The Steelers unloaded some 2006 cap dollars in the past 24 hours. Tommy Maddux was cut as expected. The other popular cap casualty was Willie Williams. If you remember, Willie made "The Tackle" in the 1995 AFC Championship Game against the Colts that gave us the ball back with enough time to score one more time. I'm not sure I would call either of these cuts "cap casualties". They weren't cut just to save money. Their days of getting paid more than league minimum for their years of service are over. Maddux is gun shy and makes bad decisions. Willie is too old to play corner any longer. Another cut that saved $0 was Russell Stuvaints. Even though we keep 10 DBs, there is just no room for someone who can't play in the dime occasionally. Russell got hurt early in 2005 after having 23 solo tackles in 2004 on special teams. The Steelers are deep at DB with backups Coke, Carter, McFadden and Iwuoma, the only special teams luxury at DB. With Williams being cut and McFadden or Coke potentially taking over for Townsend, they will need to draft at least 1 corner this year. They will need 2 new DBs in my estimation and both will have to play some corner. If we lose Hope (Chris, not faith), we'll need a safety as well - although Carter has shown promise in my eyes.
Also big news, Duce took a paycut! He went down to counting about $1.5 against the cap this year instead of his $2+. That was huge. I think now they'll let him play the part of Bettis without looking elsewhere for a big back. $1.5 isn't that bad for someone who could be pressed into a starting role if Parker gets hurt. The Steelers are still trying to negotiate with Hartings but it looks like something will get done there. Okobi is still key in this decision and is being promised he is the Center of the future. His agent just doens't want him to waste away while waiting for Hartings to retire. Valid point. They are trying to negotiate with both of them. Chucky is due to make 2 million this year but counts $2.7 against the cap. He can't make that on the bench. So, if Hartings stays, Chucki may decide to go and I don't think we can blame him for that. If he goes, maybe we'll be looking at Mangold (Center, OSU) in the draft. In any event, what we've done so far has not hurt the team financially, chemistry-wise or politically with the fans. Good job, as expected.
Tough calls still coming up on Randle El, Hope, Keisel & Townsend. And don't forget, as I like to harp on - we have some huge (read H-U-G-E) extensions coming down the pike (Roethlisberger, Polamalu, Parker). Maybe we can get crafty and give them salary in the uncapped year that would normally be a bonus if 2007 is uncapped. Basically give at least one of them a huge cap number in 2007 instead of spreading a big bonus out over 4-5 years. I'm sure many teams will be employing this trick.
