Steelers News: Blake, Grades, Rules
By Kim Myers
The Steelers offseason which includes everything from free agency to draft prep and anything in between is in full swing.
Steelers season never truly ends for Steeler Nation so while the offseason starts to heat up we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Friday, Mar. 18th.
Slow long Antwon
Steelers Nation lost one of their favorite punching bags on Thursday when unrestricted free agent cornerback Antwon Blake signed a one-year deal with the Tennessee Titans. He had previously met with the New England Patriots before agreeing to the deal with Tennessee, according to Josh Alper of PFT.
The Titans have been stock-piling defensive backs this offseason with already having Jason McCourty, Perrish Cox, Brice McCain and Blidi Wreh-Wilson. Looks like Blake isn’t going to see the starting time he did in Pittsburgh.
Former Steelers linebacker Terence Garvin signed with the Washington Redskins. He was a restricted free agent but the Steelers did not tender him an offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. Garvin never really saw time on the field other than special teams.
AFC North Free Agency Grades
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Free agency is a week old so let’s go ahead and determine who won because we all know that Super Bowls are definitely won or lost in March.
Gregg Rosenthal of Around the NFL evaluated the teams
of the AFC North to deliver grades on how each team has done so far in free agency.
The Baltimore Ravens graded a B with the signing if safety Eric Weddle and because they think that Joe “Heave ‘n’ Hope” Flacco is going to somehow resurrect his career along with Mike Wallace’s. Tight end Benjamin Watson is also looked at as a good signing even though he’s like 114. He’ll be in the senior citizen section of the Ravens locker room along with Steve Smith.
The Bengals were graded incomplete because while they re-signed safety George Iloka, they’ve left Reggie Nelson (who has been a more productive safety) out in the market. They signed Adam Jones and let Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones go elsewhere.
The Browns get a D+ because they’re the Browns and the most productive move they’ve made was releasing Johnny Manziel a few days after everyone expected them to. I’m sure they also changed the toner in the printer as well, so that must be where the + came in.
The Steelers were graded with a B with the signing of Ladarius Green and Ryan Harris along with re-signing veterans William Gay and Ramon Foster while letting Kelvin Beachum get overpaid by another team.
What a dumb rule
The NFL Competition Committee as well as the teams have proposed the rule changes for the 2016 season which the owners will vote on next week. The headline rule changes include making chop blocks illegal and ejections for a player who is penalized twice in one game for certain types of unsportsmanlike conduct fouls.
The Baltimore Ravens have by far the silliest rule suggestion. Clearly still salty about being hosed by the Patriots in the playoffs two friggin years ago with some creative interpretations of ineligible and eligible receivers they’ve proposed that if a normally ineligible receiver wants to report as eligible for a play they would have to wear a penny over his jersey.
Next: Steelers: No Bryant, no problem
You remember those things, right? What you wear in practice or gym class to differentiate one team from another without having to wear full uniforms and they always smelled like locker room stank. Could you imagine? What a bunch of jagoffs.