You probably couldn’t help but shake your head like the rest of Steelers’ Nation did today when the news broke that All-Pro Center Maurkice Pouncey had suffered a setback in his return from a broken ankle.
Already unavailable until after week nine, Pouncey is reportedly facing more surgery and that puts his entire 2015 season in jeopardy. His return was going to be a welcome one. Cody Wallace has been admirable in his place but he has struggled in pass protection the entire season. With Doug Legursky as the primary back-up, will this news prompt the Steelers to make a deal for a better center?
[Update:] As I was finishing this, it was reported that Pouncey is likely headed to the Injured Reserve list for the season.
Saw scar on Pouncey's ankle a couple weeks ago. No surprise to me.
— Chris Bradford (@BCTBradford) October 15, 2015
It’s not likely considering the amount of money the Steelers already have tied up in Pouncey. He’s currently working on a five-year deal that pays him $44.1 million. That’s an average of about $8.8 million per season.
I was not a fan of the huge increase and as you might guess I’m still not. I believe Pouncey to be a very good center, one of the best in fact, but I just can’t see paying a center that much money. Steelers’ fans obviously had similar takes as the news broke today.
Maurkice who? He's worse than Ryan Shazier.
— Real Joe Yinzer (@Joe_Yinzer) October 15, 2015
He’s referring to the fact that Ryan Shazier has missed almost as many games as he’s played in his NFL career and right now that’s fair.
I am sure I am in the minority but I think the @steelers should cut bait with Pouncey. Not worth the money invested.
— Mark ?????? (@MarkMizzouSteel) October 15, 2015
I think Mark is in fact in the minority but I don’t think it’s a small as one might think. With upcoming deals for Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown coming sooner rather than later, the huge money spent on Pouncey looks wasted.
No one is questioning Pouncey’s desire or ability here; the problem is that he just can’t stay on the field. If Pouncey does in fact miss the entire season then he will have played in 17 of the team’s possible 48 games between 2013 and 2015.
Don’t forget that he also missed Super Bowl 45 with an ankle injury as well.
I’m certainly not casting blame on Pouncey, no one gets hurt intentionally, but the Steelers certainly have to be taken to task for throwing so much money at a player they are getting very little from.
2 comments
Well, looking at it strictly from a cap standpoint, the Steelers “can” cut him this March, if they want to.
Don’t misunderstand, I think anyone who wants him gone is being incredibly foolish and short sighted. When healthy, he’s as dominant as they come, especially downfield turning good rushing gains into great ones.
That said, if they were to cut him with a post June 1 designation, they would gain $7M in 2016 cap space while owing an additional $8.05M in dead money in 2017, or a little less than they owe for Lamarr Woodley THIS year.
You can criticize the level of compensation if you like, but the market dictated that and the structure put in place by the Steelers protects them fairly well.
It’s a very good point about the market. When the Browns signed Mack to that ridiculous deal our fate was sealed with Pouncey.