And the new OL coach is...

[Steel_Wars]

I have never understood the lovefest the FO has had for Colon. If they can save a million of cap space by cutting him then do it. They can buy a cardboard cutout for $25. It'll be on the field for more snaps, get called for less false starts and probably do almost as good a job.

I got an idea. Move him to LT. He was the best RT in NFL a few years ago. He should be able to make the move. Which is worse, Gilbert at LT or the thought of Colon at LT?

[BobbleHead]

I have never understood the lovefest the FO has had for Colon. If they can save a million of cap space by cutting him then do it. They can buy a cardboard cutout for $25. It'll be on the field for more snaps, get called for less false starts and probably do almost as good a job.

I got an idea. Move him to LT. He was the best RT in NFL a few years ago. He should be able to make the move. Which is worse, Gilbert at LT or the thought of Colon at LT?

Haha, that's a terrifying thought.

[Superbelt]

It is absolutely possible, but unlikely, that they keep him. Starks, Foster and Legursky could all wind up gone. If that happens they aren't going to bring back nobody and draft 4 lineman.

He'd have to take a huge pay cut, but with the injury junk they could potentially use that as the crowbar to get him to accept it. He's also buddy-buddy with the 100 million dollar quarterback, if memory serves. Stranger things have happened. I don't want it to, that doesn't mean I can't see it going down. Again, I'm opining it'll all be about savings/having at least some semblance of depth if he's kept, not necessarily merit.

Ben is buddy buddy with Starks too.

Remember Ben wearing a Starks Jersey in PreSeason practice?

[ThinMan]

Yeah, but they can't save money by keeping and extending Starks. They could with Colon.

I think they'd happily keep Max....at what he was making last season. He'll probably get a bunch more than that on the open market, particularly with "Pittsburgh West" needing OL so badly. Fully expect him to wind up a Cardinal.

[Muddler]

particularly with "Pittsburgh West" needing OL so badly. Fully expect him to wind up a Cardinal.

Yeah, between Arians in AZ and "The Wiz" now in San Diego, I'd expect a bunch of bidding wars for Steelers FAs and little chance of the team resigning them.

[MarkItAZero!]

We did the ass blocker back! Mr. Jon Scott!

[Superbelt]

Yeah, but they can't save money by keeping and extending Starks. They could with Colon.

I think they'd happily keep Max....at what he was making last season. He'll probably get a bunch more than that on the open market, particularly with "Pittsburgh West" needing OL so badly. Fully expect him to wind up a Cardinal.

Saving money by extending a player who has had 3 straight season ending injuries may just be tossing less money down a well. Even when he plays, he's a frequent liability. And he probably will be less effective now than ever.

Max may cost more (he was making vet minimum last year), but he's also worth it. We could use the veteran leadership on the line.

Saving money is what got us Ass Block Scott. That worked out, because Max was rehabbing and wanted to come back. He was also loyal as we had already paid out his bonus money.

This time is different. We sign him or we lose him. I would do whatever I can to sign him. Second only to Keenan Lewis. Ben has to realize, when the team comes to him about an extension to lower his cap hit:

Ben can take as much money as possible, or he can take some less so the team can fit Starks in. Otherwise Ben can get murdered with a replacement.

[The Heinz Ward]

Saving money by extending a player who has had 3 straight season ending injuries may just be tossing less money down a well. Even when he plays, he's a frequent liability. And he probably will be less effective now than ever.

Max may cost more (he was making vet minimum last year), but he's also worth it. We could use the veteran leadership on the line.

Saving money is what got us Ass Block Scott. That worked out, because Max was rehabbing and wanted to come back. He was also loyal as we had already paid out his bonus money.

This time is different. We sign him or we lose him. I would do whatever I can to sign him. Second only to Keenan Lewis. Ben has to realize, when the team comes to him about an extension to lower his cap hit:

Ben can take as much money as possible, or he can take some less so the team can fit Starks in. Otherwise Ben can get murdered with a replacement.

I don't think there is a downside for the player in renegotiating to lessen the cap hit by taking more money up front.

[Superbelt]

Not renegotiate, Ben needs an extension.

[The Heinz Ward]

Not renegotiate, Ben needs an extension.

yeah. that would be different. I think he's signed for 3 more years, right?

[BobbleHead]

ThinMan was right about the zone blocking scheme. This new fella seems to want to go in that direction. It seems like he liked Adams and Decastro from working them out in their pre draft stuff. Gilbert is gonna have to lose about 70 pounds.

[Superbelt]

Max fits in there too. He's a huge guy, and is not a mauler.

He's easily the smartest guy on the team, and plays a finesse game. He isn't much for getting out in front of running plays though which would be the flaw.

He fits in much better than Gilbert ever will. Drop Colon and Gilbert, use the money for Starks (Will need more than that, but it helps).

[ThinMan]

He isn't much for getting out in front of running plays though which would be the flaw.

It'd be a tremendous one in a true full-on ZBS, if that's what they go with.

I have no delusion that Gilbert is better than Starks at this point, but it's almost guaranteed they aren't going to pay Max what he's going to be able to get on the FA market due to a)age, b)injury history, and c)their cap situation. It's just not how they operate anyway, regardless of the cap.

That all said, I pretty much thought Gilbert was a carbon copy of Max when they were at UF(in that I wasn't a fan of either one). Finesse guys whose size was wasted. Everyone thought Max stunk his first couple years too, IIRC. I'm not ready to write off a guy who hasn't even played in 20 games yet.

They've burnt three premium picks on OL, two on OTs, in the past three years. I'm betting that they're going to roll with them. They'll bring in some other veteran that they think can provide depth to push Adams and Gilbert and sink/swim with the young guys. Given the cap scenario, they're almost forced to.