Since I know some of you may have reached this post from Behind The Steel Curtain, if you want to read a real post about free agency, I'd recommend the Day Two post, here. The difference is that one is written in actual English instead of semi-comatose rambling. Still rambling, but you get what I mean. Plus, there's probably about 1,000 better posts on here. So feel free to poke around if you've got some time on your hands.I swear I was going to do something way better than this, but then I realized that I'm really friggin' tired. Honestly, writing this just now, I've determined that I don't even have the mental acuity to be remotely funny today.
Whatev, they can't all be winners, right?
Anyways, here's the deal - I was going to dump all of the dudes who are free agents into this one post and go through them one by one, but frankly, it's the offseason and I usually spend the next oh, couple of months or so straining my brain to try and think of things to write about. Inevitably some Steeler always gets caught with his wang swaying in the breeze, which helps. But otherwise it's all nominal until the draft starts to creep up on us.
So for my own convenience, and for the sake of what I might characterize as "serviceable discussion," I thought I'd break this up and give us a few guys a day to "analyze." That way, I don't have to start cutting myself next week when I've exhausted all of the relevant topics until March, AND we can all throw our opinions into the mix on a smaller set of rather large individuals.
Now, y'all probably know I'm not really what you'd call a numbers guy. To be honest, the last time I had to do any kind of heavy lifting mathematically was the SATs. Let me put it to you this way - some of my peers at law school brought calculators to our Criminal Law final. Lawyers [generally] are not a head's up bunch when it comes to math...unless that math involves billable hours, of course (ba-dum-ching). And I'm no different. So if you want to bring financials into the mix, rock on. I don't know what these guys are currently getting paid. I could look it up, but that sounds like a lot of work. It's obviously a consideration, and a big one at that. I just don't feel like taking the time to think about that right now. But don't let that stop you. Go ahead and help us put this all in perspective.
That all said, today I've chosen to get this party started with...
Charlie Batch ~ Chuck Batch, dude?
Why did I start with Chucky Batch? This is painful. I love me some Chuck Batch, but I gotta say let him go. Only because...
Byron Leftwich - Re-sign his ass.
Charlie Batch is a fantastic individual, but I mean he's 34. The only way I say we keep Batch and let Leftwich go is if Lord Byron wants too much loot, which is certainly possible. I mean, I doubt anyone is going to give him a starting job...well, maybe the Lions...and if he's going to be a backup anywhere, might as well try and keep him in Pittsburgh. That said, I honestly have no idea how the Steelers front office is going to look at this sitch. Either way, in Kevin Colbert we trust.
[NOTE: I gotta get my own head out of my own ass. Thanks to Nate for pointing out Leftwich's stated objective to find a starting job elsewhere. Had I spent more than five minutes researching, I'd have known that too. Oh well, this is what happens when you try and rush a post up because you've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off all day and haven't been able to write anything. Apologies for being a waste of space. I need a nap.]
And then there's the piece-de-resistance, the must-sign. Allen Iverson is a scrub, THIS GUY is "The Answer"...
Mitch Berger
I think we all know how this is going to work out. Sorry Jeff Reed, you're going to have to teach that dance y'all do to Daniel Sepulveda. It's been real. It's been fun. But it hasn't been real fun. Take 'er easy, dude. I know that you will.
Then, finally...
Cris Collinsworth is a toolbox.
It needed to be said.
Now, unfortch, we also all have to keep in mind the fact that the following guys have one year left on their current contracts - James Harrison, Hines Ward, Brett Keisel, Heath Miller, Ryan Clark, Jeff Reed, Casey Hampton, Deshea Townsend and Larry Foote. All of whom I'd love to keep. So that should throw an interesting curve at this year's free agency sitch, knowing that we gon' need some CASH to re-sign all or even some of these dudes.
But what do y'all think about these three?
