Contact and James Farrior:

 

Aside from the issues looming at WR, the PS have a couple ILB, Kendrell Bell and James Farrior, each of whom are entering their final season here.� Reportedly, the FO has determined to deal with the LB first so, well, let�s do the numbers.

 

Grouping Contact with some LB who performed similarly:

 

Age @ 09/04	Player	T	TFL	Sacks	FF	INT	PD	Cap hit 2003 ($M)	C#
23	Nick Barnett, MLB	109	2.0	2.0	0	3	6	0.833	1
25	Nap Harris, ILB/MLB	109	7.5	2.0	3	0	2	0.868	1
29	Brian Simmons, OLB	103	4.5	1.5	1.5	2	2	2.700	2
28	Mike Peterman, OLB	102	3.5	1.0	2	3	9	2.865	2
27	Mark Simoneau, MLB	101	2.5	2.0	3	0	5	0.907	2
24	Kendrell Bell, ILB	100	12.0	5.0	1	1	3	0.788	1
28	Anthony Simmons, OLB	100	5.0	3.0	1	3	8	2.514	2
36	Roman Phifer, ILB	100	0	0	1	0	5	1.750	3+

 

There are all kinds of LB on that list: MLB, coverage WOLB, ILB and stout at the POA SOLB.� For our purposes here, that doesn�t matter as, regardless of assignment, they all made a similar number of plays, (as measured by those <tackle> stats anyway).� Playmakers do manufacture wins.

 

It�s worth noting that Kendrell Bell is the second youngest player on that list so, in evaluating whether he�s part of the future here, it�s fair to ask whether he�s as significant to his team�s fortunes as are, say, that pair closest in age: Nick Barnett of Green Bay and Napoleon Harris of Oakland.�� If so, then do the deal; after that, well, follow the money towards the twin Simmons and Peterman, who set the market for C$2 deals at something around 2.5M and up, cap-wise.� Remember, it doesn�t matter whether or not Simmons, Simmons and Peterman are worth the scratch; that�s the market.� Bell�s worth first must be assessed with respect to his closest contemporaries, Harris and Barnett; if he�s in their class, then bidding is gonna get up into that 2.5M (cap) range and, in the back end, well beyond.

 

Of course, for Kendrell to fit here in the long-term, the Steelers have got to use him properly.� That means death to the DE experiment.� It means he�s got to get back to attacking the ball; one FF in 2003 is a disgrace for a player with his hitting ability.� Probably, it means he�s limited as a 3-down player unless or until the PS can develop a 3-2-6 set with Porter and Bell off behind a trio of genuine pass rushers but, well, we�ve been over that.� Plenty.

 

I�d be inclined to do a deal with Bell because, injuries or no, assignment issues or no, he was the difference throughout 2001 and, for sure, he was the difference in that PO win vs. Cleveland in 2002.� If that�s his top end, well, that�s more than good enough; it�s up to the Steeler braintrust to scheme around this player�s evident impact ability.�� Moving on:

 

Grouping James Farrior with some LB who performed similarly:

 

Age @ 09/04	Player	T	TFL	Sacks	FF	INT	PD	Cap hit 2003 ($M)	C#
29	Sam Cowart, WOLB	140	4.5	2	1	0	4	1.800	2
25	David Thornton, WOLB	140	4.5	1	0	2	5	0.412	1
27	Keith Bullock, WOLB	137	8	3	5	2	6	1.288	1
29	James Farrior, ILB	137	14	0	0	1	4	2.070	2
28	Jay Foreman, ILB	136	2	2	1	0	5	0.975	2
25	Andra Davis, MLB	136	3	5	2	0	6	0.345	1
31	Tedy Bruschi, ILB	128	5.5	2	3	3	14	1.521	2*
27	Takeo Spikes, OLB	126	3	2	1	2	8	2.503	2

 

• Bruschi, representing himself in negotiations with his NE Pats, just signed a C$3 deal for very similar money.� It is the sense among agents that this deal was well under-market.

 

A couple things jump out:

 

• Only one player on this list is older than Farrior.� That is Bruschi, who was far more productive than Farrior in 2003.

 

• Only one player on this list cost more against the 2003 cap than did Farrior.� That was Spikes, who was not more productive than Farrior last season.

 

• It�s worth noting that Bell is younger than every player on this list, including last season�s surprise 2^nd year plugger Andra Davis as well as David Thornton, the man who replaced Mike Peterson in Indy and, evidently, will be asked to move to Marcus Washington�s spot next season.� FWIW, of the (18) LB tabulated in this piece, only Davis and Thornton earned less than Bell.

 

Bruschi, Farrior and Jay Foreman play ILB in the 34.� Of those, Farrior is the midmost performer; pitch in Roman Phifer (from the opening table) and, well, there ya go.� On the plus side, Farrior did make some plays behind the LOS (his 14 TFL led all comers tabulated although it�s worth noting that in his last season here, Earl Holmes had 16 TFL).� On the downside, JF was unproductive defending the pass and 137 tackles with 0 FF is neither an easy nor productive parlay.� On balance, he may be described as a solid supporting performer but by no means an impact player.� IMO then, a (more than) fair deal for Farrior is in the range between Bruschi and Phifer (see above); that is 1.5-1.75M, cap-wise.� In that event, the PS would clear some modest sum from their 2004 obligation to Farrior but, considering that this would be a C$3 thing, I�d not overpay since, as we�ll see in the table below, C$3 defines the term <not-for-long.

 

With thanks again to Red Zone, here are the top 10 hits of 2003 from the LB corps:

 

Player	2003 cap hit	Remarks
Ray Lewis, ILB	7,621,337
Jamie Sharper, ILB	5,879,000	Former Raven dumped in the x-draft.� Not enough $ for Ray and Sharper.
Michael Barrow, MLB	5,572,500	C$3 player who was cut by the NYG and picked up by the Skins.� C$4 deal figures to be smaller.
Brian Urlacher, MLB	5,150,242
Lavar Arrington, OLB	5,007,494	First OLB listed
Chad Brown, OLB	4,917,466
Mo Lewis, OLB	4,600,000	Another C$3 cut
John Mobley, OLB	4,250,000	Got hurt, may not play again; will re-do his deal downward.�
Jason Gildon, OLB	4,101,332	And another C$3 cut.
Warrick Holdman, OLB	4,055,000	A C$2 cut in Chicago, picked up by Cleveland.� With Urlacher, the Bears were cap-heavy at LB last season.

 

It�s not obvious that teams can afford (2) top salaries at any given unit.� Of course, Farrior won�t command huge money but in the mid-range, Bell might.� At that point, the PS will be looking at big numbers for both Porter and Bell but, in the shorter term might get Porter, Bell and Farrior in for around 7M cap dollars.� That�s about what they were charged for Kirkland and Gildon back in 2000, and about what we could expect for Porter and Bell alone by, say, 2006.

 

Summary:�

 

If Farrior�s deal were re-worked into the Phifer/Bruschi range, then the PS should save something between 0.5-1.0M against their 2004 cap.� That would go some way towards offsetting Bell�s bump, which could well be in the 1.0-1.5M category.� As a C$3 guy, Farrior would, inevitably, be a short timer.� Not so for Bell as, at 24 years of age, we should expect 5-7 more very productive seasons from this player.� Of course, that does enfranchise the 3-4 here, which would be (maybe) okay if only the PS brain trust showed a glimmer towards translating their (monster) OKIE personnel to the nickel type Cover 2 endemic in the league today.� So far, no go; as we�ve seen since Charlie Weis befuddled the league�s ranking #1 defense way back in September 2002.� Too bad, but there it is.�

 

However, the staff�s historic failure of imagination ought not prevent the FO from moving on Kendrell Bell.� We�ve seen this player make an impact; really, it�s up to the coaches to get him in position to do so down after down.� Bell will get paid, here or elsewhere.� I�d expect to the FO to show him some new money, while demanding that the D-staff earn their old.