Speaking of former Steelers cut loose, Fast Willie Parker was cut by the Redskins.  Looks like they discovered what we saw last year:  He’s now Medium Speed Willie.  Still, running backs drop like flies during the season so a veteran back up can usually find a job (Does the name Najeh Davenport ring any bells?).  Here’s hoping FWP latches on somewhere because that would be a sad ending to what was a short but glorious career.

Now, let’s talk the Steelers.  Proving that Bruce Arians is indeed bringing the Flying Circus to town, the Steelers kept six wide receivers while keeping only four running backs and zero fullbacks.  David Johnson, a FB/TE hybrid will be the blocking back in I formations.  Arians will also use the Pony Backfield, which is when Issac Redman lines up at fullback and the hand-off can go to either him or Mendenhall.  The Steelers used this formation a lot in the Chuck Noll days with Rocky and Franco so it’s nice to see it back in the playbook even though I’d like a true blocking fullback on the roster.

Rookie Antonio Brown will handle returns with Stefan Logan getting cut.  Logan, who has been scooped up by the Detroit Lions, was a victim of being a specialist who wasn’t very special.  He was brought in as the next Devin Hester and despite setting a single season Steelers record for return yardage, didn’t return any for TDs which soured the staff on him.  Part of me wonders how he’d do returning kicks on a team with halfway decent special teams blocking.

Brown showed potential as a receiver and did an okay job returning kicks so I understand the move, although he also made a couple really dumb decisions in the third game (not bringing out a kick in the end zone, fair catching a ball inside his 5) so let’s hope his youth and inexperience don’t flare up too often.  Arnaz Battle was also kept so he’d likely be the fallback option if Brown fails.   Battle is an all-around good special teams guy so it’s nice to see Mike Tomlin valuing that this season.

Cut day was a bloodbath for the Draft Class of 2009.  Guard Kraig Urbik, defensive lineman Sunny Harris, cornerback Joe Burnett, and fan favorite running back Frank “The Tank” Summers were all axed.  Harris is a bit surprising only because the team lost him off the practice squad last season then eagerly signed him back when given the chance.  The Tank was a converted fullback who had primarily been a running back in college.  He never really adapted to the position change and as a result has shown pretty much nothing.

Burnett is a bit of a surprise.  He saw game action last year (rare for a Steelers rookie) and, admittedly, did not play well.   But considering how lousy our secondary has been, it’s a bit odd they’d give up on him after only one year.  Rookie Crezdon Butler came on strong in the final two preseason games so they evidently liked his upside more than Burnett’s.  And, once again, the Steelers kept a special teams ace, Anthony Madison, who is a way below-average cornerback but is one of the best gunners in the league so I commend Tomlin for learning from past mistakes in that area.

Finally, Justin Hartwig was cut.  First round pick Maurkice Pouncey was expeced to play guard for a year since the center has to learn all the protection calls but he caught on faster than expected.  Plus, Hartwig’s play has really fallen off in the past year.  He looked perfectly capable in 2008 when the Steelers went to the Super Bowl but he was constantly getting pushed around last year.  I thought it might be due to injuries at both guard positions but he still looked terrible with the first team offense this presason.  With Pouncey blowing guys off the ball in games and at practice, it became a no-brainer to stick him at his natural position and bid Hartwig good-bye.   We’ve been asking for a revamped offensive line and this year we have it with three new starters (Pouncey, Flozell Adams at RT, and Trai Essex at RG) from what we had a year ago.

And those, ladies and gentlemen, are your 2010 Pittsburgh Steelers.

If it wasn’t for bad luck, some people wouldn’t have any luck at all.

Remember Charlie Brown?  I’ve sure we’ve all known people like that.   People who spend their entire lives running up to the football then having it pulled away at the last minute so that they end up on their backs looking up at the stars and cursing their luck.

Charlie Brown has nothing on Limas Sweed.

Poor Limas is one of the unluckiest people ever.  At least, as unlucky as a highly paid professional athlete can be.   Still, the man must’ve cursed himself somewhere along the line.  Maybe he sleeps on shattered mirrors, has ladders set up at every doorway in his house, and owns ten black cats.

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced yesterday they were placing Sweed on IR, thus ending any chance of him playing in 2010.   He tore his Achilles tendon a week ago while doing non-contact drills at the team’s first offseason OTA.   That’s like getting hurt playing flag football.  Thus begins more adversity for poor Limas, who changed his number from #14 to #80 this year to signify a new beginning in a career which has so far been nothing but a string of disappointments.

Limas had a fantastic junior year at Texas, looking every bit a future first round pick.  He tore ligaments in his wrist prior to his senior season which caused both his numbers and draft stock to drop.   The Steelers still took a flier on him in the second round because athletically gifted 6’4 receivers hardly grow on trees.  He played sparingly during his rookie year (only six catches) but grew infamous for his numerous mistakes, such as muffing a punt or dropping a wide open bomb in a playoff game against the Chargers.

His worst miscue occurred a week later in the AFC Championship game when he dropped sure TD pass against the Ravens, then pretended to be injured.  To his credit, he did try to make up for it by obliterating CB Corey Ivy later in the game.  However, his stonehands continued last season when he dropped a sure TD in a week 3 loss to the Bears which led to Mike Tomlin benching him.  A few weeks later, he began suffering from severe depression which ended his season when the Steelers placed him on their unable to perform list.

Steeler fans have been hard on Limas and I don’t really blame them.  But I’ve tried to support the guy because he appears to have all the tools to be a really elite level NFL receiver.  Unlike most positions, WRs can enter the NFL and have an immediate impact because really their job boils down to only two things:  get open and catch the ball.   The first one is by far the harder of the two.   Getting open requires speed, quickness, instinctive route-running, and athleticism;  all of which cannot be taught.   Anybody who stands in front of a JUGS machine or 3rd string QB and catches 500 passes a day can improve their hands.   Limas has never seemed to have a problem getting open.   Which is why I always believed he’d follow a pattern similar to a Nate Washington, who was brutal with the drops his first couple years here but once he got the hang of it became a game-breaker.

Not that the Steelers were depending on anything from Sweed even had he stayed healthy, this does deal a blow to the team’s WR corps.  Hines Ward is 34 and mostly a possession-type receiver at this point.  Antwaan Randle-El is also a short yardage possession guy.  Newcomer Arnaz Battle hasn’t caught a TD pass since 2007.  Mike Wallace is a burner who had a fantastic rookie year but that was as the #3 slot option who benefited from teams doubling Santonio Holmes.  The Steelers took two more WRs in this year’s draft but for every Wallace you find there are two Willie Reids.

Maybe Bruce Arians will have call a few more running plays this year after all.

While the investigation down in Georgia continues, the Pittsburgh Steelers have thankfully made some news which doesn’t involve the sexual predator standing behind center.  In a surprising departure from their usual method of doing business, the front office has gone on an unprecedented wave of free agent spending in the past twenty-four hours. While none of these acquisitions are either marquee players or pricey big ticket items, it’s still a notable change from pretty much every other off-season when the team would wait until the market had dried up and then picked through whatever leftovers they could find.

The most notable signing is that of Ryan Clark.  I’ll admit to not expecting him back once he hit the open market but it appears he had a change of heart (or the money he was expecting to be offered wasn’t there after all).   He has accepted a four year, $14 million contract which is far from the $6 million he would’ve made had the Steelers placed one of their tags on him.  So it looks like they got him for the price they wanted all along.

While I don’t believe Clark is anything more than average, it’s hard to take issue with this move.  I would’ve let him walk if his contract demands were ludicrous but at $3 million a year he’s almost a bargain.  There aren’t any decent replacements available via free agency and Ryan Mundy has shown he’s not starter quality.  Meanwhile, even if the Steelers are able to take one of the top safeties in this year’s draft, rookies never see significant playing time for Dick LeBeau.

The Steelers also signed another safety, Will Allen.   Allen spent his entire six year career with Tampa Bay, where he was originally under the tutelage of secondary coach Mike Tomlin.  Allen started sporadically for the Bucs, entering last season as the starter before losing the final half of the year to a hand injury.  Allen will probably serve as the primary back-up to Clark with his greatest value coming on special teams.   Allen is fantastic coverage “gunner” who was even selected as a first alternate to the Pro Bowl for his special teams work.   Maybe we’ll actually be able to cover kicks this season.

Another newcomer to the Steelers is WR Arnaz Battle.  Battle had five receptions last season for the 49ers and a grand total of 11 touchdowns over his eight year career.  The key number when it comes to Battle is his height:  6’1.  The Steelers always want to have at least one large target among the WR corps and it looks like Battle is going to be that guy.  The obvious message you can read into this is that the days of Limas Sweed dropping passes in the black and gold appear to be rapidly coming to an end.

Finally, the Steelers have also re-signed our long lost gadget play specialist, Antwaan Randle El.   After throwing the game winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl XL, Randle El cashed in on his sudden fame by accepting a $31 million contract from the buffoon out in Washington D.C.    Despite leading the ‘Skins in yardage and catches last year, Randle El was cut as part of a team wide housecleaning by new head coach Mike Shanahan.  Although he started for the Steelers, Randle El was always best used as a third down possession-type receiver and as a return man.   Stefan Logan did well on kick returns but had problems as a punt returner so I’d imagine Randle El will be given those duties next season.

And, hey, he was a starting quarterback back in college where he was the first player in Division I history to pass for 40 career touchdowns and score 40 career rushing touchdowns.  If worst comes to worst, maybe he can move back.

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