Pittsburgh Steelers decision to match Emmanuel Sanders means more moves coming
By Matt Shetler
Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers decided to match the New England Patriots’ offer sheet to restricted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.
While that may have been a surprise to some, one thing it signals is that more roster moves are on the way.
Nov 25, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (88) muffs a punt in the third quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
After the Sanders deal, the Steelers sit only $748K under the salary cap with the top 48 players.
The Steelers have yet to address their running back situation, with Ahmad Bradshaw being the top name on their radar, and will still have a slew of draft picks to come to terms with.
What that means is that in the upcoming weeks, Steelers’ general manager Kevin Colbert will be busy trying to find up ways to free some additional money up.
The likely scenario is that you will see some players released and cheaper options signed.
There’s also the chance they could look to restructure some more contracts, but there aren’t a lot of options remaining except for Troy Polamalu.
Either way, Colbert is going to have to make some tough decisions.
As for Sanders, it’s a bit surprising that they wouldn’t take the third-round pick from the Patriots in exchange for a guy who is not likely to be re-signed after this season. If the Steelers don’t sign Sanders to a long-term deal, then this move makes little sense.
Having said that though, not every move makes complete sense.
The bottom line, given the state of the receiving core at the moment, is that the Steelers felt like they had no choice but to match the offer sheet.
Doing so though means there will certainly be some more moves to be made in the immediate future.