I Like Ike

Ike is staying and to do so he accepted less money than he would have garnered on the open market. The key thing to remember here though is that it's not the same as him choosing the Steelers for less money than say the Redskins would have offered him at the same time. Everyone knows how we roll, and we roll very smartly by offering these young guys bonus money right NOW that they so desperately want. Same deal with Parker. We got Ike for $6.4 million in bonus money and he originally wanted $10. I would take $6 now as opposed to $10 next year - what if he plays terrible this year or gets injured? It all starts with drafting smart or you don't have the opportunity to make these kind of deals. He will get $15+ over the first 3 years and $23+ over 4. He'll play the first three and then the Steelers will probably try to have him resign to lower the cap number for year 4. Smart. Smart. Smart.