Might as well start talking about implications next season with Ben out for all of 2019 and likely a career. Notable free agent losses: Hargrave - not extended this summer, may command a pretty penny in free agency. Hilton - unlikely they bring him back either. Bud Dupree - another 1st round miss, see ya Burns - ha ha ha ha ha, ditto Davis - another miss in the secondary, boy look at those early 1-2 picks for 2015/2016 (Dupree/Golson/Burns/Davis). As of today, Pitt has about $3 mil in cap space and only $7 mil next year with only 38 players under contract. Ouch. Not a lot of room for play. Potential/likely cuts: Ben - $8.5 mil, maybe more if you can reach an injury settlement. Not sure what amount of his contract is guaranteed. Chickillo - $5 mil...........really? Bye. Moncrief - $4 mil...........should already be cut. That's $17 mil or so, but now also three less players under contract, with gaping holes at NT, OLB, and safety. Hard to address all of those in free agency and the draft and fill out rest of roster with only $25 million or so. What a mess.
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/09/schefter-seahawks-trading-te-nick-vannett-to-steelers/ "Seahawks are finalizing a trade to send TE Nick Vannett to the Pittsburgh Steelers, per league source." "The Steelers are in dire need of help at the position considering Xavier Grimble’s struggles, Zach Gentry’s youth, and Vance McDonald’s shoulder injury that appears to keep him out of at least this week’s contest against Cincinnati." Did the Steelers just realize the (1) Xavier Grimble is likley to struggle, (2) Zach Gentry is inexperienced, (3) Vance McDonald has an injury history, and (4) Jesse James is now a Lions' TE?
Hopefully it won’t take 40 years to get back to the SB and win again. If I remember correctly, Terry Bradshaw retired with a bad elbow.
