Replace AB? Steelers want JuJu Smith-Schuster to continue on own career arc

By Jeremy Fowler
http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/
April 3, 2019

PITTSBURGH -- Asking how wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster will evolve in Year 3 is straightforward enough for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

But the final three words of that question -- "with AB gone" -- affected the answer.

"I don’t base that on whether [Antonio Brown] is here or not," Tomlin said last week from the NFL owners meetings. "I just want to see him grow and mature as a player, as a person. He’s done a good job of that between Year 1 and Year 2."

Smith-Schuster is his own man now, and that's exactly how the Steelers want it.

What has become clear is the Steelers don't want Smith-Schuster focused on replacing Antonio Brown, who was traded to the Oakland Raiders, but rather on maximizing his own enormous potential independent of his NFL receiver peers. A good start is reaffirming his alignment with his quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, in a supportive social media post.

Despite a team MVP award and a team-leading 111 catches for 1,426 yards last season, Smith-Schuster won't get the Steelers' No. 1 receiver label, at least not on paper. That's because the Steelers' offense is mostly an equal-opportunity attack. Brown might have garnered 680 targets over the previous four seasons, but he also got open more than everybody else. And the open man wins.

"We don’t live in that two-to-one world. Those are things that you guys describe," Tomlin said of the Steelers not having a designated first or second option. "I don’t know that when Ben is dropping back to find someone open he has that mentality. He’s just looking for someone who’s open within the confines of a concept. So I know what you mean in terms of the attention that he might get from opposing teams, but it’s our job to balance those things out, and I’m sure he’s excited about meeting the challenge and the responsibility that comes with the attention."

Roethlisberger has no problem spreading the ball around. Five Steelers got at least 63 targets in 2017, while four players got at least 71 targets last season. The running back, tight end and top two receivers will have chances to put up substantial numbers in the Steelers' offense.

But the Steelers will look to Smith-Schuster as a third-down-buster to enhance his historic early-career arc. Smith-Schuster joins Isaac Bruce and Larry Fitzgerald as the only NFL receivers with 100 catches and 1,400 yards in their second seasons.

Tomlin saw a better-conditioned, more consistent player who was "ready for the fight" in Year 2.

Year 3 is all about All-Pro growth.

"He went into the offseason healthy, so that’s a good thing," Tomlin said. "And I think that’s a recipe for him continuing to move along that path. I think we have that same desire for all our guys. We talk continually and openly about the growth and development of guys from Year 1 to Year 2. JuJu made a significant step. James Conner made a significant step. T.J. Watt made a significant step.

"It’s reasonable to additionally talk about those guys becoming perennial all-star contributors. I think that’s a realistic discussion. I know that those are some of the ways that we intend to challenge those guys."

As the (unofficial) No. 1, Smith-Schuster will get every chance to meet those challenges.

Steelers look to regenerate winning culture after lost season

By Jeremy Fowler
http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers
April 2, 2019


Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin

PITTSBURGH -- One NFL coordinator recently left an organization-wide meeting in March and couldn't believe how many times he heard the word "culture" over the course of an hour.

The team made clear it valued it above all else.

"Everybody is searching for it," the coordinator said. "It's the buzzword league-wide now."

Add it to the league's buzzword bin, alongside chemistry and intangibles and unselfishness.

In the simplest form, NFL culture breeds success when everyone in the building has "trust and belief in each other," Colts coach Frank Reich says. Good teams pair that belief with top-shelf talent. Bad teams don't follow the recipe.

No culture has been more dissected than that of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is curious against the backdrop of the franchise's historic success and stability: six Super Bowls, three head coaches since 1969, no losing seasons since 2003. Mike Tomlin's .654 win percentage is second to that of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick since 2007.

Fair or not, the issues over the past six months have influenced perception about what's going on in Pittsburgh's locker room. Le'Veon Bell's yearlong holdout raised questions about the team's approach to negotiations with star players. Analysts and fans are accusing Tomlin of leniency with stars in light of Antonio Brown skipping work in Week 17 and requesting a trade. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is taking heat from former teammates for his leadership tactics.

Missing the playoffs for the first time since 2013 only magnified these issues. In a telling sign of a perceived decline, the Steelers ranked 16th in the ESPN NFL post-free-agency power rankings. The franchise had been a fixture inside the top 10 for years.

This year’s Steelers will show whether a battle-tested coach who’s unapologetic about his style -- treat everyone fairly but not equally -- can churn another winner despite the recent talent drain.

Tomlin said his entire team, coaches included, need to "look in the mirror" after what went wrong. In that process, Tomlin has the chance to reshape parts of his culture while clinging to what has helped him average 10 wins per season.

Tomlin is thoughtful but doesn't overthink the buzzwords.

"I think we’re going to develop (an identity) for 2019 and I don’t want to assume anything as we sit here," Tomlin said last week from the NFL owners meetings. "We’re in the process of acquiring talent via free agency and the draft and blending and developing that talent. And whatever our roles were in 2018, I don’t want to assume anything as it relates to 2019. I’m looking forward to growth and development of some men, and maybe developing in a leadership type of way that maybe wasn’t revealed in 2018 in some instances. So, we’ll write that story."

Tomlin will always fight the "players' coach" label that deems him too friendly with his own locker room. Tomlin works to embolden players, which is considered a strength when a team wins and a weakness when everyone is home in January.

Most former players swear by Tomlin for one of his biggest coaching strengths: He's honest with them about their performance, but not in a threatening way. He motivates without sugarcoating.

That approach is clear in his response to a question about what makes for good locker room culture.

“Let your pet peeves be known," Tomlin said. "Set some boundaries. Provide a structure in which people can be their best, and then ultimately win football games.”

Not many understand the Pittsburgh culture better than Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy, who remembers even Chuck Noll taking heat despite winning four Super Bowls.

Dungy remembers fans and media labeling him too soft on players in Indianapolis -- until he won a Super Bowl.

"There’s a lot that’s said when you’re coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers," said Dungy, who knows Tomlin well. "That goes with the territory. People are so passionate about it. No. 1, Mike's makeup and who he is, he’s not going to vary in what he believes. He’s going to do things that are best for the team. And No. 2, the organization, you get support from the top. They talk things out together. There won’t be coach's side, management side, player side. It’s a collective."

The Steelers generally view players as important but not indispensable. Bell and Brown might be gone, but Tomlin saw young stars such as JuJu Smith-Schuster,James Conner and T.J. Watt ascend during his 12th season. He'll try to develop more stars with the Steelers' 10 draft picks in 2019.

None of that will matter much without wins.

The way Reich sees it, culture makes that happen.

"It really comes down to the mindset and the character of the team and the belief and conviction of what we’re doing, and the trust in each other," Reich said. "You can watch any sport, any time, the championship teams have that. ... The trust, the love for each other is at the center of it. And it’s all about the players. You need the provision, but it doesn’t work without everybody in. You’ve got to have the leaders in the locker room who really believe."

Bush-league journalists descend on Steelers

By Mark Madden

https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden-bush-league-journalists-descend-on-steelers/

March 23, 2019

Antonio Brown on ESPN

The Steelers and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger took a PR hit when Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell checked out. Roethlisberger was eviscerated. GM Kevin Colbert was villainized. The piling on continues.

But, in the process, damage also got done to the concept of journalism. (Journalism has taken a beating for quite a while now.)

In Robert Klemko’s story at SI.com, ex-Steelers back Josh Harris accused Ben Roethlisberger of intentionally fumbling in 2014. That’s an incredibly serious allegation. Klemko readily gave Harris a platform to make it, but didn’t talk to anybody else in that huddle. That’s Journalism 101. But Klemko ignored it. Why?

Because it didn’t fit the narrative, that’s why.

Klemko’s intent was to write a hit piece on Roethlisberger. He only sought information that was a means to that end.

Klemko didn’t talk to center Maurkice Pouncey, who later debunked Harris’ fantastic accusation on Instagram.

Nor did Klemko speak with quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, who was on the headsets that day. Gradkowski used Instagram to post video of the play in question and did a blow-by-blow account describing why things went (accidentally) wrong.

The story was absolute bush-league nonsense. But it fulfilled Klemko’s intent.

Perhaps even more embarrassing was Le’Veon Bell’s interview with SI.com’s Jenny Vrentas. (What happened to the once-proud Sports Illustrated franchise?)

Bell told Vrentas that Roethlisberger didn’t get him the ball enough. Roethlisberger’s “personal preferences played a role,” Bell said.

When Bell says that, Vrentas has to push back for the sake of her own credibility. In Bell’s last season with the Steelers, he led the league in touches. So how did Roethlisberger’s “personal preferences” hold back Bell? Anyway, didn’t Bell sit out 2018, in part, to protect his body from too many touches?

But Vrentas didn’t push back. She just blithely let Bell continue his infomercial. Vrentas could not possibly have done a worse job.

Le'Veon Bell (Sports Illustrated)

That’s all that interview was: an infomercial for Bell. Just like Antonio Brown’s appearances on ESPN and HBO were infomercials for him.

Outlets like Sports Illustrated and ESPN are so eager to get interviews with big names like Bell and Brown that the subjects are put at zero risk. It’s all kid gloves. It’s negotiated by the agents and the athletes get the questions in advance.

Would Brown have sat down with ESPN if the interviewer had been Jeremy Schaap, known for his probing insight? Schaap did battle with Bobby Knight and won. Schaap wouldn’t sit there and lob softballs.

But Jeff Darlington would and did. Darlington nodded like a stooge when Brown absurdly said, “I don’t take any blame. I think I took responsibility for my situation. I didn’t point the finger. I didn’t make no one look bad.”

Brown takes responsibility for nothing. He won’t even pay for his daughter’s haircut. How do you let tripe like that slide by?

When you’re just glad to be there, that’s how.

Pouncey and Gradkowski, among others, have spoken out against the madness. Fox’s Skip Bayless said that the motivation provided makes Roethlisberger his pick to be NFL MVP. (That’s not far-fetched. Here’s betting Roethlisberger has a huge year.)

But Roethlisberger himself has been quiet.

That’s smart. The only way this ever dies down is if somebody shuts up.

It’s called taking the high road. Bell and Brown couldn’t find the high road with a state-of-the-art GPS. The slavering quasi-journalists who enabled the lies and treachery directed against Roethlisberger and the Steelers don’t know the directions, either.

Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM 105.9.

Categories: Sports | Steelers | Mark Madden Columns

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Why the conservative Steelers just threw $46 million at free agency

By Jeremy Fowler
http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/
March 21, 2019

PITTSBURGH -- For a team that traditionally combs through the clearance rack of free agency, even mildly aggressive spending caught the attention of Pittsburgh Steelers fans.

Pittsburgh used the tampering period to offer cornerback Steven Nelson $25.5 million over three years, the richest contract in franchise history for the first week of free agency. Then it doubled-down with a complementary receiver, Donte Moncrief, at $9 million over two years. And after losing linebacker L.J. Fort to free agency, the Steelers thought bigger. Hybrid linebacker/safety Mark Barron has the pedigree of a former top-10 pick and got $12 million over two years from Pittsburgh after the Los Angeles Rams cut him.

To be sure, the Steelers aren't exactly locking into $46 million on these three players. The team doesn't guarantee money beyond the signing bonus, and each deal can be escaped after one year with minimal issues. And multiple teams around the league have doubled the Steelers' spending.

But a combination of draft-day misses, unexpected star-player departures and actual cap space (for once) led the Steelers down this path.

Steven Nelson

Cornering the market

The Steelers' struggles drafting cornerbacks are tough to ignore. They drafted five corners in the first five rounds from 2015-17, including first-round pick Artie Burns, and none of them entered this offseason as a projected starter. Two are no longer with the team.

Spending such draft capital only to see free-agent pickups Joe Haden and Coty Sensabaugh and undrafted slot corner Mike Hilton handle the bulk of the 2018 work is an indictment of the team's evaluations of collegiate defensive back talent.

And apparently the Steelers were fed up. So they targeted free agents Nelson and Bradley Roby, armed with three-year deals. Roby took the Houston Texans'one-year, $10 million pact. Nelson, listed as an above-average corner by Pro Football Focus after four interceptions in 2018, instantly becomes the Steelers' starting outside corner opposite Haden.

Giving an ascending 26-year-old $9 million in Year 1 with hopes of finding a long-term starter is a sensible bet, considering the Steelers' revolving door at the position.

And Nelson wants all the smoke, which always helps. He welcomes the challenge of going up against new Cleveland Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

"Twice a year, all year," Nelson said.

Donte Moncrief

Over the middle

The Steelers began free agency by placing several calls to receivers in the market, including Tyrell Williams, John Brown and Phillip Dorsett.

But Williams got more than $10 million per year from the Oakland Raiders and Brown got close to that from the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers weren't willing to go that far. But they had to do something after Antonio Brown forced his way out of Pittsburgh and into the home of Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.

They needed a player who was capable enough to prevent the franchise from reaching in the draft but not good enough to price them out.

Along came Moncrief, who underwhelmed in one season with Jacksonville but has three touchdowns in his last five games against Pittsburgh and showed off his size and speed with Indianapolis, which drafted him in the third round in 2014. His two-year deal is manageable if things don't work out, or if second-year receiver James Washington supplants him in the starting lineup.

Moncrief isn't expecting to replace Brown, but to simply be himself.

"I'm looking forward to playing with Ben [Roethlisberger]," Moncrief said. "Hall of Fame guy. Chance to play some years with him and catch a lot of balls."

Roethlisberger is always looking for red-zone targets, and Moncrief's size (6-foot-2, 216 pounds) can help in this area.

Mark Barron

'Strong and smart'

The Steelers basically had two needs at the same position. They never truly replaced Ryan Shazier at inside linebacker, and last year's free-agent pickup Morgan Burnett has made it clear that he doesn't want to be a dime linebacker. He asked for his release because he wants to play safety full time.

Now the Steelers hope a two-position player can satisfy both spots. Signing Barron, a 230-pound hybrid, gives the Steelers an every-down option. He can play in the box or in the dime spot on third downs, thus making Burnett's contract expendable.

Barron entered the league as a safety and top-10 overall pick in 2012. The Rams moved him to the inside a few years back when Alec Ogletree went down with an injury.

Though Barron was affordable after taking a pay cut and getting released in back-to-back years, he has street cred after seven years as a full-time starter.

"I feel a lot of coaches and a lot of players have respect for me in this league, and they don’t feel they can just run at me like that," said Barron about life as an undersized inside linebacker. "If a guy is a smaller linebacker, he has to be tough, he has to be physical, he has to be strong. He also has to be smart. ... You've just got to know how to use your body. If you’re a smaller guy and you’ve got a 300-pound lineman coming at you, you probably have to use your leverage or you're going to use your speed. You're probably not going to overpower them."

Barron was eager for the chance to play with a coach like Mike Tomlin, who's known to be blunt and honest with his players. And since the Steelers entered March with nearly $20 million in cap space -- a lot for them -- getting Barron after two bigger signings earlier in the week was possible.

Now it's time for rare money spent to improve three major areas of need.

Steelers reportedly sign former Rams LB Mark Barron to 2-year contract

By Joe Rutter
https://triblive.com/sports/steelers-reportedly-sign-former-rams-lb-mark-barron-to-2-year-contract/
March 17, 2019

The Pittsburgh Steelers continued their trek into free agency Sunday by signing linebacker Mark Barron to a two-year, $12 million contract, according to multiple national reports.

NFL Network reported Barron’s deal includes a $5.75 million signing bonus. ESPN first reported the signing.

Barron joins cornerback Steven Nelson and wide receiver Donte Moncrief as free-agent additions by the Steelers.

Barron, 29, became a free agent when the Los Angeles Rams released him March 5. He completed three years of a five-year, $45 million contract with the Rams, who released him rather than pay a $3 million roster bonus last week.

He is a former first-round draft pick who began his career as a strong safety. By adding Barron, the Steelers likely will cut ties with veteran safety Morgan Burnett, who did not like his role as a hybrid linebacker last year and asked in January to be released. Barron also could replace Jon Bostic at inside linebacker.

After missing the first four games last season with an ankle injury, Barron started 12 games for the Rams and had 60 tackles, one sack and one pass defensed.

Barron was selected with the No. 7 overall pick in 2012 by Tampa Bay. In his third season with the Buccaneers, he was traded to the Rams. He was a full-time starter with the Rams for four seasons until he was released. He had 116 total tackles in ’15 and 118 in ’16.

Burnett struggled in his role last season when he played in 11 games and made just two starts while battling injuries. Burnett lost the starting strong safety job to rookie Terrell Edmunds and had 30 tackles and six passes defensed while mostly playing in subpackages. He has two years remaining on a three-year, $14.3 million deal he signed last March.

The Steelers can save $3.6 million on their salary cap by releasing Burnett. If they release him with a post-June 1 designation, they can save $5.05 million.

If the Steelers decide to release Bostic, they would save $1.8 million against their salary cap. Bostic started 14 games last season and had 73 tackles and 21⁄2 sacks. His playing time dwindled late in the season, and he played just six snaps on defense in the season finale against Cincinnati.

The Steelers still are expected to target an inside linebacker with their first pick, No. 20 overall, in the April draft. LSU’s Devin White and Michigan’s Devin Bush are the two top targets. General manager Kevin Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin scouted Bush on Friday at Michigan’s pro day.

Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe by email atjrutter@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Sports | Steelers

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Steelers to sign Donte Moncrief

By Jacob Klinger | jklinger@pennlive.com

https://www.pennlive.com/steelers/2019/03/steelers-to-sign-donte-moncrief-report.html

March 14, 2019

PITTSBURGH — In Donte Moncrief’s first trip to Pittsburgh as a player, the then-rookie torched an aging Steelers secondary for 113 yards from 7 catches and a touchdown.

In the early minutes of Thursday ESPN reported that the former Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars receiver agreed to join the same franchise against which he experienced the breakout performance of his career. All remnants of that secondary are gone.

The star receiver putting up an even more punishing performance that day, Antonio Brown, is too. Moncrief, 25, will be tasked with replacing Brown about as directly as any one player could be asked to.

Adam Schefter

✔@AdamSchefter

Former Jaguars’ WR Donte Moncrief reached agreement on a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steeelrs, per source.

6,167

12:11 AM - Mar 14, 2019

Moncrief re-entered the free agent market after leaving the Colts for the Jacksonville Jaguars a year ago. The former third-round pick struggled in what would prove to be Blake Bortles’ final year as the Jaguars’ franchise quarterback.

He compiled just 668 yards from 48 catches for 3 touchdowns in 6 games.

Moncrief joins a Steelers receiving corps that returns JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ryan Switzer and 2018 second-round pick James Washington.

Brown accounted for 24.9 percent of Pittsburgh’s targets in 2019, and 22.7 percent of Steelers receptions while compiling 1,297 yards and a league-leading 15 touchdowns.

Donte Moncrief NFL Career Highlights || HD

Report: Steelers sign CB Steven Nelson to 3-year deal

By Bryan Deardo

https://247sports.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/Article/Steven-Nelson-Steelers-three-year-deal-130003480/

March 12, 2019

(Kansas City Star)

Steven Nelson, a cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs since the start of the 2015 season, will sign a three-year, $25.5 million deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers when the new league year officially begins Wednesday at 4 p.m, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport has reported. 

Nelson, 26, joined the Chiefs as a third round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Oregon State. He played in 12 games as a rookie, mostly on special teams, and totaled eight tackles. His role increased in 2016 when he started 15 games and totaled 65 tackles and 16 passes defensed, but he was limited to nine games in 2017 due to a core muscle injury that landed him on injured reserve to start the season. Nelson had the most productive season of his NFL career in 2018, totaling 68 tackles, four interceptions, and 15 passes defensed.

The Chiefs were expected to move on from Nelson, primarily due to his expected price tag. The loss of Nelson leaves the Chiefs shorthanded for the time being at cornerback, with Kendall Fuller, Charvarius Ward, Tremon Smith, and Dontae Johnson being the primary candidates currently under contract for 2019. The Chiefs are likely to be active in adding help to the cornerback position in the draft as well as over the remainder of free agency.

There were several reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers finished 9-6-1 and out of the AFC playoff picture in 2018. One of the issues was an inability to force turnovers, as Pittsburgh finished 28th in the NFL with a minus 11 turnover ratio last season. While Pittsburgh's offensive committed 26 turnovers, their defense forced just 15 turnovers, tied for the third fewest in the NFL last season. By comparison, the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots, the two teams that won their respected conferences last season, were fourth and fifth in the NFL respectively with plus 11 and plus 10 turnover ratios. The two teams also combined to force 58 turnovers during the 2018 regular season. 

Steelers' GM Kevin Colbert acknowledged that his defensive unit has to force more turnovers in 2019 while adding that Pittsburgh will look to add more playmakers to their defense this offseason. 

"Defensively, again there's a little inconsistency," Colbert said during last month's NFL combine. "We led the league or were second in sacks, but our turnover production was near the bottom. Usually when you're getting pressure, you're getting more turnovers. We think that's reflective of the group that we have. That's not to say we don't have guys that are capable of making plays in the secondary, but we didn't have that type of production. So, again, we're looking to maintain the pressure aspect and improve the turnover part of it. Again, another young player who stepped up in his second year was T.J. Watt. He did a nice job. Continues to grow, but we need more young playmakers, especially on the back end. The young kids that we have need to continue to get better and make more plays, and we have to continue to search and look for more playmakers."

For the seventh consecutive year, the Steelers are expected to spend their first round pick -- the 20th overall pick in the draft -- on the defensive side of the ball. One player Pittsburgh will certainly look into selecting is LSU cornerback Greedy Williams, who picked off eight passes during his final two seasons with the Tigers. Overall, Colbert likes the depth at the cornerback and safety positions in this year's draft.

"Defensively, there are significant numbers in the secondary, both at safety and corner, and at the linebacker, both inside and outside," Colbert said. "Interior offensive line, it's never really deep. Interior defensive line, it's usually never deep. There's just not that many players in those positions."

Colbert also said that, considering the fact that the Steelers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2013, Pittsburgh didn't do an adequate enough job replacing Ryan Shazier, who missed the entire 2018 season after undergoing spine stabilization surgery in December of 2017. The Steelers replaced Shazier with L.J. Fort and free agent signee Jon Bostic, who recorded 73 tackles and 2.5 sacks last season. 

"Ryan Shazier was a significant football player, not only from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint," Colbert said. "Ryan Shazier never came off the field. When you get into dime packages, Ryan's still out there making all the calls. Sometimes you have to put a player out there who can understand and make the calls but they may have a physical limitation. Teams are great at finding weaknesses. That's what coaches get paid for, so sometimes people get caught in situations where they might be deficient.

"When Ryan was a rookie, people would run at him because he was a 225-pound guy. But we needed him out there because his coverage and range made up for that one deficiency. So, no, we didn't do enough. We're 9-6-1 and we're not going to hide from that. But we're going to recognize that as we go forward, for sure. We have more than one position that we want to continue to look at and upgrade. There may be players that are available to us that we don't need that are going to uprgrade us, who make us that much better that that deficiency may be overcome."

While the Steelers will look to add playmakers to their defense, Colbert also said that he wants to continue to see more progress from the players currently on the roster. One of those players is fourth year cornerback and former first round pick Artie Burns, who lost his starting job during the 2018 season. 

"Artie's got to find his confidence," Colbert said. "He really does, and that's something we talked to him about and he has to re-find it. Does he have the talent? Have we seen it? Have we seen him be productive? We have. But unfortunately last year he took a step back and we'll find out if he can find it. Is that going to stop us from challenging his position with other players? Absolutely not, because he has to prove he can do it."