Steelers Cut Moore, Bell Faces 4 Games, No Cap Hell

The NFL free agency period is set to begin soon and you can bet that we won’t miss a beat of Steelers coverage. While the Steelers are looking to sign free agents, restructure and extend contracts and re-sign their own free agents we’ll be busy looking around for mentions of your Black & Gold. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Wednesday, March 4^th.

Steelers grant Moore’s release

The Pittsburgh Steelers made their first veteran cut prior to the start of free agency when late Monday afternoon they announced they released veteran wide receiver after just one season in Pittsburgh. Lance Moore played in fourteen games in 2014 but only started two after dealing with injury issues that prevented him from jumping on the offensive train the Steelers succeeded with last season.

We have released wide receiver Lance Moore. pic.twitter.com/AqHjso0GM7
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) March 2, 2015

The move allows Moore the chance to get in early in the free agency period and field offers from prospective teams, a sign of respect from the organization where he seemed to be a good offseason signing but never did quite fit in with the offense.

Bell could be make example of

Mike Florio of PFT describes how Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell could be facing a suspension from the league for up to four games stemming from his DUI arrest in July of 2014. Under the new substance abuse policy, the standard response to a first-offense DUI arrest would be a two-game suspension. However, there is a caveat that can increase the suspension to up to four games for substances other than alcohol.

It’s still unclear what direction the NFL will go on this, but it looks like Bell is going to be the test case for the new policy, whether he or Steeler Nation likes it or not. The fact remains that whatever your stance on marijuana use is, once a person gets behind the wheel of a car, they involve everyone else on the road in their decision and therefore subjected to consequences.

If the media used last season’s Ray Rice debacle to spread the narrative that the league has/had a domestic violence problem, the reality is that it’s a shame it’s taken this long for the NFL to put in place a standard suspension system for DUI’s. Per USA Today’s database, DUI is by far the most prevalent offense NFL players are arrested for. That’s a problem.

No cap trouble here

Ed Bouchette of the PPG reminds us that the Steelers aren’t starting the league year with the same old cap troubles of old. It seems as though that’s been the narrative for long that the team will continually stay in trouble staying and getting under the salary cap each season due to their propensity to restructure contracts and spread money to future years.

The fact that the salary cap keeps steadily increasing and the amount of restructures already done has the Steelers well under the salary cap with plenty of time left before the deadline and plenty of options to get even lower.

Next: Steelers Mock Draft 7 Rounds: Version 7.0

More from Still Curtain

Home/Steelers Free Agency