Steelers MMQB: NFL Offseason News
By Kim Myers
What We Learned This Week in the NFL Offseason
- Darrelle Revis looking to hold out…again
- TO looking for an apology and cash from IFL team that cut him
- DUI season heats up
- Hines Ward to join NBC Sports
- The Steelers wrap up Week 2 of OTAs
As we enter the timeframe of under 100 days until the regular season kicks off the most intriguing stories left before training camp starts will be who is holding out. Speculation arose this week for Aliquippa native and former Pitt star, Darrelle Revis to see if he will be holding out for the second time in three seasons. Revis held out all of 2010 for a new contract that was mainly front loaded and paid him a ridiculous combined $32.5 million between 2010 and 2011. He’s set to make a measly $13.5 million this year so many are wondering if the cornerback will be holding out for more dough or showing up to camp. This situation is completely different from the one Steeler Nation is closely following, with Mike Wallace still not signing his $2.7 million tender and still not reporting to OTAs, Revis already has a contract in place.
TO has responded to reports last week that he was dropped from his Indoor Football League team, the Allen Wranglers, through his lawyer who is threatening a lawsuit if the team refuses to pay Owens for the games he did show up for and issue a public apology for announcing he was cut from the team for failure to make a Children’s Hospital appearance as well as missing games. TO’s lawyer is claiming the team owes him four game checks worth about $160K as well as money from concessions and merchandising since he was technically “part owner” of the team. I think the whole TO saga should serve notice to a certain young money wide receiver in Pittsburgh who just received quite possibly the greatest piece of advice from teammate Ike Taylor “you need football more than football needs you”. TO and his slimy agent Drew Rosenhaus have been trying to get him back into the league since he recovered from knee surgery last year and although TO is second only behind Jerry Rice on most of the receiving records in the NFL and had a great statistical season the last time he played with the Bungles, is not even getting a sniff by any NFL franchises. TO’s NFL career is most likely done for all intents and purposes, whether or not he can realize that and find some other avenue for keeping him in the lifestyle to which he’s become accustomed to is a different story. Obviously, he’s got some child support issues to deal with as well, I certainly hope for his kids’ sake he was paid very well for that pathetic showing on the Dr. Phil show a few weeks ago.
The early summertime between OTAs and training camp seems to be DUI season in the NFL and this year seems to be no different with top draft pick Justin Blackmon getting arrested over the weekend for aggravated DUI in Oklahoma. Apparently if you blow as much as he blew over the legal limit, it counts as an aggravated DUI, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s an angry drunk which I immediately assumed. Why professional athletes, or celebrities for that matter, don’t use a friggin car service when going out to party is beyond me. No one is saying you can’t go out and get hammered if the mood strikes you, but why would you risk your potential future with a DUI just to drive your fancy new car around your old stomping grounds? Take a car service or pay one of your more boring friends to stay sober for the night and cart your butt around. Thus concludes Kimmy’s public service announcement of the week. Thank you for listening, don’t forget to tip your bartenders.
The Steelers wrapped up the second week of OTAs on Thursday still with no Mike Wallace and with the added speculation that next summer, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders could be doing the same thing. The two young WR’s will be RFA’s at the end of this season and Steeler Nation is wondering if all this talent that excites us right now in the WR corps will be the constant source of drama in the off seasons. I’m not sure what’s worse though, speculating about something that might not happen and won’t even happen for another year, or the thought of having all this talent at WR sitting out waiting for big paydays. Like I said, I’m not going to speculate about something that might happen a year from now, there’s got to be more to talk about right? Something strikes me about Brown and Sanders that says they have bought in to the Steelers system and realize now with seeing what Wallace is going through and how the fans are reacting, that they might trust the system the organization has in place to either keep or cut the players they feel give them the best chance to win. But that is definitely next year’s problem to worry about.
Hines Ward has landed on his feet already since his retirement from the Steelers, landing a gig at NBC sports. Ward will be featured on Sunday Night’s Football Night in America and if my dreams come true, will replace Rodney Harrison so we no longer have to hear his hypocritical BS. Ward will also do college games for NBC, so Steeler Nation will get to see their favorite smile on Saturdays and Sundays this fall. Clearly this is a man who was made for TV, I’m surprised it wasn’t announced sooner that he would be joining one of the NFL related broadcasts; I can only hope that there was a vicious bidding war for his services. If anyone is still counting we are at 97 days and 10 hours till the Steelers regular season kicks off. Go Steelers!
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