The Pittsburgh Steelers have matched the offer sheet for Emmanuel Sanders for one-year $2.5 million. The New England Patriots had signed an offer sheet for Sanders and if the Steelers had chose to not match the offer, they would have received a third round pick in the upcoming 2013 NFL draft. Obviously this decision by the Steelers has had some mixed reviews.
Personally, I think the Steelers had to sign Sanders. They already lost Mike Wallace, Rashard Mendenhall, and probably won't have team MVP Heath Miller around for the upcoming season due to injury. The Steelers have a franchise/elite quarterback in his prime in Ben Roethlisberger and the window of winning another Super Bowl is closing at a fast pace.
Roethlisberger recently came out and publicly lobbied for the Steelers to keep Sanders. I'm sure that will piss the yinzers off which will make me happy. I can hear it now "Who does Ben think he is? This isn't his team, blah, blah blah, (sip of Iron City) blah, blah, blah, (chugs Iron City).
Roethlisberger needs weapons and he wanted them to keep Sanders because he's not retarded. Sure, Sanders has flaws. He's had some fumbles and some injury problems, but he's still a really good number three receiver. You're also not going to fix all of your problems in the draft. The Steelers' needs are many, now you don't have to draft two or three receivers. Now they can still take a receiver in the first three rounds and at the same time, they'll be able to go after other needs.
Thinking that the Steelers are going to be able to fix all of their problems in the draft is a delusional thought. The Steelers have had some big time misses when it comes to recent drafts under Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert. See the 2008 draft, which the Steelers have nobody left from, and their second round pick in Limas Sweed.
Mike Wallace was a third-round pick but so was Curtis Brown (sucks) and Sean Spence last year (has yet to play and might never play due to injures). Sanders himself was a third round pick, but again with Sanders you know what you have, drafting two receivers to try and replace Sanders and Wallace is moronic.
The only bad part is now Sanders can leave after this upcoming season as a unrestricted free-agent. The Steelers would still get a sixth round pick for him if he does leave but obviously a third is > a sixth round pick. But hey, what round was Antonio Brown drafted in again? Oh yeah in the sixth round....Just trying to use yinzer logic.
Overall this is was a good move. You stopped Sanders from going to the Patriots which is a win in itself. Plus you actually showed your quarterback and franchise player some love. You also did nothing in free-agency to help the offense. I hope all of yinz are miserable about this, that will make me love the move even more.
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