Category Archives: Free Agency

Character (Ac)Counts: CB Coty Sensabaugh

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Coty and Dominique Sensabaugh in the Dominican Republic

As I said in a previous post, the thing which keeps me watching the NFL, or, more specifically, the Steelers, is the stories. This is why I began my Character (Ac)Counts series five or six years ago. We have a new crop of Steelers, so let’s get to work.

I knew nothing about Sensabaugh, who Ivan called a “middling free agent signing,” other than I recalled having heard his name. The reason is most likely found in the picture which heads Ivan’s article, showing him getting rather badly beaten by Antonio Brown, back when he was a Tennessee Titan. All is forgiven now, however, and he wouldn’t be the first defensive back AB made look silly. In fact, AB has decleated, if you will, most of the top backs in the league against whom he has played. Read more

Pittsburgh’s Goin’ to the Super Bowl: The Inside Scoop

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A.P. Photo

The final position I’m going to cover in this series is the inside linebackers. In theory I ought to address the tight ends and the kicking team, but the former was at least touched upon in the receivers post and the latter lacks drama at the moment, thank heavens.

One of the biggest questions this off-season, which has now been answered, was what was going to happen with the Lawrence Timmons situation. It’s interesting that I find myself thinking that Timmons to the Dolphins was probably a good outcome for everyone. He gets more money than the Steelers were willing to give him, the Steelers have Vince Williams, who has played reasonably well (or better) when called upon, and there is still the possibility of picking up a young guy to complement Ryan Shazier, who is rapidly becoming a star in the interior. Read more

Pittsburgh’s Goin’ to the Super Bowl: Safety in Numbers

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Via Steelers.com

The safety position was one of the few pretty much completely unaffected by free agency. The Steelers didn’t lose (or not re-sign) anyone who had played any significant amount of snaps at the position.

The possible exception is Shamarko Thomas, once considered the heir apparent to Troy Polamalu but ultimately ineffective. But Thomas has played essentially no snaps at safety in the past year—he played six, to be precise. While he was a valuable special teamer when healthy, he missed a lot of time last year with injuries—four weeks with a groin injury and four weeks due to concussion. It seems unlikely he will be back in the Black and Gold. Read more

Pittsburgh’s Goin’ to the Super Bowl: Winning the Battles in the Trenches

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AP photo: Don Wright

I recently promised to cover the defensive line “soon,” and given the plethora of plumbing problems and viral indispositions, this counts as soon.

In many ways the core of the defensive line is the most uniformly impressive group on the team. The middle is anchored by Javon Hargrave, who could have but didn’t win the Steelers’ Rookie of the Year award. Read more

Steelers Free Agency Update: Has the Team Gotten Better Yet?

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IMG_1723.JPGAfter doing essentially nothing in free agency this spring other than signing a few of their own, the Steelers have suddenly exploded into a frenzy of activity, relatively speaking, signing not one but three guys within the past few days. Let’s take a quick look at them, with the latest coming first. Read more

5 Smoldering Questions on the Steelers’ Free Agency

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IMG_1724by Hombre de Acero

With NFL Free Agency about to begin its third week the 2017 off season is fully underway. And for the Steelers it’s business as usual, greatly to the chagrin of much of the franchise’s fan base. Nonetheless, there’s been enough activity thus far to give this corner of Steelers Nation 5 Smoldering Questions to struggle with before our focus firmly shifts to the 2017 NFL Draft. Read more

More on the Steelers’ Free Agency Moves, or Lack Thereof

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Matt Freed, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

My husband and I had dinner the other night with some friends from our days in New Mexico. I was very much looking forward to the dinner and catching up with them, at least until they arrived and the first words out of Richard’s mouth were “Gosh, my team has been uncharacteristically active in free agency this year.” My heart plummeted as I remembered he was not only a Patriots fan but one of the smug kind. (Actually, those are pretty much the only kind of Pats fans I’ve met. Are there any other kind?)

It was too late to bail on the dinner arrangements, and besides the restaurant we met at is an old favorite, one that I seldom get to enjoy anymore, since it is now about 1500 miles away from my house. So I gritted my teeth and merely responded that I realized it was uncharacteristic, and assumed it must be because Bill Belichick has discovered some new loophole or other. Richard said “Oh, I hope so.”

He also offered me condolences on the AFC Championship game, which were, of course, completely lacking in any sincerity whatsoever. Luckily, I like his wife a lot, and she doesn’t care about football as far as I know. Read more