GDT: The Pittsburgher Thread - Here we go!

[Al Smith]

They'd be caving on multiple fronts and something they've never done for any other player, which includes multiple HOF'ers under Colbert.

He's under contract and team control for another 2 years after this one (franchise tag). He has to play to get credit for an accrued season. Sitting out doesn't improve his position.

I'm beyond sick and tired of guys feeling like they're entitled to just sit on a contract they signed, simply because they want more money. And the fans who blindly just scream "pay him" without any thought to the future consequences.

“Everybody wants to talk about their rights and privileges. Twenty-five years ago, people talked about their obligations and responsibilities. - as spoken by Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame Coach”

“A contract is a contract” hasn’t been the ironclad rule in pro sports including the NFL for a long time. I mean, I think I remember Dan Marino holding out a couple years into his rookie contract in like 1985. No point in expecting anything different at this point, at least for superstar-types.

 

[Andy99]

Steelers need to get with the times and just pay T.J. Watt his money

 

[MrBrightside]

 

[The Old Master]

They definitely aren’t cheap but upping the guaranteed money is the way the rest of the league is going. Eventually the Steelers are going to have to adapt or they’re going to have trouble retaining any of the players they develop.

I still think his contract gets done this week though.

i would take that chance.....I'll keep going for the picks

 

[JTG]

If another team said we'll send you a 1st and a 2nd next year, and a 1st in 2023, I'm taking that and running.

I love Watt. A massive steal that has turned into the best edge rusher in the NFL.

With that being said, he's an OLB. As great as he is, it's simply not a position you break precedent on. You haven't for other HOF caliber players.

You're under contract. Pitt still has 2 more years of control (franchise) after this one. The leverage is with them. Watt has to show up at some point to get credit for the season. I have no doubt the Steelers are willing to make him the highest paid defensive player in the league. They're simply not wanting to give in to a player who is still under their control for another 2 years. I don't blame them. Watt wants the guaranteed cash past year 1. But either way, he has to show up by mid season or so (i forget off the top of my head) to get credit for the season, towards FA. He has to play to get his cash.

I know my take is not popular. But if a team offered up a pair of 1st rounders and a few others over the next 2 years, I absolutely consider it.

Especially considering this team is going to be rebuilding very soon, whether people want to accept it or not.

It won't happen, and I do want to see Watt/Steelers get something done, but for a steep enough price, he's gone in my book.

Vehemently disagree. A guy who consistently gets after the QB is the guy on the defense you pay. Especially one that hurries the QB more than any other pass rusher in the league, and it's not even close.

 

[JTG]

Todd McShay looks awful.

 

[T1K]

Steelers' stubbornness on guarantee structure could blow up T.J. Watt talks - ProFootballTalk

Boomer mentality is gonna sink us

 

[Iggy Smalls]

Steelers have been giving us massive blue balls with contract extensions for a few seasons now. It isn't an experience I look forward to and i'm sure trying to re-sign Fitzpatrick will be just as enjoyable.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Steelers have been giving us massive blue balls with contract extensions for a few seasons now. It isn't an experience I look forward to and i'm sure trying to re-sign Fitzpatrick will be just as enjoyable.

Minka contract is different than TJ.
TJ wants the 1st 3 years guaranteed at signing that Bosa got 78 to sign. Year 4 is guaranteed 2nd day of next year after super bowl an additional 24 million
Minka will get ADams deal that was 21 million at signing and and additional 12 million day 5 next year after the super bowl it’s a bonus they can stretch out

 

[T1K]

Quack quack

 

[ImporterExporter]

There is absolutely no reason to pay Watt monies that we didn't give to players who were just as dominant (Polamalu/Harrison) at their peaks.

Let him play for 10M this year. He'll absolutely ball out being in a technical FA year. Expect a DPOY type season.

Unfortunately for him, he'll get franchised. Pitt will offer him another long term deal, knowing that he's a year older and might not want to risk an injury, down turn in numbers, etc. He can sign it, or guess, what? Play under the franchise tag, for 1 year of top dollar money, and then get to do it all over again that offseason as well.

This team is about to enter a massive rebuild. Unless Aaron Rodgers is signing here next season, we're going to suck. TJ Watt or not. Until we can replace Ben w/a legitmate starting caliber QB, this team should be getting ready to sell off valuable pieces to acquire as much draft capital as possible.

Watt's going to play for us this year. But you don't need to cave for this one last run (we aren't making the playoffs anyway) and then give him a ton of money to play on a dumpster fire rebuild, which will happen once we lose the HOF QB.

These people are already better paid than 99.99999% of the world's population. Sign the deal that makes you the highest paid defensive player, even if it doesn't get you the guaranteed money, and suit up. You've already made enough to last your family for generations if you're smart.

This is nothing more than trying to break a precedent of one of the most successful teams of the cap era. It's not just about Watt. It's about changing policy.

 

[Shockmaster]

There is absolutely no reason to pay Watt monies that we didn't give to players who were just as dominant (Polamalu/Harrison) at their peaks.

Let him play for 10M this year. He'll absolutely ball out being in a technical FA year. Expect a DPOY type season.

Unfortunately for him, he'll get franchised. Pitt will offer him another long term deal, knowing that he's a year older and might not want to risk an injury, down turn in numbers, etc. He can sign it, or guess, what? Play under the franchise tag, for 1 year of top dollar money, and then get to do it all over again that offseason as well.

This team is about to enter a massive rebuild. Unless Aaron Rodgers is signing here next season, we're going to suck. TJ Watt or not. Until we can replace Ben w/a legitmate starting caliber QB, this team should be getting ready to sell off valuable pieces to acquire as much draft capital as possible.

Watt's going to play for us this year. But you don't need to cave for this one last run (we aren't making the playoffs anyway) and then give him a ton of money to play on a dumpster fire rebuild, which will happen once we lose the HOF QB.

These people are already better paid than 99.99999% of the world's population. Sign the deal that makes you the highest paid defensive player, even if it doesn't get you the guaranteed money, and suit up. You've already made enough to last your family for generations if you're smart.

This is nothing more than trying to break a precedent of one of the most successful teams of the cap era. It's not just about Watt. It's about changing policy.

The bolded is why the Steelers shouldn't capitulate to his demands. If the team wants, Watt will be a Steeler through the 2023 season even without a new contract.

 

[K Fleur]

Know your worth and get paid Watt!

And if the Rooney's don't want to pay then sign with the Pats and give me more reason to not watch.

 

[xlm34]

There is absolutely no reason to pay Watt monies that we didn't give to players who were just as dominant (Polamalu/Harrison) at their peaks.

Let him play for 10M this year. He'll absolutely ball out being in a technical FA year. Expect a DPOY type season.

Unfortunately for him, he'll get franchised. Pitt will offer him another long term deal, knowing that he's a year older and might not want to risk an injury, down turn in numbers, etc. He can sign it, or guess, what? Play under the franchise tag, for 1 year of top dollar money, and then get to do it all over again that offseason as well.

This team is about to enter a massive rebuild. Unless Aaron Rodgers is signing here next season, we're going to suck. TJ Watt or not. Until we can replace Ben w/a legitmate starting caliber QB, this team should be getting ready to sell off valuable pieces to acquire as much draft capital as possible.

Watt's going to play for us this year. But you don't need to cave for this one last run (we aren't making the playoffs anyway) and then give him a ton of money to play on a dumpster fire rebuild, which will happen once we lose the HOF QB.

These people are already better paid than 99.99999% of the world's population. Sign the deal that makes you the highest paid defensive player, even if it doesn't get you the guaranteed money, and suit up. You've already made enough to last your family for generations if you're smart.

This is nothing more than trying to break a precedent of one of the most successful teams of the cap era. It's not just about Watt. It's about changing policy.

The landscape of the league is different than it was 10 years ago. Teams are giving their best players more guaranteed money. Letting your own star player who is the best at his position walk or franchise him to keep some antiquated policy is just so short sighted. At the end of the day I think this gets done though.

And yeah there will be a rebuild but this isn’t hockey or baseball where you spend a ton of time hoarding and developing prospects. It’s easier said than done but if you spend some capital to get a decent QB, then your rebuild is basically done.

 

[MrBrightside]

The Steelers aren't headed for a "massive rebuild" in any form. There's no need for it and it's not how they operate. Yeah, they'll need a QB, but the young talent they have at the offensive skill positions and all over the defense is as good as any team, and this is hardly an aging team:



Hell, take Ben out of this and they're without a doubt one of the youngest non-disaster teams in the NFL.

Add in the fact they will be in great shape with the cap next year, the last thing this team is going to do is dump veterans to rebuild.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

Know your worth and get paid Watt!

And if the Rooney's don't want to pay then sign with the Pats and give me more reason to not watch.

He.can’t sign with anyone for sure, for 3 years.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

The Steelers aren't headed for a "massive rebuild" in any form. There's no need for it and it's not how they operate. Yeah, they'll need a QB, but the young talent they have at the offensive skill positions and all over the defense is as good as any team, and this is hardly an aging team:



Hell, take Ben out of this and they're without a doubt one of the youngest non-disaster teams in the NFL.

Add in the fact they will be in great shape with the cap next year, the last thing this team is going to do is dump veterans to rebuild.

I agree on the fact that the “blow it up rebuild” won’t happen. But just dropping capital to get a decent QB, I won’t hold me breath. Most of the QB’s currently in the NFL are overrated, not all, but more than not. I won’t hold my breath on simply just opening up the check book and the QB situation is fixed after Ben’s retirement. If I’m wrong, I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but I’m not going to hold my breath to find out. Even with the positional talent we have, the odds of us having some very rough years very soon, are very high.

 

[ImporterExporter]

People don't understand how hard it is to win football games without a legit starting caliber QB.

Even if you keep everyone from the current defense/offense (minus say a JuJu) going into 2022, this team won't win 8 or more games. Simply will not happen. Especially when you consider any QB not named Rodgers will be the worst in the division, in a conference that has Pat Mahomes and Josh Allen. Obviously Lawrence is another possible franchise arm in the AFC.

This is precisely why Colbert hasn't been dumb enough to just hand Watt money that we've never given to any other player in previous years.

This is precisely why people like Colbert are HOF level GM's and fans are..well, fans.

Can he ignore public outcry among fans and the vast majority of the media? We'll see.

 

[xlm34]

Wow I didn’t know the NFL was going to cease to exist after 2022.

Winning less than 8 games whenever Ben decides to leave would be great. That puts you in a great position to take a chance at your next franchise guy. And that rookie QB gets put in a great position to succeed.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Wow I didn’t know the NFL was going to cease to exist after 2022.

Winning less than 8 games whenever Ben decides to leave would be great. That puts you in a great position to take a chance at your next franchise guy. And that rookie QB gets put in a great position to succeed.

So you just assume we'll get our franchise QB then in 2022?

Do you know the quality of the QB's coming out of college next year?

Again, people think finding a franchise QB is easy. Most of those people probably weren't alive for the period between Terry Bradshaw (early 80's) and Ben (2004).

We missed out on a likely SB or two in the 90's (we passed on Dan Marino) directly because we were trotting out Neil O'Donnell and then Kordell Stewart when the rest of the team was good enough to compete for a SB.

This team is going to suck, at least for a handful of years, and I'd wager longer considering Colbert (the only FO person I trust) will retire and leave Mike Tomlin to control an even bigger piece of the pie, likely after this season.

 

[MrBrightside]

So you just assume we'll get our franchise QB then in 2022?

Do you know the quality of the QB's coming out of college next year?

Again, people think finding a franchise QB is easy. Most of those people probably weren't alive for the period between Terry Bradshaw (early 80's) and Ben (2004).

We missed out on a likely SB or two in the 90's (we passed on Dan Marino) directly because we were trotting out Neil O'Donnell and then Kordell Stewart when the rest of the team was good enough to compete for a SB.

This team is going to suck, at least for a handful of years, and I'd wager longer considering Colbert (the only FO person I trust) will retire and leave Mike Tomlin to control an even bigger piece of the pie, likely after this season.

Marino was drafted in 1982, not the 90's...and the team was good enough to compete for the Super Bowl with O'Donnell and Stewart and in fact made the AFC Championship 4 times and the Super Bowl once with O'Donnell or Stewart as QB.

Considering how much you rip anyone who dares to say anything negative about the Pirates your insistence on dragging the Steelers in every post you make is quite curious.

 

[xlm34]

So you just assume we'll get our franchise QB then in 2022?

Do you know the quality of the QB's coming out of college next year?

Again, people think finding a franchise QB is easy. Most of those people probably weren't alive for the period between Terry Bradshaw (early 80's) and Ben (2004).

We missed out on a likely SB or two in the 90's (we passed on Dan Marino) directly because we were trotting out Neil O'Donnell and then Kordell Stewart when the rest of the team was good enough to compete for a SB.

This team is going to suck, at least for a handful of years, and I'd wager longer considering Colbert (the only FO person I trust) will retire and leave Mike Tomlin to control an even bigger piece of the pie, likely after this season.

Nope I actually never said either of those things. If they suck the year after Ben leaves then they’re looking at taking a QB in 2023. And I think the 2022 class doesn’t look great, but it’s a little premature to completely dismiss it when the season just started.

And who thinks finding a franchise QB is easy? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone actually say that. I’m pretty everyone on this board knows it’s difficult. But just because it’s not easy doesn’t mean you should just assume you won’t find one and force a rebuild.

So you want them to tear down the team that’s already pretty set for a rookie QB and then hope to rebuild it to a point where a QB can come in and have success. Because it’s hard to find a franchise QB? That’s just creating more work than is necessary. And then what happens when the players you draft and develop want guaranteed money on their contract? You’re just supposed to start all over again because of some archaic tradition? The Steelers have been successful because they’ve drafted and developed well, but also have retained the players they’ve drafted and developed.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Marino was drafted in 1982, not the 90's...and the team was good enough to compete for the Super Bowl with O'Donnell and Stewart and in fact made the AFC Championship 4 times and the Super Bowl once with O'Donnell or Stewart as QB.

Considering how much you rip anyone who dares to say anything negative about the Pirates your insistence on dragging the Steelers in every post you make is quite curious.

And Marino in the early to mid 90's was still a HOF QB, and on the Steelers of those years, probably gets us a SB. There's a difference. I'm sorry you are unable to differentiate the players in question and the impact Marino, a HOF QB, would have had on the Steelers.

Rip anyone who says anything negative about the Pirates?

I've said plenty of negative shit about the Pirates. I've also been right on a lot more regarding the Bucs over the past few years, including calling the complete tear down and rebuild, which no one else was advocating for BTW. Ben Cherington has literally done exactly what I've predicted on numerous fronts.

I called the Nick Gonzales pick last year. I called the Henry Davis pick this year long before he was even a legit target. Called the Solometo pick as well. I called out the bullshit Dejan piece you posted a few weeks ago, that magically had a scout that shit all over the best team in the Pirates org (Greensboro), with the most talent and then listen to the same scout fawn over Altoona, because of Mason Martin? You know the guy with a 34% K rate (it's over 37% since the AS break) and 1 home run in the past month plus? Of any player to pick from Altoona to use as a prop for calling the AA team the best in our system, you pick Martin? Not Oneil Cruz, not Roansy? Yawn.

I have to read drivel, continuously, by people who are unable to do anything other than regurgitate a twitter handle or some talking point by a low IQ Pittsburgh sports personality who couldn't hold a pen to my ability as a writer. I don't put up with it. I call it out and more often than not, am proven right at the end of the day.

The Steelers should be burning everything down and preparing for life after the HOF QB who's almost 40 and is set up contractually, to be gone after this year. If I were Colbert, I'd be doing exactly that, one because it's the smart move long term, and two, it would f*** Mike Tomlin and put him in a position where he's going to look, really, really bad record wise. Though for anyone with a brain, you already know the reason why we haven't won a SB in the last decade is directly because of Mike Tomlin's incompetence.

We can revisit this again. I'll be right. Per the norm.

You don't like the takes? Hit the ignore feature. Easy.

 

[MrBrightside]

And Marino in the early to mid 90's was still a HOF QB, and on the Steelers of those years, probably gets us a SB. There's a difference. I'm sorry you are unable to differentiate the players in question and the impact Marino, a HOF QB, would have had on the Steelers.

Rip anyone who says anything negative about the Pirates?

I've said plenty of negative shit about the Pirates. I've also been right on a lot more regarding the Bucs over the past few years, including calling the complete tear down and rebuild, which no one else was advocating for BTW. Ben Cherington has literally done exactly what I've predicted on numerous fronts.

I called the Nick Gonzales pick last year. I called the Henry Davis pick this year long before he was even a legit target. Called the Solometo pick as well. I called out the bullshit Dejan piece you posted a few weeks ago, that magically had a scout that shit all over the best team in the Pirates org (Greensboro), with the most talent and then listen to the same scout fawn over Altoona, because of Mason Martin? You know the guy with a 34% K rate (it's over 37% since the AS break) and 1 home run in the past month plus? Of any player to pick from Altoona to use as a prop for calling the AA team the best in our system, you pick Martin? Not Oneil Cruz, not Roansy? Yawn.

I have to read drivel, continuously, by people who are unable to do anything other than regurgitate a twitter handle or some talking point by a low IQ Pittsburgh sports personality who couldn't hold a pen to my ability as a writer. I don't put up with it. I call it out and more often than not, am proven right at the end of the day.

The Steelers should be burning everything down and preparing for life after the HOF QB who's almost 40 and is set up contractually, to be gone after this year. If I were Colbert, I'd be doing exactly that, one because it's the smart move long term, and two, it would f*** Mike Tomlin and put him in a position where he's going to look, really, really bad record wise. Though for anyone with a brain, you already know the reason why we haven't won a SB in the last decade is directly because of Mike Tomlin's incompetence.

We can revisit this again. I'll be right. Per the norm.

You don't like the takes? Hit the ignore feature. Easy.

It's really regrettable that you can't debate anything without being a contentious, insulting asshole.

Did anyone say the Steelers wouldn't have been better off with Marino? No...sweet strawman, though, and I have no idea what it has to do with anything. If you want to continue to bang the drum for a tear it to the studs, total rebuild, have at it - this organization isn't the Pirates and they aren't going to act like it.

 

[xlm34]

There’s nothing worse than the guy who thinks he’s the smartest in the room.