With the recent interview revealing that Haden wants a new contract, here are the four reasons the Steelers shouldn’t extend the cornerback.
In a recent interview, Steelers cornerback Joe Haden has stated that he wants an extension with the team in order to retire with the team. While Haden has been a gift for the team ever since he signed with them in 2017, giving him an extension isn’t the best idea right now.
I don’t want to demean or undermine what Haden has done for the secondary (he was a key part of the unit turning itself around). That all said, here are the four reasons that the Steelers shouldn’t sign Haden to a contract extension.
Steelers are set for a rebuild
Like it or not, assuming Ben Roethlisberger retires after this season, the team will be set to have a couple of leaner years. While this team has an immense amount of talent, not having a capable quarterback really holds any team back. This means the team would be allocating money to an aging cornerback that likely wouldn’t be around for the next Steelers franchise quarterback.
Even if the team drafts their next passer early in the draft next year, there is no guarantee that pick will hit, and even if he does, he may still need a year or two to develop before bringing this team back to a perennial playoff contender.
Will the team necessarily have to do a complete rebuild and suffer through a myriad of losing seasons? No, but it should be expected that this team will have a string of middle-of-the-pack or worse seasons coming up. Signing Haden won’t change that, unfortunately.
Steelers Haden is getting old
Now, I want to say upfront that there is no issue having older players on a roster. Veterans are a key part of a team and you can’t build a roster solely around young players. That doesn’t mean that Haden’s age isn’t an issue though. The veteran is set to play this season at the age of 32. For the cornerback position, that certainly is up there, so committing even a short-term deal to Haden at his age is a risk.
While Haden has never been an elite athlete, he seemed a step or two slower than he had been in previous seasons. Though still sharp in coverage, athletic receivers seemingly beat him on the regular for most of last year.
This was evident in his yards per completion rising almost three whole yards per reception last year, from 11.1 yards per completion in 2019 to 14 in 2020. His rating wasn’t bad (75.9 is a fine number), but he struggled to cover deep threats in games. Add in his injury history (a thing that never gets better with age) and signing Haden to a new deal is a risky bet.
One way to supplement that is to switch his position around and make him more of a safety. Recent Hall of Famer Charles Woodson prolonged his career by four seasons when he did this. The issue is, Haden also said that he wasn’t willing to make that positional shift at this point. If age continues to slow him down and keep him injured, signing him to an extension would be a bad choice.
How much would he cost the Steelers
This is the part of the Haden issue that I find most frustrating. Sure, if Haden was willing to take a reduced salary to stay with the team, signing him to a new deal would carry far less risk. People seem set on the idea that Haden will take the proverbial “hometown discount” to remain with the team. Haden won’t sign a contract that resets the market, but he certainly won’t be cheap either.
If I had to guess, Haden would want a deal that would pay him in the top ten for all cornerbacks. This means he would earn an average yearly salary of $14 million a season. While that isn’t a huge jump from his current salary of $11 million a season, he will be 33 or older for any year that he is on that deal. Unless he suffers no drop-off in play (something he didn’t do last year) then he would be overpaid on that deal.
While the Steelers will have a surplus of cap space next season, that doesn’t mean that they should be willing to overpay for Haden. Unless Haden took a steep discount with the expectation of only playing another year or so. I doubt Haden would be willing to do that.
What may make more sense is letting the market determine his value. If he enters the market and receives little to no interest, then him signing for less money would be logical. On the other hand, Haden will not get an extension that will pay him less per year.
How does this reflect on the Steelers?
The Steelers had a tough offseason when it came to the cornerback position. They lost Mike Hilton and Steven Nelson due to cap constraints making it hard for the team to keep either. That said, there has been a surge in hope and playmaking potential so far from the team’s younger corners in camp. In particular, James Pierre looks like he has the potential to be a starting defensive back on this defense.
Bringing back Haden would be a detriment to their development. Unless he was willing to take on more of a reserve role, Haden would keep the next wave of Steelers cornerback from having the chance to develop properly. Now, there is no guarantee that these players develop properly, but Haden signing another deal for top money now would be telling of what the team thinks about their depth chart at cornerback.
Worst of all, the Steelers were in a similar boat with Nelson earlier in the offseason. Instead of negotiating with him, they cut him. Now, his days were likely numbered due to cap constraints, but what does it say to the league and other players if the team treats Haden that differently. While he may be the slightly better corner at this point, Nelson was still a great fit for the team and is significantly younger. Haden would be in decline and at the end of his career during the duration of the deal. Nelson would have been at the end of his prime in contrast.
All in all, signing Haden to an extension right now isn’t the right move. Unless Haden took a significantly reduced yearly value and was willing to be more versatile with his role on the team, then this would be another story. Since that seems extremely unlikely, the team would be best served to let him hit free agency next year. That doesn’t mean he won’t be back, but the market would dictate his value and likely lead to a more team-friendly deal. An extension right now is clearly not the right move at this time.