WR Cotchery Hopes to Get a Multi-Year Deal

Steelers wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March, but he’d like to be back with the Steelers on a multi-year contract, Jenny Vrentas of The Star-Ledger reports.

“In exit meetings, it was pretty much stated that they were very pleased with me, who I was on the field and off the field,” Cotchery said Tuesday at TEST Sports Clubs in Martinsville, New Jersey. “I’m everything that they thought I would be, so from their standpoint, they definitely would want me back. And I expressed the same desire, so we’ll see what happens.”

A fourth-round pick out of North Carolina State in 2004 by the New York Jets, Cotchery caught 358 passes for 4,514 yards and 18 touchdowns during his first seven seasons in the NFL. The Jets granted his request for a release on August 4 and the 29-year-old visited the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, signing with the the Steelers on August 11.

In 13 games for the Steelers, Cotchery caught 16 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns, a sharp decline after averaging 66 receptions, 840 yards and nearly four touchdowns over the previous five seasons. Cotchery caught one pass in the Steelers’ 29-23 overtime loss to the Broncos in the playoffs, a 31-yard touchdown that forced the overtime period.

The Steelers have Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown as the starters, and are high on Emmanuel Sanders as the No. 3 receiver. Veteran Hines Ward has expressed his desire to remain with the Steelers and is willing to restructure his contract to remain with the team. With little value on special teams, a multi-year offer from the Steelers may not happen.