- If the Steelers are deciding on whether to give a long-term deal to rusher Le’Veon Bell or receiver Antonio Brown, they should choose the latter in a runaway, opines Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Brown is four years older than Bell, but Zeise points to running backs’ short shelf lives and the position’s fungibility as reasons to favor the wideout. It helps Zeise’s argument that, despite Bell’s 10-game absence, the Steelers had the eighth-best yards-per-carry average in the league last season, when DeAngelo Williams amassed 907 yards and 11 touchdowns on 200 carries in his age-32 campaign. Brown, meanwhile, tied for the league lead in receptions (136), finished second in yards (1,834) and found the end zone 10 times. He still has two years left on his deal, whereas Bell is entering a contract year.
The NFL has made plans to interview all of the players (yes, Peyton Manning included) implicated in last year’s Al Jazeera America documentary, but not all of them are thrilled about it. Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who has clashed with commissioner Roger Goodell in the past, laid out his conditions for an interview on Instagram this week (sic):
- Mike Wallace, who joined the Ravens on a free agent deal this offseason, believes that he has actually improved since his days with the Steelers. “I think I’ve gotten better, even though (the) numbers don’t say so,” the 29-year-old Wallace said of his career since leaving the Steelers in 2013, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. “I think I’ll get better this year, and I’ll show some people I have a lot up my sleeve.” In March, the Ravens inked Wallace to a two-year, $11.5MM deal with a $4.5MM signing bonus. He also due a $1MM roster bonus on the fifth day of the 2017 league year. His option for year two must be exercised or declined by the end of the 2016 league year.
- The Steelers signed running back Brandon Johnson to fill the roster spot vacated when kicker Shaun Suisham was released, the club announced. Johnson, who walked on at Penn State, is now taking a similar route to the NFL, were he’ll sign as a undrafted free agent after trying out at Pittsburgh’s minicamp last month. He managed only four carries during his senior season, and mainly served as a special teams player.
- Jordan Zumwalt, the Steelers‘ sixth-round pick in 2014, spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons on injured reserve with a hip injury, and the hip surgery that ended his 2015 campaign before it started took over five hours to complete and included a brutal recovery/rehabilitation period. Now hopefully healthy, Zumwalt has been working exclusively at inside linebacker in offseason workouts, as Ray Fittipaldo of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, and he still has a chance to make the club in that role as the Steelers seek to replace Sean Spence and Terence Garvin. The odds, however, remain stacked against him.
2:41pm: The players in question are and have been willing to submit to interviews, but things have been delayed due to the bureaucratic differences between the two sides on the scope of the interviews and other factors relevant to the process, a source tells Mike Florio of PFT. The NFLPA is concerned about the precedent that these interviews could set, given the credibility issues that have been raised about the documentary. Going forward, the union is concerned that something as arbitrary as accusations of drug use via social media could lead to league examination, which is the type of thing the NFLPA does not want to invite.
12:09pm: The NFL has informed the NFLPA that league officials will show up on the first day of training camp to interview three players named in the Al-Jazeera America documentary linking them to performance enhancing drugs, according to USA Today’s Tom Pelissero. 
[RELATED: NFL, NFLPA Clashing Over PED Investigation]
Packers linebackers Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews and Steelers linebacker James Harrison are all scheduled for interviews the day camps open. For Peppers and Matthews, that means interviews on July 26th. The Steelers, meanwhile, open camp on July 29th. Former Packers linebacker Mike Neal is currently without a team, but he’ll be interviewed on or before July 22nd, per the letter.
Conspicuously absent from the notice, however, is any mention of former Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. However, a source tells Pelissero that the investigation into Manning’s involvement is ongoing.
Since Manning is no longer an active player, he cannot be forced to speak to the league about the accusations though, by the same token, he is free to discuss anything he wants with the league without being hindered by the NFLPA. However, Manning is reportedly hoping to hold a front office position at some point, and that could motivate him to discuss things with the NFL.
Neal, meanwhile, still wants to play football and he believes that the documentary has “heavily, heavily, heavily, heavily, heavily” influenced his extended free agency.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
10:06am: It sounds as though Suisham is retiring following his release today. In a statement to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Twitter link), Suisham reflected on his career and discussed life after football:
“Unfortunately, the injury I sustained in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game last preseason was catastrophic and has proven to be critical to continuing my career. My journey in the NFL has come to a crossroads. I was raised in Wallaceburg, Ontario, as a hockey player and have been on an improbable 16-year journey as a kicker, competing at the highest level. The absolute nature of my position has given me the opportunity to test my resolve, and I have grown both professionally and as a man. Undoubtedly, I will miss the challenge of game day and the preparation that is required. Change is hard, but I’m comfortable with where I am in life as a husband and father.”
9:20am: The Steelers announced that they have released kicker Shaun Suisham with a failed physical designation. According to the team’s announcement, Suisham suffered a setback in his recovery from an ACL tear.
“Unfortunately Shaun incurred a setback in his recovery from knee surgery that won’t allow him to compete in a timely manner,” Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert said in a statement. “Shaun has played a significant role in our success during his time in Pittsburgh. He has been the consummate professional on the field and in our community. We wish he and his family all the best in the future.”
Suisham recently admitted that he wasn’t sure if he would be ready for training camp at the end of July.
“Any sort of a battle is not an issue with me right now because I am not healthy,” Suisham said. “I will continue to work to get there, but I don’t know when that will be. I don’t have a time frame. Hopefully, it is for training camp.”
Suisham signed a four-year, $12.5MM extension in 2014, making him one of the top 10 highest-paid kickers in the NFL. Now, by releasing him, the Steelers will save $2.4MM against the cap. Chris Boswell, who appears to have won the kicker battle that never really got underway, makes the NFL minimum $525K.
Suisham spent the 2015 season on IR and Boswell sank 29 of 32 field goal tries while he was sidelined. Even though Boswell did enough in the eyes of many to win the kicking job for 2016, the Steelers still wanted to give Suisham every opportunity to try and claim the role for the coming year. Unfortunately, the 34-year-old was not able to heal up in time.
Over the course of his ten-year career (excluding his lost 2015 campaign), Suisham has suited up for the Cowboys, Redskins, and Steelers. In his last five years with Pittsburgh, Suisham has nailed 84.1% of his field goal attempts and 99.3% of his extra point tries.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians told Andrea Kremer of HBO that he felt “betrayed” when the Steelers let him go after the 2011 season, ending his five-year stint as their offensive coordinator (via Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic). “I had admired Mike Tomlin so much. And I really thought he was a coach who really cared about his people. And for him to do this, well, I felt very disillusioned,” said Arians, who accused Tomlin of reneging on a promise to renew his contract. Arians believes the perception that he was too close with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger – with whom he won a Super Bowl – contributed to his demise in Pittsburgh. The 63-year-old also told Kremer he was “legitimately retired” after his tenure with the Steelers concluded, but Colts head coach Chuck Pagano then hired him as Indianapolis’ O-coordinator. Arians ended up as Indy’s head coach for 12 games, leading the team to a 9-3 record as Pagano battled leukemia. That success paved the way for Arians to land in Arizona, where he has helped the Cardinals to a sterling 34-17 regular-season mark and three straight playoff appearances.
- The Steelers and star running back Le’Veon Bell aren’t discussing a new deal “right now,” he told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, because the 24-year-old isn’t willing to delve into extension talks until his surgically repaired knee is 100 percent. Bell – who’s entering a contract year – missed seven games last season because of a torn MCL and PCL, though he now feels “great.”
- Maurkice Pouncey didn’t play a single snap for the Steelers after breaking his fibula during the club’s third preseason game, but the injury was much more severe than many originally thought. Pouncey underwent six surgical procedures and a skin graft during the course of the 2015 campaign, the veteran center tells Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, explaining how he went from injured reserve/designated to return to missing the entire season. “It was scary,” Pouncey said. “I don’t want that on my worst enemy.” Pouncey is expected to be fully ready for the season, though Fowler notes that the Pittsburgh staff is pressuring him to take days off out of an abundance of caution.
- Steelers linebacker James Harrison is 38, but he hopes to play for another two years, as ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler writes. “If you ask me that now, yeah [I can]. But that’s something I’ll deal with. I don’t know if I want to go that far, even though it’s only a couple of years away,” he said. Harrison also discussed his role with the team in 2016 and indicated that he is willing to do whatever is asked of him. The five-time Pro Bowler will surely play a smaller role this year than he did in his heyday.