OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: 5 and 2 Justin who? Hand the Fields to Wilson

[T1K]

We don’t really have the luxury of trading Pickens when our WR2 is Calvin Austin. Sure we could sign someone like Tee Higgins, but he isn’t a true alpha WR1 like Pickens, at least in my opinion. Pickens has made a lot of positive strides from a route running standpoint. I fear trading him now would be the type of mistake that would set this team back years.

 

[Peat]

I'm tired of Pickens' immaturity, but Tomlin is the flat out best in the business getting headcases to be productive and knows when to pull the plug and move on. I'm fully trusting of Tomlin's decision making when it comes to moving on from Pickens, my opinion is whatever Tomlin decides to do. His track record of handling guys like AB, Brown, Claypool and DJ is just too good for me to second guess his judgement.

This. I lean towards not trusting the guy but if the Steelers think they can, sure. They see him a lot more than me and know their business well.

I am fascinated by how that ball bounces though. Saying Pickens needs to grow up fast is mild in isolation, but compared to Tomlin's history of public support for his players and Pickens in particular, it strikes me as anything but. There's the Khan element too. I don't know he's as willing to tolerate distractions if Tomlin says to as Colbert was. Then you've got the Steelers' history of generally opting against lengthy second contracts for their WRs. Feels like it could go any way.

 

[Peat]

Also speaking of contracts, the Broncos' LT Garett Boles just got 4 x 21m. I don't know exactly how he stacks up with Dan Moore, but Boles is 32 and more than 3 seasons removed from his sole All Pro nod so we're not talking a league elite or a guy giving his best years. It's a 4m APY pay raise on Boles' last contract.

As such, I think Moore getting paid a lot seems that bit likelier, and kills any vestigial idea of holding onto him.

 

[xlm34]

They should at least be on track for some comp picks unless they decide to go crazy in FA. Moore is definitely getting a big contract. Daniels before the injury would have received a boatload but still should get a decent sized contract. I think some team gives Harris a nice deal. If a team likes Fields he’ll get paid too.

 

[Fiji Water]

The Cowboys won multiple Super Bowls with headcases like Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders. The Bulls won multiple rings with Dennis Rodman. The key is to have a coach who can manage these types of personalities. Tomlin seems to have that ability. AB and Bell were the most productive players at their respective positions for vast majority of their tenures with the Steelers. Both were not the reason why the Steelers failed in the playoffs...that blame primarily falls on Ben and the defense imploding.

 

[Peat]

They should at least be on track for some comp picks unless they decide to go crazy in FA. Moore is definitely getting a big contract. Daniels before the injury would have received a boatload but still should get a decent sized contract. I think some team gives Harris a nice deal. If a team likes Fields he’ll get paid too.

Fields doesn't even need to get paid all that much to garner one. The 49ers picked Purdy with a compensatory pick they got for losing their backup QB to another backup QB gig. Can't even remember the dude's name. Good chance they pick up something for Mike Williams too.

Only point I'd make is that with the cap space the Steelers have, they can go a bit crazy in FA. Over The Cap gives them nearly 42m in effective cap space, which sounds tight when you've got to pay a QB but that's before remembering Preston Smith can be cut for a free 13m's worth of cap space and probably will be compared to paying him that to be OLB4. I doubt they're keeping Cole Holcomb either with Queen and Wilson, and that reclaims a further 6m. So if you start thinking of it as 61m in cap space, that's quite a lot, even if Wilson takes 25-30m.

I know they've got be a bit canny with TJ Watt coming up for renewal and whatever decision they make on Pickens and a 2022 draft class that's set to get paid, but that's still plenty of room for aggression, particularly if they think they're close.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

And did you hear part of the reason why they had a contract dispute? Bell thought Ben had too much say it what was going on. Then he told his offensive line he'd be back and then ghosted them - DeCastro and Pouncey took public exception. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like the two dudes were good teammates. Two of the best Steelers ever but they couldn't stay out of their own way.

Except it does matter. And very clearly did to Tomlin afterwards also. Twitter beefing with an active teammate at your position? No big deal? K.

So we are now reducing down the original point. There were problems with the two dudes.

Yeah it really seemed to effect their play on the field. Oh wait, nope.