Steelers post free agency analysis: Following same blueprint
By Eric Hassel
Although Free Agency has not technically concluded, the Steelers are most likely done making significant moves
Technically, free agency is still ‘open’, but the Steelers are pretty much done with significant signings. I could be wrong, obviously. We may either sign another free agent of note, re-work another contract and even extend a player or players who are still under contract.
For the most part, I think the Steelers are done making any significant moves and are now looking forward to the draft. So if you’re not as old as I am, you probably don’t remember the time when the Steelers would routinely lose free agents as we just either did not have the desire to nor did we have the wherewithal to re-sign our own free agents.
Fortunately, that has changed over the years and we are re-signing our own free agents with more alacrity than ever before; however, one aspect of free agency has not changed. We have never been and probably never will be ‘big players’ in free agency. That is just a reality.
Like past iterations of free agency, we have signed some of our own free agents, re-structured contracts to free up cap space to sign other free agents and have tendered some restricted free agents.
While no free agency period has been all that ‘exciting’, each period of free agency has been conducted in a fashion that fans either liked or disliked; there’s probably no ‘middle ground’ to the approach the Steelers take and have taken in free agency.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at what has transpired in free agency.