2019 Offseason...Staff, FA, Draft Outlook

[SteelersPride]

I think with Houston he was ready to sign with the Steelers but then better counters came in.

ive switched gears i badly want zach brown

 

[thedddd]

i keep seeing TE. BUt vance is the receiver. X can block. THey dont need a big name tight end...........just some depth....If we kept JJ everyone woudl say we were fine, and were talking about jesse james, he didnt really do much for us.......we can find someone like that late in the draft or UDFA or a low low profile FA

Yeah replacing James should not be too difficult.
Honestly as stated i don't think TE is too much of their issue as long as Grimble and McDonald are around. Just don't give Grimble any catches near the endzone.

 

[thedddd]

ive switched gears i badly want zach brown

If he can stay healthy he would be a great ILB for this team. And the one time they actually did a good job trying to find a replacement for Shazier.

The knock on Brown though is his coverage skills which the Steelers desperately need against TE's.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

i keep seeing TE. BUt vance is the receiver. X can block. THey dont need a big name tight end...........just some depth....If we kept JJ everyone woudl say we were fine, and were talking about jesse james, he didnt really do much for us.......we can find someone like that late in the draft or UDFA or a low low profile FA

I wouldn't spend more than a 4th or 5th Rd pick on TE this year. All I'd be looking for is a traditional TE with good hands & blocking skills. X isn't a good blocker btw.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Not understanding the comfort with Grimble... He's been a fringe practice squad player for the entirety of his career.

 

[SteelersPride]

If he can stay healthy he would be a great ILB for this team. And the one time they actually did a good job trying to find a replacement for Shazier.

The knock on Brown though is his coverage skills which the Steelers desperately need against TE's.

yeah i know, double edged sword,,,, i dont think they are gonna find a shazier again

 

[thedddd]

Not understanding the comfort with Grimble... He's been a fringe practice squad player for the entirety of his career.

Truly he shouldn’t be hard to replace either. Strictly one dimensional but the comfort comes from the fact he is cheap for what they use him for. Honestly they better upgrade if they have a chance.

 

[SteelersPride]

Not understanding the comfort with Grimble... He's been a fringe practice squad player for the entirety of his career.

i guess its more like i said, when do feature a TE. we never have. we have 1 blocker/receiver heath, vance etc..........and scrubs

 

[thedddd]

yeah i know, double edged sword,,,, i dont think they are gonna find a shazier again

Oh your are right what Shazier did you can’t replace. But if they can’t find any semblance of a warm body that could cover a TE they would improve drastically.

 

[SteelersPride]

I wouldn't spend more than a 4th or 5th Rd pick on TE this year. All I'd be looking for is a traditional TE with good hands & blocking skills. X isn't a good blocker btw.

yeah i agree with this, late pick or UDFA

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

yeah i agree with this, late pick or UDFA

I had hopes for Jake McGee to slide into that role this offseason based on the thought they were going to let JJ walk, but after McGee messed up his knee last year I knew it was going to be a stretch. McGee was a ERFA this offseason and Steelers didn't tender him before March 13th, which made him a UFA. Seeing as how they could have gotten away with a really low tender offer like they gave Hilton/Feiler, that shows you McGee's knee isn't healthy enough to play.

They need to replace that hole that JJ leaves behind, but certainly don't have to invest much. 4th or 5th would be my ceiling. I still have faith that Vance can be the feature TE.

i guess its more like i said, when do feature a TE. we never have. we have 1 blocker/receiver heath, vance etc..........and scrubs

They have been trying to feature a TE more. I know Ben has been a big advocate for that position ever since Heath retired. Ladarius Green showed them the potential of what a hybrid TE can do for the offense, but that was a failure in the end since that guy could never finish a full game without injuring himself.

Honestly I think the Steelers have been enamored with what the Pats have been doing with Gronk for years. They just haven't been able to find the guy to take on that role for a full season. Vance is close, but has yet to complete a full season. He plays injured a lot.

 

[SteelersPride]

I had hopes for Jake McGee to slide into that role this offseason based on the thought they were going to let JJ walk, but after McGee messed up his knee last year I knew it was going to be a stretch. McGee was a ERFA this offseason and Steelers didn't tender him before March 13th, which made him a UFA. Seeing as how they could have gotten away with a really low tender offer like they gave Hilton/Feiler, that shows you McGee's knee isn't healthy enough to play.

They need to replace that hole that JJ leaves behind, but certainly don't have to invest much. 4th or 5th would be my ceiling. I still have faith that Vance can be the feature TE.


They have been trying to feature a TE more. I know Ben has been a big advocate for that position ever since Heath retired. Ladarius Green showed them the potential of what a hybrid TE can do for the offense, but that was a failure in the end since that guy could never finish a full game without injuring himself.

Honestly I think the Steelers have been enamored with what the Pats have been doing with Gronk for years. They just haven't been able to find the guy to take on that role for a full season. Vance is close, but has yet to complete a full season. He plays injured a lot.

yeah i mean maxx williams is that big tight end who was supposed to be a receiving threat, with pedigree, not a healthy guy, but ravens clearly moved on

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

yeah i mean maxx williams is that big tight end who was supposed to be a receiving threat, with pedigree, not a healthy guy, but ravens clearly moved on

Yep. Williams has upside if he can stay healthy. Low risk, high reward if they can sign him for cheap.

Hard to take too much away from his film in Baltimore when that offense was so stagnant for so long. And they always kept their TE corps loaded making it difficult for anyone to be featured. Not saying he would become the next Heath Miller in PIT, but rather he would easily fill JJ's shoes.

 

[steelerssb]

 

[SteelersPride]

colbert sayid he was gonna be more active, but i dunno that barron is the guy we expensive back up

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Yikes. $6m per year for what looks like a backup LB? They let LJ Fort (coming off his best season) walk for a vet min contract and then sign an aging vet (coming off his worst season) for 3x as much? What am I missing here?

Only reasoning I can see is they envision him to replace Burnett since Barron is a converted safety to LB. And we know Burnett wants out. Or they cut Bostic?

Still looks ugly on paper.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Gotta be at the expense of Bostic or Burnett...

Assuming we draft a linebacker (if we don’t we’re gonna see more of the same from last year), why spend this kind of money on a backup, when we just let our original backup walk for under half the cost?

 

[SteelersPride]

Yikes. $6m per year for what looks like a backup LB? They let LJ Fort (coming off his best season) walk for a vet min contract and then sign an aging vet (coming off his worst season) for 3x as much? What am I missing here?

Only reasoning I can see is they envision him to replace Burnett since Barron is a converted safety to LB. And we know Burnett wants out. Or they cut Bostic?

Still looks ugly on paper.

i posted on twitter that this was a move for a back up, and steeler nation and some fans blasted me saying how hes gonna be in all base and dime packages

 

[SJ20]

Not real sure about this signing. Mainly because this guy has been hurt the past few seasons. Also, isn't he the guy who hurt Ben a few years ago in St. Louis? The game where there was a delay because the turf caught fire. Barron went low on Ben and put him out for about a month.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

i keep seeing TE. BUt vance is the receiver. X can block. THey dont need a big name tight end...........just some depth....If we kept JJ everyone woudl say we were fine, and were talking about jesse james, he didnt really do much for us.......we can find someone like that late in the draft or UDFA or a low low profile FA

I do see TE as being weaker than LY w/o JJ. While he was not a big play maker, he was always available and had developed into a decent blocker and would make a few catches here and there. The powers that be saw him as the next man up.

Not to be redundant, but the big problem I have with the TE situation now is McD is probably not going to play all 16 games and X hasn't shown enough consistency to be the TE2. With AB gone, we know that no one player is going to soak up 160 targets so X will get more targets...I just don't have confidence that he will deliver. A vet like Cook would more likely deliver.