Steelers Free Agent Signings

The Steelers have been surprisingly active in free agency, so I figured I'd break down the signings...

Will Allen, S:

Allen used to be a cornerback for the Giants. He got too slow and sucky, so they moved him to safety. Then they cut him and he went to Miami. Then Miami let him go and he signed with us. Is he awesome? No. Did they sign him in a panic because they weren't sure about Ryan Clark? Probably. Is he better than Ryan Mundy and Antonio Smith? Maybe. If nothing else, he's more consistent, so when Clark knocks himself out with a big hit next season, we can be less worried. But only a little bit less.

Arnaz Battle and Antwaan Randle El, WRs:

I put these two together because they both play receiver and because they both played quarterback at the University of Indiana (thank you to my brother for the trivia). There are wildcat and trick play possibilities with these two, but the signings are more significant for two reasons:

1. We finally have a capable return guy for the first time since... uh, some dude left after we won Super Bowl XL. What was that guy's name? Oh yeah, Antwaan Randle El.
2. This means that the Steelers have basically calibrated the doors at their practice facilities so that they don't hit Limas Sweed on the ass on the way out.

Also, this means that the team is five deep at receiver. Aside from Ward and Holmes, they don't have any outstanding players -- though Mike Wallace is pretty good -- but they at least have some depth and we can also forget about the Shaun McDonald Experiment and the short-lived Joey Galloway Experiment.

Battle only has 29 catches the last two seasons, but Randle El averaged better than 50 catches a season with a pretty crappy Redskins passing attack, so this makes us better. That's provided that Roethlisberger plays in 2010.

Jonathan Scott, OT:

This guy was cut by the Lions and the Bills. I know there's not a lot of offensive line talent out there, but that's pretty bad. Maybe he'll find his way with the Steelers because Russ Grimm... oh, right.

These guys will help the team, but more from a depth perspective than anything else. It allows us to get rid of Sweed. It gives us a better return game, which has been sorely lacking since Randle El left.

Ultimately, the big signings were Ryan Clark, Casey Hampton (even though I don't agree with three years), and franchising Jeff Reed. Those were the three guys we couldn't afford to lose and we kept them.

I still have a bad feeling about the 2010 Steelers, but lets hope that my run of bad football predictions continues and that I'm very, very wrong about next season.

The Roethlisberger Situation

He's done it again, folks! That's our two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback.

For those of you that gave up the Internet for Lent, why are you reading this? Also, Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault in Georgia.

At this point, no formal charges have been brought by the authorities, but there's a woman down there that said he assaulted her.

Two things jump out at me:

1. It's assault, not rape.
2. The authorities are taking their sweet time, even though they have eyewitnesses that say Ben was being a jerk at the bar, they have her testimony, and she got checked out at the hospital.

Now, #1 is important because there's a lot of different levels of assault. Rape is kinda self-explanatory. Given that Ben is famous, assault could mean community service or some other wrist-slapping punishment. We'll get to morals in a moment. Right now I'm talking about whether or not I think he'll play in 2010.

Chances are that he will. Depending on the severity of the punishment Roethlisberger gets and how sprained Kaiser Goodell's labrum is that day, the suspension from the league offices might not be that bad. Hell, Donte Stallworth killed a guy and didn't miss too much time.

For #2, they're either doing everything like the book so there are no loose ends, or they're stalling because there's no real evidence. Keeping Ben's history in mind, there's probably something to the accusation and some kind of formal charge will be brought. The timing of it, though, is important. If everything happens in the offseason, then Ben can serve his NFL suspension and get back to work.. If this drags on, then he'll probably file for a continuance so he doesn't miss any games or practices because he needs to be in court. Chances are it won't drag on, so we're probably looking at the first four games with Dennis Dixon at quarterback.

Morally, Ben's got some serious issues. From what I heard, he has a skank fetish and he tends to take more liberties than he should. Every now and again, you can shrug your shoulders and say, "That's how God made him." But, this is now two in two years and that's just what was reported. For every accusation, there are usually five incidents that don't see the light of day.

The thing is that Steelers aren't going to cut him unless he's facing serious jail time or is suspended indefinitely.

At the 2007 Combine, I stopped listening when guys said they had been suspended for this or that or had tested positive for weed because I knew that the Steelers wouldn't go near guys like that. With everything that has happened with Ben, Santonio, James Harrison, and even Cedrick Wilson, I have to say that's not the case anymore. If you can play ball and you're important to the team, ownership really doesn't seem to care if you have a few "indiscretions" every now and again.

The fans might not like it, but, ultimately, only thought of and mentioned by ownership when the team wins a championship. Hey, Ernie Holmes shot a rifle at a cop. Bam Morris got pulled over with 250 pounds of weed in his trunk. James Harrison beat his baby mama. Santonio and Marvell Smith both got busted with weed. Everyone on the offensive line was juicing in the 70s. Jeff Reed got into an altercation with a cop and they franchised him. The Rooneys were heavily involved with gambling for years.

The organization has its warts, so it's not them acting out of character if they keep Ben. It's the business of winning football games, which is something the Steelers have done very well for a very long time.

I hate to say it, but you can no longer brag about the Steelers as a "classy organization" when you get into a debate at a bar. You'll just have to fall back on the six Super Rings like everyone else.