The Offseason Of………Ben

As Ben Roethlisberger enters the 2^nd half of his career, his 9^th NFL season and has now turned 30; the Steelers have laid out their plans for him in no uncertain terms.  They want Big Ben to stay healthy, upright and to take fewer risks with his body. 

They made this very clear via their offseason operations thus far in 2012. This offseason the Steelers dedicated to Roethlisberger in several ways. Nearly every move the team has made has been a message to Big Ben. Now the question will be is he receiving the message? 

There’s no questioning the success Ben has had over the first 8 years of his career with 80 regular season wins, 4 division titles, 6 playoff appearances, 3 Super Bowl appearances and 2 Super Bowl victories.  Production like that is hard to come by, especially in an 8 year stretch. Ben however has done that while getting sacked 314 times during that span and hit countless more. He’s been injured from head to toe, literally and as he ages, it’s time to stop that from happening consistently.

 A prevention plan is now in place. 

The Steelers started the offseason with Art Rooney II saying that Roethlisberger needed to ‘tweak’ his game.  Many, including Roethlisberger may have taken this as a jab at the way he plays, that Rooney and the organization were not pleased with his style and that they didn’t care for what he was doing.  On the contrary, they know he’s a franchise quarterback who they invested a lot of money into and they want him to ‘tweak’ his extension of plays and the hits he’s been taking.  At this point in his career, as exciting as it is to see him extend a play, the team would rather him throw the ball away and avoid a hit instead of gaining a few extra yards and getting blasted by Ray Lewis barreling down on him. The Steelers want Ben to play another 8 years or more and if his style of play doesn’t change some, they know that won’t happen. 

To back that up, the team fired Bruce Arians. Arians was an enabler and the team knew that. Yes Ben put up some very prolific numbers in Arians’ offense but his offense was also designed to get Ben killed.  Arians liked to throw the ball far more often than run it, which in today’s NFL may be the norm for several teams  but it’s not what management deemed Steeler football.  To add to that; the team wasn’t built to keep Roethlisberger healthy while running this offense. A porous offensive line and an offensive coordinator who wants to throw all the time is a recipe for a disastrous outcome for the team’s franchise QB, especially one who is now 30 years old.  Arians rarely, if ever, even considered using a full back in his play designs and really didn’t do Roethlisberger any favors by not running more often, sparing him a few extra hits along the way.  The release of Arians was another key sign this offseason is designed to assist Ben’s longevity.

To replace Arians, the team hired Todd Haley, the fiery and controversial former Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.  Haley was hired to bring balance to an offense that has been viewed as too pass happy; an offense that has gotten Ben beaten to a pulp the past few years. It’s a hire that’s designed to protect Ben from opposing defenses hitting him, but also to protect him from himself. Under Arians rein as offensive coordinator; Ben was given a lot of freedom and ability to make his own play calls.  While successful, those play calls led him to some of the punishing hits he took over the years as well.  Roethlisberger will not have that same freedom in the newly installed offense that Haley will run.

As the offseason has progressed we have seen a draft designed to completely protect Ben and send him the message that he’s the team’s guy. The first round saw the team bring in one of the best Guards available when they drafted Stanford’s David Decastro.  Decastro is already polished; he’s big, strong and deceptively quick. He’ll start from day one and assuming he turns into what the Steelers think he will, he’ll prolong Ben’s career in two ways. He’ll protect Ben from sacks and hits and he’ll enable the Steelers to run the ball more often and more effectively.  Most experts say he can be penciled in for the next 10 years.  That’s telling. 

In addition to DeCastro the team brought in tackle Mike Adams from Ohio State with their second round pick. He’s another guy who is expected to contribute immediately and convert the offensive line from the team’s biggest weakness to one of its strengths.  Adams will protect Ben’s blindside and if his off the field issues can be overcome (certainly a big if) he’ll be protecting Ben for many years to come as well. He’s a giant in stature, standing 6’7 and weighing in at a massive 320 pounds.   

Bringing in two top offensive linemen in the first two rounds is a very obvious and loud statement to Ben; we need you for the long haul. 

 In addition to the two linemen; the team also brought in another running back, tight end and receiver to help provide more weapons and depth for Roethlisberger. The draft was really all about Ben with a sprinkle of defense mixed in.

The offseason started with Rooney making a statement, continued with an offensive coordinator change and has progressed with the drafting of two of the top offensive linemen in the draft. The message is not subtle, it’s clear; this was the offseason of Ben. The team has made their statement and as we head through OTA’s and into camp and beyond; Ben needs to make his.  Ben has said on multiple occasions that he wants more rings than any QB in history. That number would be 5. He’s got 2 in the first half of his career and the 2012 offseason has certainly been set up for him to pick up 3 more in the second half if he understands that he is the franchise QB and yes, that tweak, just a tweak, is necessary.

 

 

Steel Nation Association Happy Hour at Bar Louie!

Come join us on 5/17/12 at Bar Louie Station Square!

A Look At The Mike Wallace Situation

Mike Wallace, the speedy number one wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers will be back in 2012 but will he be wearing black and gold beyond that?  We all hope so but don’t hold your collective breaths.  Traditionally the Steelers make the right moves when it comes to their free agents and aging veterans and always let them go at just the right time.  They traded away Santonio Holmes for a 5^th round pick a few years ago and while Holmes is a good player, they haven’t missed him.  They let Joey Porter go, they let Chris Hope go, they let Alan Faneca go and on and on. The point of it is; have any of those guys gone on to make a big splash in the league after they left the Steelers? No. On the other hand think of some of the guys they’ve re signed over that same time span, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, James Farrior, Casey Hampton and Ben Roethlisberger to name a few. The Steelers always know. And they know again. They know Wallace is a premiere receiver just entering the prime of his career, a potential perennial pro bowler with a world of talent.  They’ve made it clear they want to keep him but at what cost and will he allow that?  Wallace is a guy that will be heard from around the league whether he’s in Pittsburgh or not.  The Steelers know that and he knows that. 

Wallace will return in 2012 because no other team offered him a contract by the April 20^th deadline for restricted free agents. When the clock hit April 21^st, the Steelers retained the rights to keep him for one more year.  They’ve offered him a 2.7 million dollar one year tender. Wallace has stated publicly he will not sign the offer until he ‘absolutely has to’.  In other words, he’s not happy.  It’s been reported that Wallace wants a deal comparable to Larry Fitzgerald, 8 years, 120 million.  That’s not going to happen, at least not in Pittsburgh.  The Steelers will never pay a wide receiver 15 million dollars a year. All of us in the Steel Nation value Wallace highly, but the Steelers don’t value his position highly. It has nothing to do with the numbers he’s put up in his first three seasons or the numbers he’s capable of putting up in his next five or six. It’s about the numbers the Steelers really care about, cap space and rushing the football.

 The Steelers are a traditionally frugal franchise and currently sit a mere 6 to 8 million below the 2012 salary cap. Wrapping up Wallace with a long term contract worth that kind of money would be crippling to the team.  It would hinder their ability to keep their best players at other positions, something they must do in order to stay competitive year in and year out.  Wallace will not be offered Fitzgerald money by this organization.  The Steelers will make him an offer they deem fair, but never at the expense of allowing the rest of the positions on the field to lack Steeler quality talent. The Steelers are great at ‘spreading the wealth’ and not putting all their proverbial eggs in one basket. 

The Steelers also do not value the wide receiver position as highly as other organizations around the league. Even with the team loaded with talents such as Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders at the receiver position and Big Ben tossing them the ball, they want to focus on the run.  That hurts Wallace’s long term chances of staying for the money he wants. Wallace can certainly open the field up, even helping the rushing attack in that regard but the Steelers want the rushing attack to open up the passing attack and they’ll focus on that first. Art Rooney II has made it clear twice in the past three off seasons that this is what he wants.  They fired (or forced him into “retirement”) Bruce Arians to prove they aren’t messing around. Arians was a big supporter of the pass attack first. This is not the style that ownership deems Steeler football.  If the higher ups within the organization feel that rushing the ball is and should be the primary focus on an offense loaded with a air game as talented as this then Wallace again has a strike against him when it comes to his long term possibilities here for the money he wants.

The bottom line is this; what is reasonable for the team, what is Wallace willing to take to stay and what will other teams offer him as he becomes an unrestricted free agent after 2012? In a day and age when Pierre Garcon is getting 9 million per year from the Washington Redskins, Mike Wallace is worth at least 10 or 11 million a year.  That spells trouble for all of us Wallace fans and our hope and desire for him to stay. The Steelers would surely offer 6 million, maybe even 8, but 10 to 11, let alone 15 just won’t happen. 

Wallace is valuable, a guy the black and gold need. He’s a guy any QB would love. He’s the fastest guy in the league and one thing you can’t coach is speed. He can run the deep route with the best of them. Wallace can beat most corners by two to three yards and Big Ben will hit him in stride more often than not.  In his first three seasons Wallace has caught 171 balls for an average of 18.7 yards per catch. 130 of those catches or 76%, have been for first downs. That’s number one receiver material, no question. Add the fact that 24 of those have been for Touchdowns, an average of 8 per year and you have a super star in the making.

Many in the Steel Nation like to say Wallace is greedy and replaceable when they hear about his monetary demands. They’ll say the team has Antonio Brown so let Wallace go.  I disagree.  He’s not replaceable, Antonio Brown, as much as we love him, is.  Brown has speed too, but a lot of his production came as Wallace drew double teams down the stretch. No, you don’t want to pay a guy 15 mil per year to draw defenders away from your number 2 receivers, but the point is, he’s so good that he calls for double coverage from opposing defenses!  He’s so fast that safeties and corners cringe when they have to cover him. He’s not just a ‘go deep’ guy either. Wallace can run routes and isn’t afraid to go over the middle.  He’s good for 1,200 yards a season if not more. He’s also got phenomenal hands.  Think about the final play of the 2009 Steelers vs. Packers game to see what I mean. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6vaR0nobrU and see for yourself.  He’s an all around, complete receiver; that is very hard to come by.

The Steelers know they have Wallace for 2012 so they’ll take their time in trying to extend him beyond that. He has to play at least 6 games to earn a year of service for 2012 or he faces a restricted free agency next off season. He certainly won’t allow that to happen. He needs to sign his 2.7 million tender by June 15^th or the Steelers have the right to drop 2.1 million from that salary for 2012. If it gets to that point, things could get ugly.  The anticipation here is he’ll sign the deal somewhere around June 14^th, he’ll report to camp, he’ll play a full year and put up some large numbers and he’ll bolt next year via free agency to a big spender. If the Steelers want to keep him long term then they’ll need to get this worked out this summer. Still having salary cap issues, rookie draftees to sign, other key players to sign whose contracts are coming up and the Steelers traditional hardnosed stance on both the air attack and salaries paid; it seems like we’ll be cheering for Wallace one more season and then watching him outrun the Steelers offers in the free agent market next offseason.