New Miami Dolphins wide receiver, and former Pittsburgh Steeler, Mike Wallace believes that his new quarterback will be “great.” Wallace will have to hope that Tannehill becomes a great quarterback because he just left a great quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger to play with him. Although, let’s be honest, Wallace’s move to Miami had more to do with money than the quarterback. “Both have strong arms. Ryan has a cannon, can really fling it,” Wallace said via NBC Sports. “Ryan may be able to throw the ball a little farther than Ben. Obviously, Ben is more experienced in game time experience. The way it’s going, it won’t take long for Ryan to be one of the great quarterbacks. I feel like we can make a lot of big plays.” Roethlisberger is not known for his deep ball, like say Joe Flacco is in Baltimore, even though he does have a very good arm. Instead Roethlisberger is known for his play-making abilities and his accuracy; his career completion percentage is 63.1% and his worst season was 59.7%. “By the time we get to training camp, we’ll be fine. We throw two to three times after practice every day,” Wallace said. “I like this team. I like how everybody works. Not much talking, just grinding. That’s the way it should be. I’m one of the older guys on this team, so it’s different than being in Pittsburgh.” Being one of the older guys in the locker-room means that Wallace will need to be a leader for the Dolphins. Based on comments from Steelers players this off-season, however, which all seem to condemn Wallace for his behavior in 2012 that may be an issue. Though, Wallace did get paid to play in Miami and there is a good chance that his large pay day may
Read more →The Pittsburgh Steelers signed fifteen undrafted rookie free agents following the 2013 NFL Draft, but one of them is a but more intriguing than the rest. His name is Reggie Dunn and if you are an avid Steelers’ fan you have probably already heard all about him. He played wide receiver at Utah and during his college career he played three seasons for the Utes and totaled 31 receptions for 355 yards and one touchdown. Those receiving stats don’t exactly jump off the page. Even if they were for only one season they wouldn’t exactly be strong statistically. However, it’s not the receiving abilities that make Dunn intriguing, instead it’s his abilities in the return game. During his sophomore season Dunn returned 12 kicks at a 29.6 yards per kick average and one he returned for a touchdown. The next year he returned 26 kickoffs at a rate of 23.6 yards per return, but it was his senior season that made him a big time return prospect and one of the best return men in college football. Last year as a senior teams were kicking away from Dunn not wanting him to beat them in the return game. Due to that fact he only had ten kick-off return attempts in total. Even so, Dunn took four of those ten kicks back for touchdowns and averaged an unprecedented 51.3 yards per return. If Dunn had also showcased strong abilities in the receiving game he would have been a much stronger prospect in the 2013 NFL Draft and may have been in similar talk as Tavon Austin. He has decent size at 5’10″ and 180 pounds and blazing fast speed with a 4.24 forty-yard dash time. If he can be groomed as a receiver he could make a very nice deep threat or weapon in
Read more →Many NFL teams are starting to sign their draft picks and as Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentioned this morning the Steelers are not one of those teams. According to Spotrac.com 90 draft picks have already signed deals with their new teams. None of those players are Steelers’ draft picks, however, because the team is waiting for cap room to open up before signing those deals. Right now the Steelers have about $500,000 in cap space and could sign some of their picks as they wouldn’t count against the top-paid 51 players and wouldn’t increase the cap. In fact, below is a prediction of the Steelers cap charges of signing their nine draft picks to deals based on last years’ draft pick salaries: Draft Picks By Round Salary Cap Hit Displacement Charge 1 $1,400,000.00 $1,400,000.00 2 $650,000.00 $170,000.00 3 $550,000.00 $70,000.00 4 $400,000.00 $0.00 5 $435,000.00 $0.00 6 $420,000.00 $0.00 6 $420,000.00 $0.00 7 $400,000.00 $0.00 $4,675,000.00 $1,640,000.00 According to Ian Whetstone, arguably the best Steelers cap guy on Twitter (follow him at @IanWhetstone), we can project that the Steelers will consume about $1.626M in cap space to sign them, factoring Top 51 rules. So based on Whetstone’s numbers my previous prediction was pretty close. What that also means is that with Colon’s $5.5 million coming free the Steelers will have almost $4 million in cap space to make other moves. The Steelers will likely look to resign Doug Legursky for offensive line depth once they have the cap room to do so. Currently the team does not have a player that can back-up Maurkice Pouncey at center and Legursky would give them that and another reserve guard. Typically the Steelers have all of their draft picks signed by the start of training camp, but that won’t be until mid July
Read more →Every year during training camp multiple players find themselves in a position where they must perform well or find themselves looking for a new job. This year the Pittsburgh Steelers have multiple players that may be on their last legs with the team and if they don’t perform well during training camp and OTA’s they may be looking for a new team and another opportunity come September. Below is a list of five players that will have to play very well during training camp to see playing time in 2013 and if they don’t perform well may find themselves on the chopping block later this off-season: 1.) Jonathan Dwyer: Dwyer served as the Steelers starting running back at times during the 2012 season, but things aren’t looking good for him at this point. The Steelers drafted Le’Veon Bell in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft and he is expected to start at running back. Former-Pitt and Arizona Cardinals running back Larod Stephens-Howling also signed with the team and is expected to serve as a third-down back and return man. The Steelers will likely only be carrying four running backs and with those two expected to earn roster spots that leaves only two spots. That means one of Isaac Redman, Baron Batch and Dwyer will be on their way out of Pittsburgh. Most would assume the team would keep Redman and Dwyer, but there is a good chance Batch may earn a roster spot. Baron Batch could win a roster spot with his pass blocking abilities and play on special teams. Not to mention keeping Batch over Dwyer or Redman would save the team almsot $1 million against the cap in 2013. That cap savings can’t be overlooked; especially given the Steelers need for cap room. If Batch does
Read more →The Pittsburgh Steelers won’t being OTA’s (organized team activities) until May 21. They won’t start training camp until the middle of July and the team won’t make their final cuts to get to their 2013 53-man roster until the final days of August. So this prediction is coming very early, but it’s never too early to start looking at what the Steelers may decide for their final roster spots in 2013. After the Steelers final pre-season game on August 29 the team will have to cut down it’s roster for the final time and will have their final 53-man roster. This is our first predication of what that final roster may look like: Offense Quarterback Starter: Ben Roethlisberger Quarterback Depth: Bruce Gradkowski, Landry Jones Total Quarterback: 3 Running Back Starting Running Back: Le’Veon Bell Starting Fullback: Will Johnson 3rd Down Back: LaRod Stephens-Howling Running Back Depth: Baron Batch, Isaac Redman Total Running Back: 5 Wide Receiver Starters: Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders Slot Receiver: Markus Wheaton Wide Receiver Depth: Jerricho Cotchery, Justin Brown Total Wide Receiver: 5 Tight End Starter: Heath Miller Tight End Depth: David Paulson, Matt Spaeth, David Johnson Total Tight End: 4 Offensive Line Starting Left Tackle: Mike Adams Starting Left Guard: Kelvin Beachum Starting Center: Maurkice Pouncey Starting Right Guard: David DeCastro Starting Right Tackle: Marcus Gilbert Offensive Line Depth: Ramon Foster, Guy Whimper, Doug Legursky Total Offensive Line: 8 Total Offense: 25 Defense Defensive Line Starting Defensive Ends: Brett Keisel, Ziggy Hood Defensive End Depth: Cameron Heyward, Al Woods Starting Nose Tackle: Steve McClendon Nose Tackle Depth: Alameda Ta’amu Total Defensive Line: 6 Linebackers Starting Mack: Lawrence Timmons Starting Buck: Larry Foote Inside Depth: Marshall McFadden, Vince Williams Starting Outside Linebacker: LaMarr Woodley, Jason Worilds Outside Depth: Jarvis Jones, Chris Carter, Adrian Robinson Total Linebacker: 9 Defensive
Read more →According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steelers Hall of Fame corner Jack Butler passed away this morning in Pittsburgh at the age of 85. Butler was an undrafted rookie free agent in 1951 and played for the Steelers from 1951 to 1959. Sad news. #Steelers Hall of Famer Jack Butler, inducted last August, died this morning in Pittsburgh at 85. — Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) May 11, 2013 The Steelers found Butler based on a recommendation that Art Rooney Sr. received from his brother Dan Rooney, who was a priest at St. Bonaventure University. Butler would become a defensive back and occasional wide receiver for the Steelers. During his nine year NFL career Butler was a 4-time Pro Bowl selection and 3-time All-Pro. He finished his career with 52 interceptions, which he returned for a total of 827 yards and four touchdowns. Butler also player some receiver on offense, but when tight end Pete Retzlaff of the Philadelphia Eagles rolled into Butler’s knee he was forced to retire. Butler never made more than around $12,000 as a player with the Steelers. Following his playing career, Butler spent 46 years as a BLESTO scout. Yesterday it was reported that Mike Butler, son of Jack, who has been a scout with the team since 1983, will now be the team’s BLESTO scout following in his father’s footsteps. In October 2008, Butler was named a to the Steelers 75th anniversary team as part of a season celebration. He was named to the National Football League 1950s All-Decade Team. Last year Butler was named as part of the 2012 class to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a senior nominee.
Read more →When Ben Roethlisberger took over two games into his rookie season the Pittsburgh Steelers they had little concern in terms of offensive leadership, even with a rookie quarterback. In front of Roethlisberger were All-pro linemen Jeff Hartings and Alan Faneca, behind him, at times, was Jerome Bettis, and out wide he had Hines Ward. Over the past seven years, however, the Steelers have watched countless veterans leave and be replaced with youthful players. Now that the last of those leaders have left Roethlisberger finds himself as the most veteran starter on the offensive side of the ball for the Steelers. It will be up to him to be the emotional leader of the offense in 2013. Roethlisberger is prepping for the best year of his career already and is hoping he still has plenty of football ahead of him. On the defensive side of the ball the Steelers have lost lone time leaders James Farrior, Aaron Smith, James Harrison and Casey Hampton all within the past two off-seasons. With Farrior a distant memory and Harrison now gone everyone is looking to LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons to help lead the Steelers defense in 2013. Timmons and Woodley had very opposite seasons in 2013. Timmons has become one of the best defensive players that the Steelers have. As for Woodley he looked like the next dominant outside linebacker for the Steelers, but injuries have ruined his last two seasons and now he will look to put those issues behind him and get back to disrupting offenses as a pass rusher. Ziggy Hood is entering his fifth NFL season and is hoping to finally turn the corner and become a solid replacement for Smith. Cameron Heyward, who like Hood was drafted in the first round, will see more time on the defensive
Read more →There are a lot of high expectations for Pittsburgh Steelers second round pick Le’Veon Bell. Last season Bell was a workhorse running back for Michigan State as he carried the ball 382 time. He also caught 32 passes and compiled 1960 yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns. According to John Clayton of ESPN the Steelers believe that Bell could become the next version of Chicago Bears’ running back Matt Forte. If Bell is able to reach that comparison he will have been an absolute steal in the second round of the draft. During his five year NFL career Forte has averaged 252 carries and 53 receptions per season for an average of 1530 yards from scrimmage a season. That kind of dual threat out of the backfield would help take a lot of pressure off of Ben Roethlisberger and help the offense become more balanced. Others have compared Bell to Tennessee Titan’s great Eddie George. George played for the Titans from 1996-2003 and finished his career with one season in Dallas. Like Bell, George was a dual threat running back and had the power and size, which is similar to Bell’s size, to break tackles in the open field. Another benefit of Bell’s large frame, he stands 6’1″ and 230 pounds, is that he is the Steelers largest receiving target, other than Heath Miller, that is expected to see major time in 2013. The Steelers also have two tall receivers in Plaxico Burress and sixth round pick Justin Brown. However, many believe only one of those two will make the final roster and will likely only be used in situational play. Le’Veon Bell also has some big shoes to fill as he wears Hall of Fame defensive back Rod Woodson’s number 26. Bell wore the number 24 during his
Read more →After a dominating run in the AFC North the past few seasons, 2012 was a setback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. At 8-8, they never could put together any consistency to get into the playoffs. As one would expect with a mediocre team, they were mostly made up of mediocre fantasy football talent. So how does 2013 look right? With Mike Wallace out of the picture, the top wide receiver in fantasy football 2013, as well as the top Pittsburgh Steelers player in fantasy, is Antonio Brown. He should see his numbers go up, especially since he is healthy at the moment and ready to go. He caught a touchdown in each of his last four games in 2012, finishing strong after not playing Weeks 10-12. Owning any Pittsburgh running back in fantasy football last season was definitely a negative, but the franchise hopes things change with Le’Veon Bell in town. The rookie from Michigan State should get the starting running back job from day one. He is somewhere between the 25th-30th best running back fantasy wise right now, but he could shoot up the rankings if the Steelers find him reliable enough in the red zone. Now that Brown has moved up on the depth chart, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders should take that #2 spot on Pittsburgh. He caught at least two passes in every game he played last season except once, so he has the consistency to be a late-round sleeper. In deep leagues, he’ll get a look, but there are probably at least 40 wide receivers ranked ahead of him. Finally, Ben Roethlisberger is really on the fringe of being a fantasy football starter for most teams. He ranks somewhere in the 12th-15th range as far as projections go. Since most leagues are made up of 8-12 teams,
Read more →According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the Pittsburgh Steelers have hired two new scouts. As Bouchette mentions the Steelers like to keep things “in the family” and these two hires couldn’t ring anymore true to that fact. The two added to the Steelers scouting department are Dan Colbert, son of GM Kevin Colbert, and Mike Butler, son of Hall of Fame corner Jack Butler. Butler has been a scout with the team since 1983, but will now be the team’s BLESTO scout. Dan Colbert has been the team’s scouting intern the past two years and will now be the one of the team’s pro/college scouts. Bouchette also mentions that former-scouting intern Phil Kreidler, who has worked in multiple scouting positions with the team, has been promoted to college scouting coordinator. He will replace Ron Hughes, who will stay with the team as a part-time senior assistant for college scouting. Dave Petett, who has been a scout with the Steelers for nine years, will now be a pro/college scout. Mark Bruener, who played tight-end with the Steelers from 1995-2003, was previously the team’s BLESTO scout, but will now serve as a college scout. Earlier this week Hall of Fame defensive lineman “Mean” Joe Greene, who also coached and worked in the player personnel departments, retired from the Steelers for a second and seemingly last time.
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