Steelers MMQB: NFL Offseason News
By Kim Myers
What We Learned This Week in the NFL Offseason:
- Rex Ryan still talking trash
- Possible landing spots for CB Brandon Flowers
- Vernon Davis giving financial advice while holding out
- Jason Worilds rejects long-term offer from Steelers
- Chuck Noll made us all Steelers
It’s not an NFL offseason without New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan saying something about how much he doesn’t like New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. It doesn’t help that it seems like every time a microphone is put in his face someone is asking him to say something about the Patriots like the Jets success is dependent upon the downfall of the Patriots. That might be true, considering the Jets don’t have much of a chance of winning their own division while the Pats are still the Pats. Now Ryan wants to remind everyone that he doesn’t think that “one guy up in New England’s got all the answers,” when it comes to evaluating talent as the Jets have scooped up two former second-round New England draft picks. For a team whose biggest offensive acquisition this offseason has been Chris Johnson, it’s important to remember that one guy in New York doesn’t have all the answers either.
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The Kansas City Chiefs released Pro Bowl cornerback Brandon Flowers last week to save themselves some salary cap room. Flowers becomes a hot ticket on the free agent market even though he had a lackluster 2013 season. Around The League’s Gregg Rosenthal thinks that these seven teams are the possible landing spots for Flowers. He says that the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans have the best chance at landing the 28-year old corner while the Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, and Oakland Raiders are in the running as well.
San Francisco 49ers TE Vernon Davis is holding out for a new contract just four years removed from becoming the highest paid tight end in the league. As he states in SI’s MMQB, where he’s filling in for Peter King this week, he believes he is playing at a higher level than he was when he signed the deal. He intends on skipping the teams’ mandatory minicamp this week. If he continues his holdout into training camp, it will start costing him money while he tries to hold out for more. He signed a contract with a company called Fantex, in which he essentially turned himself into a commodity where fans can buy “shares” of him and his future earnings. He got a $4 million payday in exchange for selling 10% of his future earnings to Fantex. And now he’s giving advice on how rookies entering the league should handle their money. Makes perfect sense.
The Steelers haven’t only been working on the extension of Maurkice Pouncey this offseason. According to Ed Bouchette of the PPG, they made an offer to LB Jason Worilds “a while ago” with a multi-year contract. He did not accept the offer. The team’s offer still stands and they’re not planning to go any higher so where it stands now is that he can either accept the offer or play at the $9.7 million on the transition tag and take his chances as an unrestricted free agent next offseason. Of course, the Steelers could franchise tag him next year if they wanted to give it another go.
Pittsburgh Tribune Review columnist Dejan Kovacevic’s column about what Chuck Noll meant and still means to the city of Pittsburgh is a must-read. In it he explains how Chuck Noll gave the city something to be positive about in a time in the 70s and 80s when there wasn’t a whole lot to be positive about in Pittsburgh. In turn, he gave the city its identity. Because of Chuck Noll we all became Steelers and because of Chuck Noll the city of Pittsburgh is forever associated across the country with the Steelers.