Keenan Lewis could be the direction the Chargers will go instead of overpaying for a big name CB.

He is a young CB that will not break the bank.

He was also the best CB on the Steelers' number one rated Pass Defense.

The Steelers defense was Number one against the pass even though Polamalu was injured most of the year.

The Steelers however have too many free agents this year and not enough cap space.
They also have the luxury of Cortez Allen stepping up and starting opposite Ike Taylor.

Let's see if Telesco really is the Pro-Personel expert and signs the best CB from the best NFL pass defense for a reasonable price.

www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/...art-roster-2013

These are all the 2013 Steelers free agents.

Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert talked to members of the Pittsburgh media in the middle of January and below is a summation of what he stated based on the tweets sent out by Ed Bouchette and Bob Labriola.

Colbert reportedly referred to the team being 8-8 in 2012 several times in his talk, meaning of course that it was unacceptable. Colbert said, "If we don't change a roster that produced 8-8, we'd be silly to expect a better result." He also added, "We're not married to anybody."

As far as offseason front office work goes, Colbert indicated that the team was unlikely to use the franchise tag on any of their unrestricted free agents this offseason. That is really not shocking news as nobody expected that they would. They couldn't afford to from a salary cap standpoint anyways.

As far as unrestricted players such as cornerback Keenan Lewis, guard Ramon Foster and tackle Max Starks go, Colbert appeared to give the indication that all would be allowed to test the free agency waters. "We won't know what an individual player will cost until he gets out there," Colbert reportedly said.


If this list is accurate and NT Alameda Ta'amu is also a free agent due to his being placed on the practice squad and then brought back by the Steelers to the active roster at the end of the year, then I would hope Ta'amu would at least be considered by Telesco for a minimum cost 3 year contract and see if he walks the line and turns everything around.

If not than cut him before the end of training camp.


Steelers 2013 Unrestricted Free Agents

WR Mike Wallace
S Will Allen
QB Charlie Batch
WR Plaxico Burress
S Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith
LB Larry Foote
RG Ramon Foster
WR David Gilreath
NT Casey Hampton
CB Justin King
QB Byron Leftwich
OG Doug Legursky
CB Keenan Lewis
LB Marshall McFadden
RB Rashard Mendenhall
FS Ryan Mundy
TE Leonard Pope
LT Max Starks
NT Alameda Ta'amu
LS Greg Warren



Steelers 2013 Restricted Free Agents
RB Jonathan Dwyer
NT Steve McLendon
RB Issac Redman
WR Emmanuel Sanders
LB Stevenson Sylvester
CB Josh Victorian

What you say sounds good SoCal...but I'm having trouble concentrating on the post!

That is an often discussed side effect of hypnotic bouncing Buddhas.

 Been missing your avatar for awhile now. Good post.

Ike Taylor was (and is) still the Steelers' best corner.  And if you had asked Steelers fans about Lewis during the first part of the season, we'd have asked you what you wanted to offer in a trade, he was that bad.

But surprisingly (very much so, based on his early season play), Lewis "magically" began to play quite well in the latter half of the season.  As someone else mentioned, it was likely due to his youth and inexperience, because right now he does indeed look like a potential high level corner.

Time will tell, though.

Yeah, that avatar is my favorite!

The Steelers plan on resigning Lewis. It is one of their top priorities.

However he has only emerged as a lockdown CB for the 2nd half of the year. Therefore they are low balling him and letting him check out free agency before attempting to sign him.

He said he just wants to be payed as a starter.

That's it.

But the Steelers last year would only consider paying him as a back up and even now have not offered Keenan a low to mid range starting NFL CB contract.

They are hoping to pay him like a back up CB as he has only one season of starting experience and really only started to come on strong and lock down number one receivers the last half of the season.

However Keenan is young and seems to have taken his game to another level.

The Steelers have never ending salary cap problems for this year as well as next year. Signing Keenan to the contract he deserves means saying goodbye to G Raymond Foster, T Max Starks and the other 22 free agents on the team as the Steelers are already over the Salary Cap.

The Steelers will make a lot of difficult moves to free up cap space, but they just can't afford to pay him as a starter without losing many other quality players this year as well as next year.

Where he'll end up is likely to be the team with the money to pay him somewhere in the vicinity of $30 million guaranteed over a five year deal.

The Steelers are not interested in a contract anywhere near that large, and have already said so.

21  I really like your ideas.  We should " bounce" them around on this forum.  I think Telesco and McCoy would be real "boobs" if they pass up a guy like Lewis.  Some of those guys on defense can really tackle like "missiles".   I love the idea of  stealing players from the Steelers.  Lets  "rack" them up and improve our team.

socal21 wrote: The Steelers plan on resigning Lewis. It is one of their top priorities.

However he has only emerged as a lockdown CB for the 2nd half of the year. Therefore they are low balling him and letting him check out free agency before attempting to sign him.

He said he just wants to be payed as a starter.

That's it.

But the Steelers last year would only consider paying him as a back up and even now have not offered Keenan a low to mid range starting NFL CB contract.

They are hoping to pay him like a back up CB as he has only one season of starting experience and really only started to come on strong and lock down number one receivers the last half of the season.

However Keenan is young and seems to have taken his game to another level.

The Steelers have never ending salary cap problems for this year as well as next year. Signing Keenan to the contract he deserves means saying goodbye to G Raymond Foster, T Max Starks and the other 22 free agents on the team as the Steelers are already over the Salary Cap.

The Steelers will make a lot of difficult moves to free up cap space, but they just can't afford to pay him as a starter without losing many other quality players this year as well as next year.

Where he'll end up is likely to be the team with the money to pay him somewhere in the vicinity of $30 million guaranteed over a five year deal.

The Steelers are not interested in a contract anywhere near that large, and have already said so.

There is no doubt the Steelers are going to have to make some difficult moves to free up cap space and will lose some players, but I still think they will find a way to keep Lewis. They have Willie Colon signed for a number of years to go with Decastro as their starting guards so they will probably let Foster leave and I know they chose to go with Starks over Mike Adams this year but if he has developed I would think they would let Starks go as well. They have a number of guys who have shown a willingness to restructure to help with the cap situation in the past and they have guys like Harrison who aren't performing up to their contracts anymore that could be cut to free up cap space.

They are going to lose some guys, we know Wallace is gone and a few other solid players will likely be playing elsewhere as well, but I think they will find a way to keep a young, talented player that they have deemed a priority. My guess is they let him test the waters and if the offers he gets are reasonable they make a similar offer and keep him. If someone wants to overpay they let him go and in that case I wouldn't want him. I also saw on one of the ESPN blogs the other day that the cap is expected to increase by a significant amount with the new t.v. contracts (I think they speculated 30 million). Not sure how true that is and it would give cap space to everybody which could drive prices up, but it would give the Steelers a lot more flexibility.

slammer8 wrote: 21  I really like your ideas.  We should " bounce" them around on this forum.  I think Telesco and McCoy would be real "boobs" if they pass up a guy like Lewis.  Some of those guys on defense can really tackle like "missiles".   I love the idea of  stealing players from the Steelers.  Lets  "rack" them up and improve our team.

I hope you're not an OB/GYN .

Nah    Just a GYN   I gave up OB a long time ago!  

88Unbeatable82 wrote:

slammer8 wrote: 21  I really like your ideas.  We should " bounce" them around on this forum.  I think Telesco and McCoy would be real "boobs" if they pass up a guy like Lewis.  Some of those guys on defense can really tackle like "missiles".   I love the idea of  stealing players from the Steelers.  Lets  "rack" them up and improve our team.

I hope you're not an OB/GYN .

slammer8 wrote: Nah    Just a GYN   I gave up OB a long time ago!  

88Unbeatable82 wrote:

slammer8 wrote: 21  I really like your ideas.  We should " bounce" them around on this forum.  I think Telesco and McCoy would be real "boobs" if they pass up a guy like Lewis.  Some of those guys on defense can really tackle like "missiles".   I love the idea of  stealing players from the Steelers.  Lets  "rack" them up and improve our team.

I hope you're not an OB/GYN .

I'm actually a freelance GYN....I get a little work in on the side. Hey, it's a living.

Chargerhonk wrote:

slammer8 wrote: Nah    Just a GYN   I gave up OB a long time ago!  

88Unbeatable82 wrote:

slammer8 wrote: 21  I really like your ideas.  We should " bounce" them around on this forum.  I think Telesco and McCoy would be real "boobs" if they pass up a guy like Lewis.  Some of those guys on defense can really tackle like "missiles".   I love the idea of  stealing players from the Steelers.  Lets  "rack" them up and improve our team.

I hope you're not an OB/GYN .

I'm actually a freelance GYN....I get a little work in on the side. Hey, it's a living.

Sort of a "moon lighting" activity?

My day is now more entertaining.

OK. OK.

Seriously. You are the New GM for the Chargers.

Would you give Keenan Lewis a little bit larger contract than the Steelers would be willing to pay?

We are talking about the same kind of contract wasted on Meachem, but this time with an eye for talent and......


....shoring up a gaping hole

.....that Doc must stare at every (Sun)day.


I am of course talking about the Chargers starting CB.

With everyone agreeing that Virgin CBs take more time to train how to do it properly....

.....it just makes sense when you want to fill the hole right away to go with a seasoned prostitu.....professional.

I wouldn't mind going after a middle tier CB if it meant that we could sign a top tier G in FA.

 touche!  Keenan Lewis is a perfect example on how Telesco should penetrate this years deep free agent pool!

socal21 wrote: OK. OK.

Seriously. You are the New GM for the Chargers.

Would you give Keenan Lewis a little bit larger contract than the Steelers would be willing to pay?

We are talking about the same kind of contract wasted on Meachem, but this time with an eye for talent and......


....shoring up a gaping hole

.....that Doc must stare at every (Sun)day.


I am of course talking about the Chargers starting CB.

With everyone agreeing that Virgin CBs take more time to train how to do it properly....

.....it just makes sense when you want to fill the hole right away to go with a seasoned prostitu.....professional.

One thing leaves no question.  There are a couple of threads going right now that prove without a shadow of a doubt that several members here need a LOT more feminine attention .