While the Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the great NFL franchises since the merger, their lack of free agency prowess is holding true in 2015.
In this social media world of instant gratification we heard a ton of player activity over the past few days – prior to free agency officially starting.
On Tuesday when the actual brand spanking new NFL calendar kicked off and teams were officially open for business, the league went bananas, making the past few days look like small potatoes.
Jimmy Graham is now a Seahawk.
Nick Foles and Sam Bradford swapped addresses.
Bryan Bulaga stayed in Green Bay.
Frank Gore is now in Indianapolis, just name a few happenings from the wild day.
For the Pittsburgh Steelers, as they usually do, they remained relatively quiet during the free-agency period.
Feb 20, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert speaks during a press conference during the 2014 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
It’s not that general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin don’t recognize there are significant holes on the depth chart. It’s that the culture within this organization is to always build from within and develop players at a higher level than their competition.
Think about it for a moment. When was the last time the Steelers made a tremendous splash in free agency?
Their franchise model simply doesn’t operate that way. Conservative, smart team building is something the Rooney’s have always preached, and it shows the way they handle their coaching position (three coaches since 1969).
The biggest news surrounding the organization right now is how to gracefully get out of the Troy Polumalu contract and the hottest news recently was the fact that they were actually among the squads sniffing around Darrelle Revis.
Now that Revis is officially heading back to New York, the Steelers are once again left with very little – even if it is by choice.
Jan 3, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver
Antonio Brown(84) smiles from the sidelines during the third quarter against the Baltimore Ravens in the 2014 AFC Wild Card playoff football game at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
So far during 2015 free agency, the Pittsbugh Steelers have a grand total of two free agent signings: re-signings of tight-end Matt Spaeth and linebacker Arthur Moats.
Guys like Ben Tate and Ike Taylor remain dangling.
Actually, much like Polumalu, the news that surrounds this club revolves around everything other than free agency.
Questions such as how will the Steelers handle veteran Ike Taylor, or how will they begin to replace linebacker Jason Worilds – who suddenly announced his retirement at the tender age of 27 – remain the hot button topics for Ben Roethlisberger‘s crew.
With the way free agency just zipped past anybody who didn’t take part on day one, it doesn’t look like any major splashes are coming Pittsburgh’s way.
So, as the rest of the football world looks upon this lack of activity by the Gold and Black, they might smirk a bit and chuckle silently.
Still though, it doesn’t matter. Steelers fans know the drill. They know this is how their beloved Steelers have always operated and they will not change for anything, especially media love.
Why should they based on the past four-plus decades of success?
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