I wrote last week I didn’t understand why the Steelers were showing interesting in free agent LaGarette Blount. SteelDad has mentioned he’s worried the Rooney’s want to go back to ground and pound football.
The more I started to think about it, the more I’ve started wondering if the Steelers are using Blount to try to push Maurice Jones-Drew into signing.
The two backs and extremely different in terms of their style of play, so unless the Steelers just want a veteran regardless of his fit into the scheme, being interested in both is strange.
The Steelers as an organization typically keep things pretty close to the vest. Most of us didn’t know they were interested in MJD until he was already in Pittsburgh… LaGarette Blount still hasn’t visited and we’ve known about him for almost two weeks now.
Is it possible that someone in the organization wanted it to be known that Blount would be in the building?
The Steelers also typically don’t mess around with a free agent for very long if they don’t like his contract demands. The Steelers have seemed to keep in contact with MJD even after the initial meeting.
Shortly after that it was let out that Miami, New England, and the Jets were interested. Then Miami and New England said they haven’t spoken to anyone about Jones-Drew… So likely agent games.
After that initial meeting with Maurice, Blount’s meeting with the Steelers was pushed back almost an entire week. They had time to work with Arthur Moats, so why not Blount?
Is it possible the Steelers wanted more time to work with MJD, but still make it known that they had someone else coming in?
There’s also the report by Alan Robinson that the Steelers would have a veteran running back added “by the end of the week” which is conveniently when Blount is coming.
That seems like a pretty clear message that they want Jones-Drew but if he’s going to play hardball they won’t wait around, and will go with plan B, soon.
Maybe I’m crazy, and just rationalizing the Steelers moves that I feel aren’t great ones. Right now it sounds like MJD is content to sit and wait maybe even into training camp to see if there’s an injury that makes him more valuable.
If Blount signs this weekend, then I’m wrong, and we can add it to the long list…
