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Left tackle. Free agency and the draft.

C

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Beachum gave up 4 sacks in 6 starts. He was also flagged a bit too much and got hurt.

Villanueva gave up 7.5 sacks in 10 starts.

While I liked what I saw from Villanueva as a run blocker, he was vulnerable to the speed rush. You could say he was essentially a rookie with little NFL game day experience and will get better. I'll buy into some of that because he's a high character player, but at this point in time would not anoint him as the future.

Beachum is a free agent and will get an offer of 6 million or more a year. A better pass protector, Beachum is a bit weak as a run blocker.

What the Steelers decide will be interesting.

I think letting Beachum go, and picking up say a 4th round compensatory pick in 2017 and picking a tackle in rounds 3 or 4 in 2016 would be the safest thing to do. I think Jason Spriggs is having a good senior bowl week. I'd take him in round three, but think his star is on the rise and won't be there after round two ends.
 
Villanueva is our book-end for the future. As you said, he essentially had a rookie season. 7.5 sacks on a QB who moves around isn't a bad thing, overall. He only had 4 penalties (two of which were declined), as well. Beachum may not be going anywhere, and may even be kicked inside if we do not re-sign Foster. Coming off an ACL tear, being on the small side for a LT, he's unlikely to command top dollar. I could swear we've been through this topic at least 12 times already.
 
I guess a big part of this will be how much they think they can coach Villanueva during the offseason. He has the size and he's still under a very low contract, if they can get him up to speed and he should improve quite a bit, having a left tackle playing for that small of a cap hit will help us spend money in other areas.
All ACL's are different, will Beachum be 100% ready to go by training camp?
 
I think beachum is going to get / want to much. I always thought he was over-rated, but he is very valuable for depth. He is an excellent backup, but will want starting money. I am not sure about Vil. He did as well as could be expected and seems like he can improve. Not sure he is ready to be the guaranteed starter though.
 
Could it come down to who we want to pay, Foster or Beachum? LT's command more money, but with his knee injury teams may not want to give him big money. We did attempt to extend him last offseason and he turned that down, so obviously we wanted him here.
 
I'd go Foster over Beachum. Like Coryes said we made him an offer, but it was an offer he refused so he obviously thought he was worth more on the market than we were offering. I'd throw a smaller 1 year prove it deal to him coming off injury, but no way do I overpay for Beachum.

I'd consider moving Pouncey to LG and allow him to make the OL calls as Foster did. Vil/Pouncey/Wallace/DeCastro/Gilbert and draft an OL along with a FA for some depth. This is of course assuming both Beachum and Foster move on. Just spit balling here trying to find a way to get Pouncey through a season.
 
I think Beachum should kick his agent in the *** for not accepting the Steelers offer. Right now I let him test FA and then see if he comes down in his price demands after a few weeks.
 
jitter77 said:
I think beachum is going to get / want to much. I always thought he was over-rated, but he is very valuable for depth. He is an excellent backup, but will want starting money. I am not sure about Vil. He did as well as could be expected and seems like he can improve. Not sure he is ready to be the guaranteed starter though.
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He was the "guaranteed" starter for most of the year and performed well under the circumstances.
 
Fiji Mariner said:
I'd go Foster over Beachum. Like Coryes said we made him an offer, but it was an offer he refused so he obviously thought he was worth more on the market than we were offering. I'd throw a smaller 1 year prove it deal to him coming off injury, but no way do I overpay for Beachum.

I'd consider moving Pouncey to LG and allow him to make the OL calls as Foster did. Vil/Pouncey/Wallace/DeCastro/Gilbert and draft an OL along with a FA for some depth. This is of course assuming both Beachum and Foster move on. Just spit balling here trying to find a way to get Pouncey through a season.
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Foster as the 2nd guard ( easy spot to replace ) is much cheaper than a starting LT in his prime.

I think we lose both guys as Decastro needs a new deal and Gay I think is a must keep in free agency.
 
Gay is good, but not a must keep. Part of the reason Gay looked so good is the weak link opposite him getting repeatedly targeted. Gay should come back at a reasonable price as he has seen that the grass is greener on this side of the hill.

3m a year would be reasonable on a 2-3 year deal.

DeCastro extension should definitely be a priority over Beachum or Foster.
 
Coach said:
Beachum gave up 4 sacks in 6 starts. He was also flagged a bit too much and got hurt.

Villanueva gave up 7.5 sacks in 10 starts.

While I liked what I saw from Villanueva as a run blocker, he was vulnerable to the speed rush. You could say he was essentially a rookie with little NFL game day experience and will get better. I'll buy into some of that because he's a high character player, but at this point in time would not anoint him as the future.

Beachum is a free agent and will get an offer of 6 million or more a year. A better pass protector, Beachum is a bit weak as a run blocker.

What the Steelers decide will be interesting.

I think letting Beachum go, and picking up say a 4th round compensatory pick in 2017 and picking a tackle in rounds 3 or 4 in 2016 would be the safest thing to do. I think Jason Spriggs is having a good senior bowl week. I'd take him in round three, but think his star is on the rise and won't be there after round two ends.
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Here is my guess: They offer Beachum a "decent" deal, maybe better than any other team (unless some team over-reaches, which can happen).

Steelers like being "loyal" to a degree. I think they sign Beach and keep Villa considering depth. Don't forget, Foster is also a FA. I say sign Beach, start him at LG, knowing if any OT goes down, we can slide Beach to OT and plug in some other guy at RG. It makes the most sense to me.
 
Fiji Mariner said:
Gay is good, but not a must keep. Part of the reason Gay looked so good is the weak link opposite him getting repeatedly targeted. Gay should come back at a reasonable price as he has seen that the grass is greener on this side of the hill.

3m a year would be reasonable on a 2-3 year deal.

DeCastro extension should definitely be a priority over Beachum or Foster.
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Gay might be our 5th to 7th best corner since the AFL - NFL merger. He offers solid coverage and creates his share of turnovers. I seldom see him badly beaten. He's rock solid back there, smart, and very durable. This season he did not give up a touchdown. However in his past three seasons here, he has scored FIVE touchdowns. Rather impressive!

I highly doubt as a free agent he will be retained for 3 million a year. I'd guess 5 million a year is the floor and as high as 9+ million the ceiling. Without Gay the D really downgraded.
 
Coach said:
Gay might be our 5th to 7th best corner since the AFL - NFL merger. He offers solid coverage and creates his share of turnovers. I seldom see him badly beaten. He's rock solid back there, smart, and very durable. This season he did not give up a touchdown. However in his past three seasons here, he has scored FIVE touchdowns. Rather impressive!

I highly doubt as a free agent he will be retained for 3 million a year. I'd guess 5 million a year is the floor and as high as 9+ million the ceiling. Without Gay the D really downgraded.
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9 millions? Gay relies on his intelligence and savvy but he is not very athletic, I doubt he sees more than 5 millions per year, on a 3 year contract
 
I think Beachum will be offered a one year prove yourself kind of deal by the Steelers which he will reject if any team out there has a lot of cap room to expend. LT is a prime position and there´s not a lot of FAs available every year. Mike Adams should be gone so if it's either Beach or any other vet I don't care but we need to bring a guy to compete with Villa
 
I would like to see Gay signed and moved to FS with Mitchell moving to SS.
 
Beachum is a guy you love to root for and want on your team. I don't think he was good as some had him rated, particularly in pass protection, but he is a good player. I just don't see them paying him after Villanueva showed he has the potential to develop into at least an average to above average LT a very low cost.
 
21STEELERS21 said:
I would like to see Gay signed and moved to FS with Mitchell moving to SS.
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we could move Ben to fullback Heath to QB Antonio to punter and Bell to waterboy

whohooooooooooooo oh yeahhhhhhhhhh

got damn it be dumb on yinz own time
























hi
 
Beachum is going to get paid, no doubt in my mind about that. Lane Johnson just got big money and he hasn't proven anything in this league. The only way I see him signing to stay is if the market isn't what he expected because of the injury and he signs a one year deal to prove his worth.
 
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Wonder how much NE would have paid for Beachum and Foster last weekend? And when you use sacks as a measure remember who was throwing it for almost half the games and how much Ben was throwing it in some others.
 
See what the market is for Beachum. I'd like to retain him, but I wouldn't want to get into any kind of bidding war. I think I'd go up to about a 8 million AAV. DeCastro will be looking at roughly 9million a season which will make him one of the highest paid guards in the league. DeCastro also needs to be addressed early in the offseason because he holds a cap charge of 8 million and an extension could easily open up 3-4 million dollars.
 
I'm not as sold on Villanueva as the rest of you... if he was an average guy and didn't have the story he has, he would be getting roasted here. Lets call a spade a spade, he is at best a try-hard backup right now... much like Wallace... Beachum is much better. I think with a year of tape we will see more breakdowns like we did later in the year if we go into next season with him as the starter... yes he is very raw at the position, but that does not mean he will certainly get better either... I think shoring up LT is a must in case the guy doesn't improve and takes a step back... its too important a position to leave it up to a guy who's claim to fame is a really nice backstory with good size, but a rather mediocre statistical season. If anything his tendency to allow speed rushers to get behind him helped in the run game , as the Steelers used that to their advantage often when rushing over LT... a scheme I am not sure will hold up next year...

I like the guys potential... I really don't like his play right now, and I don't want Ben hurt on a stupid sack he gives up because we went cheap and inexperienced at one of the Key offensive positions...
 
I would have no problem with Big V as the starting LT. For a guy with limited time he played very well and will only get better the more he plays.
 
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