Steelers Offseason Grade: C????

Chris Burke on our offseason:

Quote :

"Some good fortune in the Draft helped Pittsburgh land two potential OL starters (Mike Adams, David DeCastro) plus a DL contributor (Alameda Ta’amu). Still, the Steelers lost a ton this offseason, mainly due to cap issues. Replacing Hines Ward, James Farrior and other long-time vets will be just as hard in the locker room as on the field. The Mike Wallace situation also could be a massive distraction this year."
Grade: C

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That's absurd! We had a GREAT draft, and regardless of HOW we got these talented players, we HAVE them. I find it funny that you blow off the fact that we landed two of the draft's best offensive lineman, and then put emphasis on the fact that we lost two 30+ year old veterans...Sure, it's going to hurt seeing the team without Farrior, but Timmons will take over, and in Ward's case, we had TWO 1,000 yards receivers last year, and he wasn't one of them.

Chris Burke. You are a TERRIBLE writer.

i'd give it a B+ but if everything works out this could be one of the best drafts ever

I don't even know who Chris Burke is, but the fact that he realizes that the difficulty of replacing Hines Ward, Aaron Smith, and James Farrior on the field is basically non-existent suggests to me that he hasn't done a lot of research. The only one even close to an issue is Farrior. The Steelers have had an excellent offseason and the only thing that could possibly improve it would be the completion of a long-term deal with Mike Wallace.

I fully expected this just to be from some blogger. Blogs constantly get posted on message boards and are passed off as if they're articles from a real analyst. But nope, this isn't from a blogger. This article was written by a Sports Illustrated writer.

I've thought from the beginning that with the loss of vets like Ward, Farrior, Smith, etc., it was going to be a transition. However, I believe that Ben, Troy, Woodley and others will step up to fill the leadership loss.

This is going to be perhaps one of the most interesting seasons in the past 10 years.

I won't be surprised if this year plays out as somewhat of a "transition" year. I have no doubt we are chalk full of talent, however, I'm not going to be too surprised if this year's record is less than stellar.

Having said that, I'm choosing to remain completely optimistic that we will return to the superbowl this year so put back those bottles and cans you all are ready to throw at me!

Wallace108 wrote:

I fully expected this just to be from some blogger. Blogs constantly get posted on message boards and are passed off as if they're articles from a real analyst. But nope, this isn't from a blogger. This article was written by a Sports Illustrated writer.

Well that's OK. I'll grade him. He gets an I for Idiot! It's called moving forward and as much as we'll miss these guys and all they did for us we'll be just fine. There's a reason we stay at the top of the food chain. We groom from within!!!

Let the haters hate...

That C will go to a C-YA, on our way to #7.

Clueless. There's nothing I love more than reading or listening to some lazy jackhole who apparently hasn't done his homework on a team tell us all how bad they are going to be.

Best offseason I can remember ever for the Steelers. Yes it hurts to see a few of our mainstay long-time contributors leave/retire, but the Steelers have veteran guys who will step up and fill the leadership voids and talented young guys who give us hope for the future to fill the production voids. Honestly, the great vets we lost were no longer contributing like in years past so I don't understand why so many people believe we are doomed because of their departures. If anything, they've made way for guys who will possibly make us better.

I also agree with Bayz that the toughest guy to replace at this point will be Farrior. Not for his on-field play, but because he was our defensive on-field general who knew the defense inside and out and put the other guys in the best possible positions to succeed. That will be tough to replace, but I have faith that Troy or someone else will step into that role.