Steelers' Best And Worst Contract
- The five-year, $41.9MM deal – including $8.5MM guaranteed – all-world wide receiver Antonio Brown signed in 2012 is the most team-friendly contract the Steelers have, argues Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap. Brown was behind Mike Wallace on the Steelers’ wideout pecking order at the time, but the former has since combined for a stunning 375 receptions, 5,031 yards and 31 touchdowns going back to 2013. Although Pittsburgh took a risk at the time, it now has the biggest veteran bargain in the league, Fitzgerald opines. Conversely, linebacker Lawrence Timmons‘ contract (five years, $47.8MM, $11MM guaranteed) is the Steelers’ worst. While Fitzgerald doesn’t have a problem with the value, he’s critical of the way the Steelers have handled the pact. The club has restructured it three times in a four-year span, effectively guaranteeing four of its five seasons and leaving Timmons without an incentive to accept an extension and lower his cap number – which is the most among inside linebackers this season by over $5MM.
Corry: Le'Veon Bell Won't Reach $15MM
Le’Veon Bell recently stated (through song, that is) that he’d like $15MM per season on his next contract with the Steelers, but as Joel Corry of CBSSports.com tweets, that’s simply not going to happen. As Corry notes, the top end of the running back market has stagnated, and it’s the middle class of runners that is seeing a pay increase. Adrian Peterson is still on top in terms of running back deals, earning more than $14MM per year; No. 2 is LeSean McCoy, but he’s all the way down at $8.01MM annually. The burgeoning section of running back pacts is in the $5-8MM range, which Bell, if he can stay healthy, will presumably top. But a running back coming off a major injury redefining his positional market? Highly unlikely.
Le'Veon Bell Wants $15MM Per Year
- Interestingly, contract-year Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell revealed in his new rap song, “Focus,” that he wants $15MM per annum on his next deal, relays FOX Sports’ Rob Perez. The 24-year-old superstar is highly unlikely to receive that much, however, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The Steelers will have a chance to quash Bell’s $15MM dream next offseason by giving him the franchise tag, which is worth $11.789MM for running backs this year. Bell could otherwise sign a contract that averages $15MM annually – but only artificially, notes Florio, who points out that the front end of the pact wouldn’t reach that total. For now, Bell is on track to play out 2016 on a sub-$1MM salary.
Starkey: League Wrong To Pursue Harrison Interview
- Although Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette doesn’t necessarily doubt ex-Guyer Institute pharmacist Charlie Sly’s allegations regarding performance-enhancing drugs in the NFL, the writer blasts commissioner Roger Goodell over the league’s desire to interview the Steelers’ James Harrison concerning PEDs. The 38-year-old linebacker was among several players Sly accused of receiving PEDs and-or painkillers from Guyer Institute in a 2015 Al Jazeera documentary. Sly has since recanted his claims, however, and with that in mind, Starkey doesn’t see the credible evidence necessary to pursue an interview with Harrison. The NFL Players Association echoed a similar sentiment in a letter to the league earlier this week, and Harrison took to social media to express the limited terms under which he’d agree to an interview.
Latest On NFL’s PED Investigation
THURSDAY, 6:52pm: The NFL fired back at the NFLPA on Thursday, noting that sufficient grounds for an investigation are indeed present and the union’s stance is “fundamentally at odds with the CBA,” NFL senior vice president of labor affairs Adolpho Birch said in a letter to the union obtained by USA Today.
“While we readily agree that such evidence is required to support the imposition of discipline, nothing in the CBA or the policy imposes such a requirement before possible violations of the policy may be investigated,” Birch wrote. “Obviously, the standard that you advocate — that the league cannot undertake an investigation unless and until it has established the facts and claims to be investigated — would simply ensure that there would be no investigations at all.”
Birch’s letter also mentioned the active players summoned in this investigation have an obligation to comply or face possible league-imposed discipline. The letter did not contain anything pertaining to Manning, who is retired and not currently represented by the NFLPA.
WEDNESDAY, 10:48am: Tuesday, the NFLPA sent the NFL formal letters on behalf of four players named in Al Jazeera’s December documentary. In the letter, the union demanded that the league produce “sufficient credible evidence” before prying into the business of James Harrison, Clay Matthews, Mike Neal, and Julius Peppers.
[RELATED: NFL Plans To Interview Peyton Manning]
“Especially in a business where the mere mention of a player-employee’s name can generate ratings for a broadcaster, the NFLPA and Mr. Harrison do not believe that unsupported, unsubstantiated verbal remarks provide ‘sufficient credible evidence’ to initiate an investigation of, and require an interview with, an employee,” the union wrote in a letter defending Harrison (Twitter link via Albert Breer of The MMQB).
Without “sufficient credible evidence,” the NFL is not permitted to punish players for suspected use of performance enhancing substances, per the terms of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. The NFLPA’s letter cites this section of the CBA and argues that the since-recanted recordings Charles Sly do not meet the qualifications:
“Sufficient credible evidence includes but is not limited to: criminal convictions or plea arrangements; admissions, declarations, affidavits, authenticated witness statements, corroborated law enforcement reports or testimony in legal proceedings; authenticated banking, telephone, medical or pharmacy records; or credible information obtained from Players who provide assistance pursuant to Section 10 of the Policy.”
In addition to Harrison, Matthews, Neal, and Peppers, the NFLPA was inclined to tell Peyton Manning not to participate in the league’s investigation, because it feels the NFL lacks jurisdiction in that area, Breer tweets. Still, Manning may participate anyway, because of the possibility that he may wish to become a front office executive (Twitter link). Because he is retired, he is being handled separately and he cannot truly be forced to act one way or another by either the league office or the union.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Zeise: Steelers Should Extend Brown Over Bell
- 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.
James Harrison Lashes Out At NFL
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.
Steelers Sign Brandon Johnson
- 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 Working At ILB, Faces Long Odds
- 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.
NFL To Interview Players Named In PED Doc
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.