There’s been plenty of talk about a couple high profile free agents for the Steelers, one of which is NT Casey Hampton. The big guy says he doesn’t want to be franchised, but the team wants to keep him according to the Tribune-Review, which means he could see a tag coming:
Art Rooney II made it clear that the line for the Steelers re-signing their own free agents forms behind nose tackle Casey Hampton as Rooney II and Tomlin said the Steelers want the Pro Bowler back. The Steelers can prevent Hampton from hitting the open market by using a franchise tag on him. If they tag Hampton, the Steelers would have to offer him a one-year deal with a salary that is the average of what the five highest-paid defensive linemen made in 2009. “That will be part of our offseason plan, figuring out the best way to do that and how to handle Casey,” Rooney II said. “We’ll get into others and make some decisions about what we can do contract-wise with various other players.”
Hampton’s shoes would be awfully hard to fill, as the team has Ziggy Hood, but there’s no way he can play the nose as well as Hampton, and he might never even end up as a NT in the Pro game. For now, the Steelers should plan on biting the bullet and come to the conclusion that they are going to have to play him quite a bit of cash – when they franchise him.
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thomas crowley
January 16, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Well i bet your all happy right now and i’ll take my lumps. But i’m not dissapointed i’m proud of this team it was anothe succesful season as far i see it. Now your going to say we choke because we didn’t win super bowl but hey its hard to get to the big game, i’m proud to be a fan of this team the ravens will always be my team. We have a bright future i believe were building something special in baltimore nothing u can say will change that.
thomas crowley
January 16, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Can change the way i feel about my team.
Go ravens maybe 2010 will be our year.
Mike
January 16, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Ravens = Overrated
Flacco = wasted draft pick
John Harbaugh = Whiney bitch
Thomas Crowley = Low life peice of shit that can go fuck himself. Your mom should have swallowed Crowley.
thomas crowley
January 16, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Wow mike wow u i bet u been waiting to get that of your chest. Your wrong about flacco he got his team 2 the playoffs in his first 2 years and he still developinng. Same is true about john harbaugh. And mike u seem angry all the time perhaps u were touch in the wrong places when u were a kid thats it isn’t it. There is no need for all the anger there is self help groups for people like u join one hahahaha.
Mike
January 16, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Just fun to get under your skin you miserable sack of shit. At the end of the day, the steelers have 6 lombardi trophies and the ravens don’t. Anytime a team in the afc north shits the bed on national tv and are exposed as the frauds they are, its a beautiful thing. see you next fall asshole but then i hope you don’t make it to next fall. Fuck off.
thomas crowley
January 17, 2010 at 12:01 am
Lol mike looks whos talking it seems i got under your skin with that last comment i made hahahahahahahaha. Like i said the ravens have a bright future. Mike its ok i understand join a self help group now.
Joe D
January 17, 2010 at 12:40 am
OK I need to get something off my chest. First, I am a Steeler fan, second, I HATE Steeler fans. Why are you blowhards so fucking rotten to people who like other teams? You bunch of losers who back the winningest team in football give the team a bad reputation league wide as far as their ignorant fans go. As for the Ravens, Thomas, you mention Santonio Holmes as being HIGH or something to that effect. Let me tell you something about Ray Lewis, he murdered someone over the super bowl weekend in 2001, he was found not guilty , but , HAHAHA, So was OJ! Live with that! Steeler fans, you really need to calm down, think of it this way, your shit does stink, and this year so did our Steelers.
thomas crowley
January 17, 2010 at 12:56 am
Ahh joe ray didn’t murder anybody that was already proven so just don’t try.
Joe D
January 17, 2010 at 3:03 am
Thomas, as I said OJ was found not guilty too dude. He’s a murderer, you can see it in his mannerisms.
thomas crowley
January 17, 2010 at 6:22 pm
What really they charge ray with murder but drop it do to a lack of edivence, like i said don’t try joe d.
DrGeorge
January 19, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Let’s not let Mr. Crowley’s bad manners get us so far off point.
The question of how best to retain Hampton has enormous repercussions for our franchise. He is not a talent easily replaced in this year’s draft, but he is aging, less effective than formerly, and expensive. If it were my $6 million, I’d let Hampton go, start Hoke, and adapt the defense to compensate. We could even use a DE at NG, as we did one season with Van Olhoefen (spelling?) a few years ago. The Steelers have allowed themselves to get into a no-win situation and getting out will not be easy. But the future in the NFL always belongs to the young, not aging veterans. If Hampton won’t stay for fair money, I’d let him go. $6 million for one year is too much.