Skip to content

Free Agency

Steelers Fiddle While NFL Burns…

  • by

…through all their money.

Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to be a fan of another team. Does anybody else do that? Not often but every once in awhile, I’ll sit there in my Roethlisberger jersey after the Pittsburgh Steelers clinch yet another playoff spot or suffer a heartbreaking loss and wonder what it must feel like for rabid fans of other teams. Can you imagine what a Clevelander must think when they wake on game day only to be greeted by Brady Quinn’s #10 hanging in their closet? Or what a Lions fan must feel now that their team is a legitimate playoff contender when their last playoff appearance featured a fella by the name of Chaz Batch playing quarterback for them?

I guess I’m in a reflective mood because frankly that’s all there is for Steeler fans to do during the first month or so of free agency. For the past week, the fans of other teams probably spent half their workday on their computer or smartphone obsessively refreshing the ProFootballTalk website for the latest free agent news. I can picture ‘Skins fans doing their best impression of the Micro Machines guy; “Vincent Jackson…Vincent Jackson….C’mon Vincent…D’OH…Pierre Garcon?…C’mon Pierre Garcon…Pierre…YEAH!”

For about 30 teams, this is the time of year when your team goes out and spends a bunch of money in an effort to become a contender. This is the time of year when you start thinking your front office and ownership truly want to win and are doing all the right things to ensure you’re still playing in January. For Steeler fans, this is the time of year we become Penguin fans. Anybody hear about this Sidney Crosby character coming back tonight or something?
Read More »Steelers Fiddle While NFL Burns…

Steelers Benefit From Salary Cap Incomptence

  • by

An already crazy NFL off-season is about to get even crazier. When the clock strikes four this afternoon, the league’s 2012 free agency period officially begins. There really wasn’t much free agent activity last year due to the lock-out and teams being reluctant to bring in new faces who wouldn’t have the benefit of an entire off-season to learn a new playbook. Prepare for free agency to return with a vengeance.

Speaking of which, the Pittsburgh Steelers got an itty bit of salary cap relief thanks to of all people Commissioner Roger Goodell. Over the weekend, the salary cap was set at $120 million, a negligible increase over last year’s cap. Considering the lock-out was fought over the players wanting 53% of the revenue while the owners tried shrink their share to 47%, it’s pretty clear who won last year’s showdown. Good job bending over for the league, Dee Smith.

Anyway, the league announced two teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins were being docked cap space for front loading contracts during the uncapped year. In other words, the Ginger Dictator is penalizing those teams ($10 and $31 million respectively) for violating the salary cap in a year in which no cap existed. And I thought suspending players for playing football set a new bar for insane rulings. Gotta love that monomaniacal douchebag.
Read More »Steelers Benefit From Salary Cap Incomptence