Steelers Mourn, Brown’s Contract, Ben’s Ranking

The 2015 NFL Draft has come and gone and your Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 draft class is being inked up to contracts. There are just a few more phases of the offseason training program before the team breaks in June before training camp. While the new Steelers get acclimated with the Steel City we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Tuesday, May 19^th.

RIP Adrian Robinson

A former defensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers has lost his life at the very young age of 25. Adrian Robinson played twelve games for the Steelers in 2012 before leaving to play six games for the Denver Broncos and two for the San Diego Chargers in 2013.

Robinson was originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and attended Temple University where he was honored as the Mid-American Conference defensive player of the year in 2009, his sophomore season. Pittsburgh’s WPXI relayed a report from TMZ Sports that Monday afternoon Robinson was killed by gunfire in Harrisburg. A report later came out from Denver that Robinson’s cause of death was suicide.

Robinson had most recently signed with the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin took to Twitter to express his condolences to the family of Robinson.

My thoughts are with the family of Adrian Robinson during this difficult time. Very sad that he passed away at such a young age.
— Mike Tomlin (@CoachTomlin) May 18, 2015

Brown won’t hold out, right?

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler is poking the bear a little bit by implying that the contract situation between Antonio Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers isn’t as settled as it may appear to be. Brown was absent from the initial voluntary workout program and Fox Sport reported (most likely leaked by Brown’s agent) that Brown was considering a holdout for a new contract, with three years left on his current deal.

Brown ultimately dispelled the rumors personally, citing his newborn as the reason why he was initially absent and then reported to voluntary workouts last month. But Fowler suggests that the contract situation might rear its ugly head again considering that at least Brown can make the argument that he’s outplayed his current deal.

Fowler suggests that the Steelers restructure Brown’s deal to include incentives that could put him in the income bracket with the rest of the top receivers he out-performed last season and then cut the new deal when the time is appropriate.

For the Steelers to actually do that though, they’d have to have some other signing in mind or else they’d be doing exactly what they have been against for decades; giving into contract demands. It’s not just principle or stubbornness that the Steelers need to hold onto that rule.

For instance if they give Brown a new deal simply by restructuring his current deal to include more incentives what’s to stop Le’Veon Bell from expecting the same thing for his deal? Surely he can argue he’s outplayed his rookie contract already. Where would it end?

Is Ben finally elite enough?

Ben Roethlisberger had his best two seasons of his career (without ending them with Super Bowl wins, of course) in 2013 and 2014. In the eyes of the football analysts, they’re finally starting to see him for the quarterback that he is. Dave Dameshek and Elliot Harrison both ranked the NFL’s top 10 quarterback’s in the league right now and Ben ranked pretty friggin high on both lists.

Harrison has Roethlisberger ranked as the 3^rd best quarterback in the league behind Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. He puts Roethlisberger ahead of Drew Brees and Tony Romo to round out the top 5. *Spoiler alert* Sooper Elite Joe Flacco doesn’t make an appearance on this list. Shocking.

Dave Dameshek says that Ben Roethlisberger is the best quarterback in the NFL only behind Green Bay’s Rodgers. He puts Ben ahead of Tom Brady, Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson for his top 5.

Next: Will Steelers Suisham's Job Be Different in 2015?

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