AFCN Hate Guide

[DJ Fieri]

Rough loss for Steelers fans.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Rough loss for Steelers fans.

For the casuals, yes... Most of us here expected disappointment lol.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Schmoopy1000]

you know what sucks if you think about it. It is a monumental weekend for the Browns. Finally winning a playoff game since 1995. & the head coach that got them there wont be the one credited with this Victory they finally got. That has got to suck for Stefanski.

 

[Shanemansj13]

@FaCe-LeE-uS @SteelersPride @thedddd

Seems like there could be a lot of turnover on the roster next year but I still expect them to have elite defense and they still have a ton of weapons.

Who do you guys think will stay and go?

Dupree, Big Ben, Pouncey, Juju (I think he comes back) could all be gone. Didn’t know Big Ben was making $41M next year lol. Looks like $22M is dead cap. I would think they at least look at getting rid of Big Ben and Mason didn’t look bad but I would assume they would be looking at other options.

 

[thedddd]

@FaCe-LeE-uS @SteelersPride @thedddd

Seems like there could be a lot of turnover on the roster next year but I still expect them to have elite defense and they still have a ton of weapons.

Who do you guys think will stay and go?

Dupree, Big Ben, Pouncey, Juju (I think he comes back) could all be gone. Didn’t know Big Ben was making $41M next year lol. Looks like $22M is dead cap. I would think they at least look at getting rid of Big Ben and Mason didn’t look bad but I would assume they would be looking at other options.

Easy to look good when playing against a practice squad defense. And note he still lost the game.

Anyway yeah most likely Dupree and JuJu are gone. Another team will overpay for both.
Ben, if he comes back will restructure again, he seems to do that every year.
Pouncy will retire.

They also need to fix their O-line and TE's, so I see a huge hemorrhage of players being cut.

Speaking of dead cap...Derek Watt. The first touches (rushing or targets) all season came in the playoffs.

 

[SteelersPride]

@FaCe-LeE-uS @SteelersPride @thedddd

Seems like there could be a lot of turnover on the roster next year but I still expect them to have elite defense and they still have a ton of weapons.

Who do you guys think will stay and go?

Dupree, Big Ben, Pouncey, Juju (I think he comes back) could all be gone. Didn’t know Big Ben was making $41M next year lol. Looks like $22M is dead cap. I would think they at least look at getting rid of Big Ben and Mason didn’t look bad but I would assume they would be looking at other options.

Who knows they still stand by that they love mason and had a first round grade on him.

meanwhile they supposedly had a first round grade on him and passed him up in the second round for james washington..

no clue though man. Theres gonna be turnover.... definitely gonna change. D wont be elite either, good , not elite, ben and pouncey decision may be the hinge on which everything rests

 

[Cincyfan78]

I mentioned this in the King of the North thread - but the Steelers are really in a hurting way with the cap.

The rumor right now is that the cap will drop to $175M. The Steelers currently have $202M already on the books for 2021 with just 35 players accounting for that. As it stands, that would put them roughly $27M over the cap before they even filled out their roster. If they spent just $10M on filling out the roster (obviously likely more) that would put them at just under $40M over the cap. Even if you restructure Ben - how much will that save? $15M? $20M? That would still lead them to be over the cap.

Kicking the can down the road with money is less certain this year than most because no one knows what the cap will look like in 2022. It may only get back to 2020 level, which would still leave quite a few teams that do these restructures looking at massive cap issues. The years of massive cap increases has ended, and right now no one really knows how this will turn out.

The Steelers are not the only team with this issue. The Saints are dead last in cap space at a projected $100M over the cap. I believe the Eagles are in the same boat at near $100M over.

What will also hurt is that the other 3 teams in the AFCN all are top 10 in cap space - meaning that in a year where many will struggle to sign F/A due to lack of space - these teams will have availability to pay players and continue to improve.

With that in mind - rather than try to piece-meal another year around Ben, IMO, it is time for the Steelers to say "Thank you" for all the years and everything he gave, send him off into retirement, blow this thing up, and get the cap right so that going forward, they can rebuild. As it stands, the Steelers don't have enough pieces to win a S.B. and they lack the cap space to make the improvements needed to make a serious push with Ben. That would leave a half-assed roster with an aging and compromised Ben left on the field for a year of struggling to find lightening in a bottle. Then finally facing the inevitable cap issues, having to burn it all down and rebuild - and would have wasted a year to start this process as it could have been, should have been, done for 2021.

It's been a hell of a run - but if there were ever a time to rip the Band-Aid off - this would seem to be the opportune time, IMO.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

@FaCe-LeE-uS @SteelersPride @thedddd

Seems like there could be a lot of turnover on the roster next year but I still expect them to have elite defense and they still have a ton of weapons.

Who do you guys think will stay and go?

Dupree, Big Ben, Pouncey, Juju (I think he comes back) could all be gone. Didn’t know Big Ben was making $41M next year lol. Looks like $22M is dead cap. I would think they at least look at getting rid of Big Ben and Mason didn’t look bad but I would assume they would be looking at other options.

Gotta get lean this year if the cap goes down. Dupree & Pouncey are gone. Ben needs to restructure or go.

I want them to resign Juju & Mike Hilton. Not likely they can keep Dupree unless they tag him again and risk pissing him off. Might be a good year NOT to use the tag though with cap being this lean. If they can't sign Hilton then I'd rather they use the tag on him. Plus Highsmith excelled when Dupree went down so the dropoff isn't as bad as some think. They'll be just fine without Dupree.

Big Ben... He already said he wants to return. But the cap situation is dire. I wouldn't mind restructuring him to return for 1 more year if the cap doesn't go down. But if it does, then I'm sorry not sorry Ben lol. Your $40+ mil cap hit has got to go. Saves them $19m or so if they cut/release him. In other words, he's probably going to retire. Hiring a new OC has to be their first order of business this offseason. Hopefully within the next few weeks they get it done. Not sure Ben would want to learn a new offense in his final year so that may persuade him to retire.

Pouncey needs to go. That saves an additional $8m. The entire O-line is in flux so the timing is right to revamp it. I'm going all-in on OL in mocks this year lol. OT & IOL all the way because I know they don't have a realistic shot at a Zach Wilson or Najee Harris. Mac Jones could grow on me. OL is the smart pick though.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

That's So Pittsburgh

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Yo Tee]

Damn no fucking way. To the Steelers AND Ravens?! The odds of that happening HAVE to be really low. I saw the Pick 6 but must've missed the snap.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Damn no fucking way. To the Steelers AND Ravens?! The odds of that happening HAVE to be really low. I saw the Pick 6 but must've missed the snap.

That snap brought back demons that I spent the entire fucking week trying to bury.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[thedddd]

AFC North this season became a pile of this:

in the post season.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]