reason, but that wouldn't be very Valentine's Day-like, now would it? Yeah, I didn't think so. And by the way, you had me at hello. (Me whispering and holding my hand to the side of my head like it was a phone: "Ben, call me.")