Steelers Morning Huddle 2/25/2014
By Kim Myers
Oct 13, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) calls a play in the huddle during the first half of their game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Steelers season goes all year long so whether we’re looking ahead to the start of free agency, predicting the possible draft choices, or looking around for mentions of your Black & Gold we’ve got you covered. Here’s what’s being said about your Pittsburgh Steelers around the block.
NFL Competition Committee to consider making use of N-word a penalty in game
ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” did a special report on Sunday night over the use of the N-word on the football field and the NFL’s competition committee’s possible ruling to implement penalties for players using it during games. The report and possible rule change proposal was brought on by the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors diversity in the NFL in response to reports from this season mostly referring to the Miami Dolphins locker room situation in where Richie Incognito used that term repeatedly to refer to Jonathan Martin. Steelers free agent safety Ryan Clark weighed in on the topic with the perspective from an organization that obviously requires respect and common decency in their locker room as opposed to Miami. He said that the Steelers locker room is a place of “mutual respect and even restraint” mostly due to the directive of Steelers chairman Dan Rooney. He recalled that Rooney told Ike Taylor not to use that word in the locker room.
“And his reason behind it was that people fought against people using that word. People felt like that word was demeaning. There were terrible acts done by men using that word and by people using that word.” –Ryan Clark
Steelers could be active in free agency
The Steelers are getting some salary cap help so far, even before the deadline to be under the cap. According to ESPN reports, the salary cap keeps rising north of $130 million. Gerry Dulac of the PPG explains that this extra space, along with the many needs for the offseason, could contribute to the Steelers being a little more active than we’re used to seeing them be in free agency. The Steelers still need to move some things around considering the fact that even with the increase to the salary cap they’d still projected to be over. It will definitely be interesting to see if the Steelers go after free agency for starters as opposed to backups, which has been their style of late.
Steelers should draft a WR with their first pick?
Joe Starkey wrote a column for the Trib explaining his reasoning behind wanting the Steelers to go after a wide receiver with the 15th pick in the draft this year as opposed to using that pick to address the many defensive needs. His explanation includes a jab at Dick LeBeau that it takes about 9 years to learn his defense anyway so why not go offense and grab a tall receiver like Texas A&M’s Mike Evans.
What are your thoughts, Steeler Nation?
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