Steelers Primer

Well, the lockout finally ended, the players and coaches are going back to work, and there have been roughly 6,054 transactions in the last few days.

The big question on everyone's mind -- at least in this little corner of the Internet -- is: How do the Steelers look?

The answer to that question is that they look both good and bad and that we'll know more on August 4th, which is the deadline for all teams to get under the salary cap.  In 2009, the cap was around $127 million, there was no cap in 2010, and the cap sits at about $120 million this season.  Heading into the post-lockout era, the Steelers were about $10 million over the new cap.

Out of those 6,054 transactions, the Steelers re-signed Shaun Suisham, Ike Taylor, Willie Colon, and Jonathan Scott.  The signings of Colon and Scott were particularly important, since they also cut Flozell Adams and Max Starks.  They cut Randle-El, but I'm not sure that's really important.  Without Scott and Colon, there was a .03 percent chance that I might be starting for the Steelers at left tackle this season.  While this would be an awesome development for me, it probably wouldn't have worked out too well for the Steelers.

Rumors that I've seen on Twitter and elsewhere say that LaMarr Woodley is close to signing a long term contract and there are five guys on the team that will probably restructure their contracts so that no one else will need to be cut from the roster.  In addition, it looks like Starks and Adams may come back eventually at a more palatable rate.  All these things will help them field a full team.

Taylor's contract was the biggest news of this truncated offseason.  He may not be a shutdown cornerback and he may have the worst hands in the league, but he's the best cover player on the team and was the best option available by far, if you assume they weren't going to sign Nnamdi Asomugha (they wouldn't, not in a million truncated free agent periods).  I didn't think the Steelers would pony up the money to re-sign Ike and I'm extremely happy that he's back.

With no mini-camps, rookie camps, and OTAs this offseason, everyone they drafted in April doesn't stand much a chance of contributing in 2011.  But, Tomlin hates rookies, so that's not a huge loss.  Maurkice Pouncey is not walking through that door.  Cameron Heyward will probably get some playing time after Aaron Smith goes on injured reserve and Curtis Brown and Cortez Allen will probably play on special teams and maybe, possibly, Baron Batch will get some third down reps as Verron Haynes Junior.

Currently, the starting five on the offensive line looks like this: Scott, Kemoeatu, Pouncey, Legursky/Foster, Colon.  That's not good.  I'd rather have Starks and Adams in there and I don't trust Scott, but that's mainly because he's an unknown quantity.  The offensive line actually played pretty well last season and held themselves together despite a rash of injuries, so lightning might strike twice.  If everyone stays healthy, they'll improve and grow together throughout the course of the season.  At least we know who's starting at center.

That's where they look bad.


Where they look good is everywhere else.  Mendenhall may be a fumble machine, but he has also performed well as the starter the past two seasons.  Ben Roethlisberger is an alleged rapist and a newlywed, but he's also one of the best quarterbacks in the league.  Mike Wallace and Hines Ward got the job done last season and Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown get the chance to build on what they accomplished late last season.

Everyone from last season's #1 scoring defense returns.  Troy is healthy.  James Harrison is angry.  Hopefully, Woodley will be happy after signing a sweet deal.  Clark, Taylor, McFadden, Keisel, Smith are all back and healthy.  I haven't heard anything about Jerry Springer needing to rescue Casey Hampton from being trapped on his couch.  Ziggy Hood had a great year last year and is currently starting ahead of Smith.  If they're lucky, Farrior won't have a letdown in 2011 after a solid 2010 like he did in 2009 after a solid 2008.  Lawrence Timmons is an outstanding player and should once again act as team assassin.

I have a feeling that we are going to see some absolutely sucktastic football in the month of September.  Guys haven't had the offseason to get ready.  Their timing will be off.  There will be blown assignments on defense.  There will be a lot of pre-snap penalties.  Any team that has been in the same system, running the same plays for years, will have an advantage.

Here are the guys that have been in the defense since Dick LeBeau took over in 2004: Smith, Taylor, Hampton, Keisel, Farrior, Polamalu, Harrison.  Of the remaining guys, Hood, Woodley, and Timmons have played their entire careers in the system. And Clark is the free safety.  The Steelers will have a decided advantage over most of the rest of the league because of their familiarity with the system.

On offense, here are the guys that have been in the Arians system since he took over in 2007: Ward, Roethlisberger, Miller.  Well... that list isn't as long.  But, Mendenhall, Wallace, Sanders, and Brown have been in this system their entire careers.  Everyone else is on the offensive line and we already talked about that.

Add in what, ostensibly, looks like an easy schedule against the AFC South and NFC West, and the Steelers are sitting pretty.

And... that's it.

Wait, what?  Off the field and the what now?

Ward got busted for a DUI, Mendenhall Tweeted some unfortunate things, and Harrison had bad things to say about everything going back to the Big Bang.  Many experts that make way more money than me have postulated that these distractions will erode the chemistry in the locker room and eventually tear the team apart.

For the most part, these experts view an NFL locker room as a delicate ecosystem where, if Mendenhall flaps his wings (get it? Flaps his wings?  Birds have wings?  Birds tweet?) then a tsunami is going to destroy the team.  Well, that could be in different locker rooms.  But, these guys have all been showering in front of each other for a long time.  They know each other.  They trust each other.  They all work together and have managed to keep off field stuff off the field.

Think of it like any working relationship.  Would your company fold if Bill in sales got a DUI?  Do you care about what Connie in marketing does on Twitter?  If Joe in operations said that everyone in HR was a bunch of idiots, would someone in HR refuse to give him a leave request form?  No, everyone would work together and do their jobs, because it's their job to do their jobs. 

Tomlin is too strong a leader and this locker room is too unified for some offseason indiscretions to tear it all down.  I think that they will have moved on from everything that happened during the lockout by the time the season starts, if they haven't all moved on already.

So, overall, the Steelers look good.  With a Woodley signing and some much-needed cap relief, they could be even better.