Good Tuesday to you Steelers fans.
Let’s get right to it shall we? We are now less than a week from opening the season in Buffalo and we fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers do not know yet with 100% conviction if Trent Jordan Watt will be on the field. Around Noon eastern time today Mike Tomlin will hold his first press conference of the regular season. He will be no doubt inundated with questions about Zach Banner, Chuks Okorafor and whether Ben Roethlisberger still bans loud music from the locker room. Those items may in fact take a back seat to myriad questions he’s going to get about Watt. The All-Pro Linebacker has not missed a day of practice. When there, he does individual work but never participates in team activities. He did not play in the preseason either. You can debate among yourselves as to how you’d handle things were you in his shoes but look at it this way. He is scheduled to be paid $10 million for the season. It is believed his agent is asking for close to $30 million. It is very easy for any of us to complain. “You’re already making 10 and holding out for another 20? Sheesh!” Yes, that’s one way to look at it. But this isn’t an assembly line worker who makes $25 an hour wanting $75 an hour. T.J. Watt’s career will be over long before the assembly line worker’s will and I don’t blame either for trying to get every cent. But NFL careers are unique and they are without compare. Right now, we are being told this is about guaranteed money. NFL contracts, unlike those in the NBA and MLB, are NOT guaranteed. Therefore, when you negotiate a new deal you want to get as much guaranteed money as you can. The Steelers are offering “this” and Watt’s agent wants “that.” Our guess is that the Steelers have made their final offer. I cannot see Watt sitting out and not earning the $10 mill. Should he do so he gets nothing. As most of you know, the Steelers stop negotiating when their regular season kicks off. I honestly did not think it would get this close but here we are. Watt deserves to be the highest paid defender in the game. The Steelers do as well. The problem is, what number works for both? As of right now, very few of us know.
Tweet of the Day… I’ve never seen anyone like him. A true original here.
I’m pretty sure I just witnessed Barry Sanders break the laws of physics at least a dozen times …
— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) September 6, 2021
The Three-Point Stance
This year the Three-Point Stance, our weekly game preview is being brought to you by Gryffin the King. He’s a much loved Golden Retriever who also loves the Steelers. Look for the TPS giving you everything you need to know about the Steelers and Bills on Friday.
“Simulations”
ESPN apparently ran some two or three hundred thousand simulations of the NFL season. The Bills came out as the Super Bowl winner over the Packers. They had Steelers making the postseason as a wild-card and losing to the Browns again. Perhaps the funniest piece was that they had Seattle going 0-9 to start the season. You see kids?? This is why we actually play the games.
Depth Chart
Mike Tomlin hasn’t released an updated depth chart since the very beginning of Training Camp and that’s only because he had to. Now the new version is up and there are a few notable items. First, the tight ends are listed as “First Team Eric Ebron OR Pat Freiermuth.” Take it for what you will but I think we’ll see a lot of both of these guys. Rookie Dan Moore is officially penciled into the left tackle spot and in an unusual move, there is no “slot corner” as there has been in previous years. Frankly that’s a bit concerning. It tells me that they really don’t have one because the only options are Cam Sutton or Arthur Maulet at this point.
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Have a great day Steeler Nation!
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