Ed: Hoyer was the QB Steelers Wanted

Good morning,
    After a week’s vacation (hard by the picturesque Plum beaches along the Allegheny River), some Me & You catching up to do:
--- YOU: Prior to the passing of the new RB helmet rule I thought trading down in the first or up in the second to get Lacy might have been a good idea . . . now I think we should just draft nothing but WRs, DBs, and receiving TEs. I'd include pass rushers on that list but they become more and more obsolete when you can't touch the QB. Am I wrong? Please tell me I'm wrong.
ME: Don’t know that you’re wrong, but the effects of the new helmet rule should not be as dire as you think. Remember, it does not apply in the tackle box, so basically runs will be exempted until a player gets into the open field and then only if the hits are obvious lowering the helmet to deliver a blow. I’d say those are rare. You see more stiff-arms than you do the battering ram. Rashard Mendenhall, by the way, is the perfect runner for this rule because he was not one to lower his helmet.
 --- YOU: Steelers interested in QB Tyler Bray? For the past two years, ever since Ben Roethlisberger turned 30, the Steelers have been questioned on when they would draft a quarterback to develop behind the two-time Super Bowl winner.
ME: As most compulsive Steelers fans know by now, the Steelers “braintrust” had dinner – or was it lunch? – with the Tennessee quarterback the other day at his pro day. Maybe they were just hungry and needed a third at the dinner table. They are considering drafting a quarterback in the mid-to-later rounds and Bray would fit the bill there. It’s the most important position on the team and if you find one, you can either develop him or trade him.
   The quarterback the Steelers really wanted was Brian Hoyer and they let him slip through their hands. If Arizona had not put a second-round tender on him as an RFA, the Steelers were going to try to sign him. However, they had him on their team when they signed him Nov. 20 to the 53-man roster after the injuries to Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich. They released him on Dec. 8 so they could add josh Victorian from the practice squad. That was a mistake, and they know it. Bruce Arians also must have known how much they wanted him back by placing the second-round tender on him. Hoyer signed that tender this week.
--- YOU: You are the GM for the day. Before we negotiate your salary you have to make a decision: Do you sign Worilds to an extension before the season or take a chance on it? If he has a breakout year similar to Lewis, the Steelers could be SOL next off season. If he plays at or below average, then he can be had for a bargain. Whats your call?
ME: Jason Worilds would not sign the kind of contract I would offer him right now, just as Keenan Lewis would not have done so at this time last year. No, I would hope to do better.  
--- YOU: How can Kevin and Mike only put a third round tender on Sanders thinking no one would fork over a third round that's just DUMB. What is the reason for reworking the star players contracts if you are not going to use the money. I know the issue with Sanders is health but come on. Brown, Burress, Cotchery, and some rookie receiver is not how you compete for a super bowl. That's rebuilding and the Steelers say they dont do that. At least Sanders you know can play at this level a rookie you don't know. NOT SMART AT ALL. Could write or at least tell us fans why and know that like trying to get the CIA to tell you about there secret ops.
ME: The list  of teams signing RFAs throughout free agency is miniscule. I predicted a third-round tender would be placed on Sanders before free agency began. It was worth the gamble. You still can match, or take the pick if the Patriots do sign him. It’s not like they’d be getting Lynn Swann.
--- YOU: With Keenan Lewis going to the Saints. We now have only Hood from 2 years of drafting ( ’08 and ’09). How exactly are we building from within?
ME: And Ziggy Hood enters the final year of his contract.
--- YOU: I just do not understand letting James Harrison go. Why he was the only one chosen to take a paycut? He was arguably their best player on defense last year along with Timmons. The defense was terrible last year until he came back.
ME: They weren’t terrible, as their No. 1 standing in the NFL overall in yards allowed and passing yards allowed would attest, and that wasn’t built just because Harrison returned. However, I agree that he played well from the middle of the season on, after his knee had time to heal. Maybe pride will get in the way here, but I still give it a shot for him to return since there seems to be little interest in him out there.  The Bears did the same thing with Brian Urlacher.
--- YOU:  I have lost all confidence in Kevin Colbert with his terrible draft and free agency decisions he has been making in the last 6 years. I believe that Mike Tomlin has a lot to do with it. Shame on them for not asking Colon to take a 4.5 million dollar pay cut to be a serviceable guard/tackle back up for that price of 1.2 million. They could have asked James Harrison to take a 1.5 -2 million paycut and guaranteed his salary. They could have used that 6 million in cap space to sign Keenan Lewis and ended up keeping all 3 players. Now instead we get Gradkowski, Gay and Spaeth. They wouldn't have needed Spaeth if they would have just kept Wesley Saunders. They wouldn't have needed Gay if they signed Lewis. Let me guess who is coming in next: Legursky. Not Starks their most reliable OL over the last 4 years who they can get cheap in this market. But Legursky....who wouldn't otherwise be on an NFL roster next season except for Pittsburgh's. Who in the NFL would ever make this swap of players? Colbert and Tomlin did. 6 and 10? Try 4 and 12.


ME: Granted, the Steelers have not done much to help themselves in free agency, but let’s see how things play out here. We’re only 10 days into this thing. During those six years, the Steelers made the playoffs four times, reached the Super Bowl twice and won a championship. Maybe they like Cortez Allen better than they do Keenan Lewis and saw Lewis blocking him. I also would not burn your Terrible Towel over them releasing Willie Colon. And the great Weslye Saunders caught two passes for the Colts last year.
--- YOU: I've been thinking, as much as I want S Vacarro or TE Eifert, no one is talking, but I could see us Draft a NT. I was thinking that for last year, maybe they do it this year if they're not satisfied w/ Ta'amu or McClendon (who I see as a 3-4 DE).
ME: You’ve been thinking too much.
--- YOU: I saw where you wrote that Mendenhall is the type of player the Steelers sometimes look to in free agency. I’m presuming you meant a reasonably to lower priced free agent who represents a value signing with little risk, but some upside. Someone with talent who might benefit from a change in environment or scenery. I agree. I also think Beanie Wells fits the same profile. I like that the Steelers are evaluating him and hope is contract demands are relatively low. The Steelers RB cupboard is almost empty and he would be a viable option. I’d still like to see the Steelers draft a running back in the 2nd or 3rd round, but his signing would lessen the need to reach for a pick that wasn’t there.
ME: Wells needs more than a change in environment, he needs a new knee.
--- YOU: With regards to the new rule change for running backs has the NFL gone back and calculated how many penalties would have been called last year? Also this rule seems to me to bring more officiating judgment into the game, which I think obviously makes officiating much harder and the NFL should get away from. Anyway just curious if any serious analysis was done before incorporating this rule, besides just changing it for safety reasons.
ME: I’m sure there was plenty of analysis using their favorite tool, the high-def, slo-mo.
--- YOU: Count me as very positive and supportive of the moves the Steelers have made over the past two years to turn over an aging roster. One can argue about whether any player who was released or retired had one more good year left in the tank, but who cares. The idea is to manage a large roster turnover with the least fall off in talent and results and I think they are managing to do just that. The Steelers remain one of the best sports franchises in succession planning and drafting new players.
ME: Count yourself counted, and there aren’t many of them in your corner, judging by my emails, Tweets and PG Plus questions and rants.