Ike Taylor hits the news stands once again on the PPG. And again, the case is made for Taylor to be and will be the top priority for the Steelers once the lockout ends and free agency begins. Well again, I still say that the Steelers will decide that Taylor is not worth the pursuit. Sure, they will give him an offer – and more than likely a slightly more generous one than his last contract – but they will not get into any kind of bidding war with teams. That’s not how they roll. And that is exactly what’s going to happen. Ray makes a good argument – not for Taylor – but for the other corners out there that there are about 4-5 corners with all very similar stats. With probably half the teams in the league interested in finding a solid corner, the bidding will be fierce and high. Taylor says he feels under-appreciated with his last contract. Well if $22.5 million is being under appreciative, then I doubt an offer of $23 or $24 over 5 years will not be good enough either.
More smoke from the free agency wire. Mike Florio from NBC Sports writes that if Tiki is interested in a team, then that team must also be interested in him. Well, hey everyone, I’m interested in playing for the Steelers too. In fact, I should be getting a phone call any second now….. Come on. I just can’t see Tiki being on the Steelers short list. Or even long list. They have two very good solid running backs already. Mwelde Moore is their 3rd down back and is somewhat to be desired at times. But, Tiki is not a good third down back. So where will you put Tiki? Share carries with Rashard to give him extra breaks? That’s what Redman is for. So why have him around? I would expect that if he doesn’t get the ball as much as he wants, then there will be locker room trouble. There is no glaring reason why the Steelers should pursue Tiki Barber, and I don’t think that Kevin Colbert will accept ‘Well he’s kind of a friend’ from Mike Tomlin as a reason.
When the NFL Top 100 list came out not so long ago, the NFL said that the list was comprised of players voted by their peers. There’s been a bit of dispute about that list, and now the players themselves are starting to voice their own doubts of how that list came to be. Looking at this tweet from Ramon Foster, sounds like there could be some questioning thrown the NFL’s way soon about the validity of that list.