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.