Is Flozell The Hotel 'Burgh Bound?

[ncoolong]

It seems like the Steelers need a veteran to compete with free agent acquisition Jonathan Scott for the RT position. Veteran castoff Flozell Adams has visited with the Steelers, and is reportedly asking for $4 million a year. Denver and Washington are also said to be pursuing Adams.

Pittsburgh has plenty of combo G/Ts, and most of them are in their third year or less.

First-round pick Maurkice Pouncey will compete for reps at RG and C, which gives the Steelers the option of moving veteran Trai Essex to the starting RT position. At worst, Essex will continue to provide depth at both spots.

Jury's still out on Ramon Foster, who played for Essex last season when he was hurt. Same goes for second-year Kraig Urbik, who didn't suit up at all last year. Pittsburgh is still looking for Tony Hills to come around.

For a team with a rocky off-season, Willie Colon's injury couldn't have come at a worse time. The challenge has been set for new offensive line coach Sean Kugler, and Steelers fans hope he's up for the job. Otherwise, they'll be struggling to stay at the 9-7 mark they had last year.

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[OverTheTop]

Is Tackle Levi Jones still available on the market as well?? According to reports from Flozell's visit, it went "OK" but not "Great". If Levi wants less money than Flozell, I could see the steelers bringing him in, even though Levi has primarily been a LT not a RT. After watching Max Starks since the start of his career I always felt that he was much better RT than LT, but unfortunately the steelers were forced to start him in that spot following the departure of Marvel Smith. If there was ever a situation where the team could bring in a new tackle and put Max back on the right side, this is their oppurtunity. Am I in the minority who thinks Starks is better on the right side than on the left??

Assuming the Steelers do NOT bring in a free agent, and with Kugler coming over from Buffalo, it wouldn't suprise me if Jonathan Scott gets the majority of the 1st string reps during training camp, due to the fact that Kugler knows what he has in Scott after going through previous seasons as his coach with the Bills.

[ncoolong]

Is Tackle Levi Jones still available on the market as well?? According to reports from Flozell's visit, it went "OK" but not "Great". If Levi wants less money than Flozell, I could see the steelers bringing him in, even though Levi has primarily been a LT not a RT. After watching Max Starks since the start of his career I always felt that he was much better RT than LT, but unfortunately the steelers were forced to start him in that spot following the departure of Marvel Smith. If there was ever a situation where the team could bring in a new tackle and put Max back on the right side, this is their oppurtunity. Am I in the minority who thinks Starks is better on the right side than on the left??

Assuming the Steelers do NOT bring in a free agent, and with Kugler coming over from Buffalo, it wouldn't suprise me if Jonathan Scott gets the majority of the 1st string reps during training camp, due to the fact that Kugler knows what he has in Scott after going through previous seasons as his coach with the Bills.

I wouldn't say you're in the minority, but the issue to this point is Willie Colon is a much better RT than Starks is. Sort of reverse engineering, but we found our left tackle by finding our right tackle. Now, can the Steelers find a left tackle, and move Starks over? I can't imagine that's not a possibility, it just depends on who's available.

Adams isn't the only one out there. Willie Anderson, Jones' old teammate in Cincinnati (the one former Steeler Joey Porter did not assault at a casino a few years ago), has been mentioned, but he probably had less of a season with Baltimore than Flozell had with Dallas.

Len Pasquarelli was the one who said Adams was ok, not great, at his workout with the Steelers. That very easily could be an effort inside the Steelers organization to get Adams to drop his price a little. The Rooneys are in Ireland for the holiday, and should formally announce Colon is out Tuesday. Makes more sense for them to wait until getting an agreement with another OLman before putting Colon on the IR officially.

Tuesday will probably tell a lot about what the team feels about the linemen they have under contract.

[OverTheTop]

I agree with you that it would be positive to bring in a veteran presence to compete with Scott for the starting job. Hopefully if one can be obtained it will come at a fair dollar figure for both the team and the player.

[ncoolong]

Ncoolong, do you think the steelers should go after one of the free agent tackles? Or promote someone from within the current roster?

I'm leaning towards promoting within unless one of the FA's can be obtained at a good price.

With Colon out for the year, and rookie Chris Scott looking to miss three months, I think they will definitely sign a veteran tackle. The question is do they sign one they expect to strongly compete for a starting job (therefore, pay more money) or do they bring in a back-up level player to bolster their sagging depth (and pay him less money).

New offensive line coach Sean Kugler had Jonathan Scott in Buffalo, and Scott followed Kugler when he came to Pittsburgh. Most seem to be penciling him in at RT now, but Coach Tomlin is a Competition First kind of guy, so it makes little sense to me for him to suggest today that the Steelers starting RT has been decided - or is even on the roster.

They won't overspend, considering they have two starting caliber RTs already (Scott and Trai Essex). I think they go with a lesser priced FA, and fill him in at fourth on the T depth chart. They have several other players they're trying at both G and T, and none of them seem to be able to wrest those spots away definitively. I'm going to say they'll start J. Scott at RT, but Essex and the new signee will back up both tackle spots. The battle will begin between rookie Maurkice Pouncey and the vet Essex for the starting RG spot. Essex could start at RT, but back up RG as well. Pittsburgh's done this before (see: Faneca, Alan, 2003. He started at LG and backed up LT).

If Essex starts, Scott would back up both RT and LT, Pouncey will start at RG with Ramon Foster as the primary G back-up. Kraig Urbik will be fourth on the depth chart at G, and Doug Legursky will back-up (if not supplant) Justin Hartwig at C. Kemoeatu and Starks will take LG and LT, respectively.