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Despite any disclaimers and warnings that NFL teams may apply to articles written on websites owned and operated by NFL teams, the fact remains that those sites are owned and operated by NFL teams.
This necessarily makes the observations made by team officials on team-owned sites more relevant when it comes, for example, to players who will or will not be retained at a free agency.
Here’s what Bob Labriola of Steelers.com had to say about the status of Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster with the team: “Smith-Schuster is set to become an unrestricted free agent on March 17, and despite his pronouncements on social media that he wants to continue his career with Steelers, he is unlikely to want to accept what the Steelers without a hat would be able to pay him in a new contract. “
While this hardly qualifies as surprising due to the well-known limit problems that the Steelers are struggling with, it is relevant to see what someone on the team is thinking about. Even if Labriola is not making the decisions, he has access to whoever makes them. (Art Rooney II team president, for example, rarely speaks to any member of the media other than Labriola or other Steelers.com employees.)
Steelers also have a new hammer that can be used when it comes to negotiations with Smith-Schuster, other impending free agents or veterans who have current contracts with salaries that the team would like to cut. Now that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has cut his 2021 compensation by $ 5 million (that’s 26.3 percent of the $ 19 million he was supposed to win), Steelers can point to Roethlisberger in any deal with any other player as a example of the type of sacrifice that needs to be made for a greater good.
This matches one of Coach Mike Tomlin’s favorite phrases: “We can’t do this with hostages, man. We need volunteers. ” It works. This caused Roethlisberger to accept a $ 5 million unconditional haircut and will certainly be used on other players.
Will it work at Smith-Schuster? Probably not, unless other teams are not willing to make a big multi-year offer for a receiver who is an excellent No. 2, but not equipped to be a No. 1. But the main point is to get the players putting “team” above their individual financial results is very, very good for the team’s financial results.