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

[MrBrightside]

The defense was down 2 starters and cb needs to be higher on the draft list because Jackson is always hurt and no one is behind him
On offense they are still using Pruitt Heyward way to much. Issac is showing his age hopefully they trade him for a pick and move McCormick to LG next season
DL CB TE top draft needs and sign Higgins

They aren't going to sign Higgins. Assuming they pay Wilson 30-40M, they aren't going to have the cap space to break the bank for a FA WR.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

They aren't going to sign Higgins. Assuming they pay Wilson 30-40M, they aren't going to have the cap space to break the bank for a FA WR.

No way should the pay Willson 30 million a year. He isn’t good enough to carry a team he was just cut from Denver and is the 3rd highest paid active player.
They were going to pay Aiyuk 27 million a year year

 

[MrBrightside]

No way should the pay Willson 30 million a year. He isn’t good enough to carry a team he was just cut from Denver and is the 3rd highest paid active player.
They were going to pay Aiyuk 27 million a year year

Feels like time for an avatar bet. You know how many teams need QB's? At least 7 and arguably up to 10. There may be 1-2 at most coming out in the draft this year. Wilson has been a mid-level NFL starting QB this season and the going rate for those guys is $30-40M. Something like Mayfield's contract from this past offseason seems like the best case scenario for what they'll be able to do here.

 

[Andy99]

Cincy is going to franchise tag or resign Higgins…I advocated at the draft taking Thomas with our first pick over another O lineman…we would be much better today if they had done that

 

[MrBrightside]

Here's a complete list of all established starting NFL QB's not on rookie deals who are making under $30M in 2024:

Geno Smith

<end of list>

Quarterback Contracts and Salaries | Over The Cap

Ranking the top NFL Quarterback contracts and salaries in the NFL

overthecap.com

Cincy is going to franchise tag or resign Higgins…I advocated at the draft taking Thomas with our first pick over another O lineman…we would be much better today if they had done that

I don't think that's true - no way they can or will pay all of Burrow, Chase, and Higgins and have 2 of the top 5-10 WR deals at the same time - but teams like NE and LV and AZ all have shit tons of space and a need at the position.

 

[Andy99]

Here's a complete list of all established starting NFL QB's not on rookie deals who are making under $30M in 2024:

Geno Smith

<end of list>

Quarterback Contracts and Salaries | Over The Cap

Ranking the top NFL Quarterback contracts and salaries in the NFL

overthecap.com

I don't think that's true - no way they can or will pay all of Burrow, Chase, and Higgins and have 2 of the top 5-10 WR deals at the same time - but teams like NE and LV and AZ all have shit tons of space and a need at the position.

Idk…there was an article recently and Burrow sounded like he had inside info that the team was resigning Higgins…

 

[T1K]

Feels like time for an avatar bet. You know how many teams need QB's? At least 7 and arguably up to 10. There may be 1-2 at most coming out in the draft this year. Wilson has been a mid-level NFL starting QB this season and the going rate for those guys is $30-40M. Something like Mayfield's contract from this past offseason seems like the best case scenario for what they'll be able to do here.

Im not the biggest Wilson fan and I could see a contract with term aging badly, but re-signing Russ is the biggest no brainer decision of all time. Tomlin clearly does well with vets that can take some of the load off of him from an in-game management standpoint. Russ would have a ton of interest on the open market.

 

[cookthebooks]

i would take wilson back for a discount with the handshake agreement the savings would go into a wr in free agency

 

[xlm34]

I could see him not loving the idea, but any Wilson deal would need to come with an easy out after year 2 at minimum. You can’t be stuck with a 40+ million dollar hit on a 39 year old Wilson.

The market says mid level QB play gets 40+ million so he should get that assuming these next couple games don’t go terribly. So many of these QB contracts being handed out are going to age poorly though.

 

[MrBrightside]

Im not the biggest Wilson fan and I could see a contract with term aging badly, but re-signing Russ is the biggest no brainer decision of all time. Tomlin clearly does well with vets that can take some of the load off of him from an in-game management standpoint. Russ would have a ton of interest on the open market.

And they really don't have much choice unless they want to try to roll with Fields, something I don't think they have in their plans. Maybe you throw a bag at Darnold since Minnesota probably goes with McCarthy, but man I'd be wary of that.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I don't think Wilson breaks $40 million but a 2 year, $60 million deal seems pretty reasonable. Could he get more in free agency? Absolutely, but the dude has made $300 million over his career already and seems to really like it in Pittsburgh.

I'd bet he gets re-signed for a cap hit in the lower $30 million range.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Feels like time for an avatar bet. You know how many teams need QB's? At least 7 and arguably up to 10. There may be 1-2 at most coming out in the draft this year. Wilson has been a mid-level NFL starting QB this season and the going rate for those guys is $30-40M. Something like Mayfield's contract from this past offseason seems like the best case scenario for what they'll be able to do here.

Best case is a brady 2/50. Teams can want Qbs but we have seen RW without Gp not get to 160 in back to back weeks. He is already 36 years old and needs a great support system to salvage his HOF campaign if another team wants to pay him then fine. Sam Darnold will be the best Qb in free agency

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Idk…there was an article recently and Burrow sounded like he had inside info that the team was resigning Higgins…

Higgins and Chase have the same agent now. Both will get paid thats a lot a guaranteed money the owner has to put into escrow. They have no defense and will probably have to move of Henderson for draft capital

 

[Peat]

Re paying Wilson

If they want to be a competitive team that's always trying to win it all and keep getting better and better, I don't really see a better option at this point than giving the man his money and trying to keep the guarantees small. I think there's potentially an argument for Fields if you can stiff Fields on pay and use the difference on some great players, but look at the projected FA lists and tell me whether you think the Steelers are getting great players.

I think a lot of the criticisms this week are completely valid and I agree with a lot of them, but we need to remember the Eagles are really f***ing good, particularly on defense. They are the #1 defense giving up an average of 17.6pts/game on the season and that drops to 15.1pts/game since their bye. Without Harris' fumble, they were right on pace for that. I think the Steelers were still particularly bad because they only had 163 yards of offense, but some of that is on the time of possession. I'd have to take a deeper dive to see how that calculates in terms of yards per play compared to other teams. I'm guessing still not great, but still.

So, yes, I think pitches to Najee shouldn't even be in the playbook, but do I have any faith they would have had success running up the middle? Not really. Patterson being in the game late was dumb, but they weren't getting anything from Harris or Warren. Was not going for it on 4th and 7 the right call? No, but does anyone really think they would have picked it up? They were just over matched.

And not to beat a dead horse, but we all wanted a WR2 anyway, but one piece of that was the fear of what it would like without Pickens. Well, there's your answer.

Honestly, I'm more disappointed in the defense. You knew it was going to be tough sledding on offense. They stopped Saquon which was mission #1, but when you gets teams into 3rd and 20 and you give up the first down as a top 5 defense? I dunno. Just reeks of the 'good on paper' defenses that then give up 40 points in the playoffs that we've seen under Tomlin.

There's a lot of truth to this. I don't want to give too much credit to the Eagles because if this team are going to be who they say they are, they've got to find a way to hang with these teams... but we all knew it was going to be tough. And that the injuries were unfortunate ones. I particularly agree with the point about them not picking up the 4th and 7. My expert NFL strategic advice on that one would be "don't be the team having to make that decision".

This team's just got to keep adding talent and developing the talent it has even further.

 

[pistolpete11]

Given how miserable he seemed in Denver and how much he's made in his career, I think Russ would be willing to leave some money on the table for the right spot and I don't know what would possibly be a better spot than the Steelers in terms of competitiveness, coach, personal success, overall happiness, and they can still pay him well.

$25M seems pretty low, though. God bless him if he takes that. I'd guess 2 years, $70M.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Given how miserable he seemed in Denver and how much he's made in his career, I think Russ would be willing to leave some money on the table for the right spot and I don't know what would possibly be a better spot than the Steelers in terms of competitiveness, coach, personal success, overall happiness, and they can still pay him well.

$25M seems pretty low, though. God bless him if he takes that. I'd guess 2 years, $70M.

Geno smith got 3/75. I would give him that RW is 36 and wants to win multiple sbs