I Hope we go for Starks

[bear trap]

Now that pitt just threw down a ton of money on big ben I hope there's a way we can poison pill them with starks and steal him away like we did tait. NFL network listed them in bad cap condition. If we get starks and another fa o-linemen(olivea, or the guard from Tennessee) we'd be free to take someone like mendenhall or stewart with 14. The rb crop of fa is thin and I don't want a washed up j. jones. Go for the youth to compete with benson send him a signal that he's not getting it done, draft mendenhall!

[fudgeripple2000]

If I remember correctly the steelers have transition tagged him. Meaning they get first right of refusal to any contract offered. Now that they have thrown a truckload onto their quarterback it should be easier to pry Starks away. I think that Jerry shouldn't be in a hurry to do the steelers work for them.

 

Quote:

Now, the Steelers hope Starks does sign elsewhere for a pittance because it would be easy for them to match. If he signs for a lot, they can let him go. But what if he wants to come in and sign the one-year deal for nearly $7 million? It's likely they will pull the offer before he can find a pen.

 

Sources say they have not even tried to negotiate a long-term deal with Starks. The reasoning is another old Steelers philosophy: They do not want to give him a starting point, so he can shop their deal around to other teams. There are two ways that Starks will remain with the Steelers next season -- if he receives little interest from other teams, or if he signs a contract with another team the Steelers believe is reasonable to match.

 

 

http://post-gazette.com/pg/08060/861352-66.stm

[bradjock]

Now that pitt just threw down a ton of money on big ben I hope there's a way we can poison pill them with starks and steal him away like we did tait. NFL network listed them in bad cap condition. If we get starks and another fa o-linemen(olivea, or the guard from Tennessee) we'd be free to take someone like mendenhall or stewart with 14. The rb crop of fa is thin and I don't want a washed up j. jones. Go for the youth to compete with benson send him a signal that he's not getting it done, draft mendenhall!

 

Agreed. Next to Washington, I think the Steelers are in the worst cap shape. Starks is 26, and so he could anchor the right side for years to come. That would fix a glaring whole in the Bear's line-up. Draft an offensive tackle in the 2nd round as a potential back-up, or even start him at LG for a year.

 

John St. Clair looked pretty good at LG for the last 3 games of the year. We could could do a lot worse then him as our starting guard.

[Pixote]

Agreed. Next to Washington, I think the Steelers are in the worst cap shape. Starks is 26, and so he could anchor the right side for years to come. That would fix a glaring whole in the Bear's line-up. Draft an offensive tackle in the 2nd round as a potential back-up, or even start him at LG for a year.

 

John St. Clair looked pretty good at LG for the last 3 games of the year. We could could do a lot worse then him as our starting guard.

 

I agree about St Clair. As a tackle he sucked IMO. However, it seemed that when he played at OG he found his calling. He was actually very impressive in that role and if given the reps at OG in preparation for 2008 he could be an excellent player for us in that position.

 

I am not sure on Starks. If he is only an option at ROT then I question the move because even though Tait is "ok" at LOT, his age is catching up to him and it might benefit him to move back to his natural position at ROT. The draft has some outstanding LOT prospects. I would hate to see the Bears pass up on one of these hard to find Gems.

 

I think to get Starks we would have to give him "starter" money, and if he started at ROT we would have Tait at LOT and if we drafted a stud LOT he would be on the bench for awhile, something you would not normally do with a top draft selection. I know it would give him time to develop. The other option would be, I guess, to trade Tait. He should fetch a decent return and good OLT/ORT veterans even at his age are valued by teams looking for solution to OL problems.

 

Is there a team in need of a player like Tait who is looking to trade a WR or RB that would be of interest to us?

[AZ54]

The problem is you can't make that trade until AFTER the draft because you don't know who will fall to us. Make the trade early and you're locked in to LT in Rd 1. Right now we need a LT but we could get away with waiting a round and drafting a RT so there's at least some doubt. I agree that Tait has his limitations with speed rushers but I think he also played through a pretty tough leg or ankle injury. While I'd like to move him back to RT and draft one of the top LT in Rd 1 things change dramatically for us if we don't need to do that.

 

Suppose we steal Starks away from Pitt and put him at RT and keep Tait at LT. Now we have a lot of flexibility in the draft. We can go RB in Rd 1 (Mendenhal), QB, WR, S, and even JA's favorite Rd 1 pick DT. WR and S might not be worth our first round pick but the other 3 options could yield a very good prospect.

 

With the talent at LT in this draft I'm not saying we should do this because as I've said already, if you can get a stud at LT then it anchors that spot for many years, if not a decade. If we're not locked into filling that spot we have a lot of flexibility in Rds 1-3

[Mongo3451]

With the talent at LT in this draft I'm not saying we should do this because as I've said already, if you can get a stud at LT then it anchors that spot for many years, if not a decade.

This is why I want a LT. You can't develop a franchise QB without one.