The New England Patriots have signed Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million. The Steelers have until Sunday to match the offer. If the Steelers fail to match the offer they will receive a third-round pick in the upcoming 2013 NFL Draft. Even though there are pros and cons of this, you have to match the offer to Sanders. Although I do not think that Sanders is anything special, I certainly do not think that the Steelers can afford to lose him.
There are plenty of cons if the Steelers let Sanders go to the Patriots. For starters, they just let Mike Wallace, who went to a Pro Bowl, and 30 touchdowns and 4,000 receiving yards over the last four seasons go. Not to mention that the Steelers are probably going to be without the services of team MVP Heath Miller for most of, if not all of the upcoming season.
The Steelers currently have Antonio Brown, veterans Plaxico Burress, and Jerrico Cotchery at the receiver position and that's it. Even though Wallace is a douche you still have to try and replace his amazing production and speed. But yinzer fans just assume that's going to happen.
Right now you have Ben Roethlisberger, one of the six or seven elite quarterbacks in the NFL in the prime of his career. Other teams surround their franchise quarterbacks with as much talent as possible. Look at the Denver Broncos and Patriots. The Patriots lost Wes Welker, but they signed Danny Amendola and are now trying to sign Sanders. They also have the best tight-end tandem in NFL history with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, along with a 1200-yard rusher.
The Broncos already had two-1,000 yard receivers in Dymerious Thomas and Erik Decker and they went out and grabbed Wes Welker. Every time Roethlisberger gets good receivers and running backs the Steelers just let them walk.
Who the hell is Roethlisberger gonna throw to next year? Even if you get the extra third-round pick for Sanders, there's no guarantee that any of the draft picks will pan out, especially given the mediocre drafting that has plagued the Steelers during the Mike Tomlin/Kevin Colbert era.
Delusional fans think the Steelers will just be able to fix their laundry list of needs in the draft this year. Forgetting that the offense struggled last year and now you're asking to break in a new tight end, running back, and two new receivers. You have to question if the Steelers are even trying to go to the playoffs next year. These moves almost feel like this team is rebuilding. That's fine but it's a waste of Roethlisberger's career.
Last year the Steelers were 21st in the league in rushing, 21st in the league in total offense, and 22nd in the league in scoring offense. If they lose Sanders to the Patriots they'll have lost over 75% of their production from last year's mediocre offense. The drafting like I said has been weak under Tomlin/Colbert and you're expecting this team to not only replace all of that production in the draft this year, but actually improve it. Good luck with that.
$2.5 million for Sanders isn't that much money for one year. It's pretty much something you have to do. The Patriots are a team you not only have to play in the regular season, they're a team you're supposed to be competing with for the AFC title. You don't let him go there. You can't keep letting talent go, eventually it will catch up with you. Considering the Steeelers went 8-8 last year and looking at their roster right now, I 'd say it's already caught up with them.
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