Starks retained for one year
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The Steelers today signed restricted free agent right tackle Max Starks to a one-year deal worth $1.85 million, fulfilling the qualifying offer they extended to him prior to the start of free agency. Because of the fact that the original offer would have required another team to give up a first-round draft pick in order to sign Starks, it remained unlikely throughout the last two months that anyone would take a chance on the player.
Starks, who has had streaks of absolutely brilliant play, has been hampered by very inconsistent play at times — often at critical junctures in tight games. He stood completely motionless after the snap on a play versus the Ravens in 2006 during which quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was viciously sacked head-on by the defender Starks was supposed to have been blocking. Roethlisberger was briefly knocked out of the game, and the team went on to lose in one of their worst performances of the season. His play in that game, and several others during 2006, is a sharp contrast to his 2005 performance for which he was generally applauded.
Starks had been rumored to be headed to Arizona, where he would have been reunited with his former offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and offensive line coach Russ Grimm. Those rumors were quickly squashed.
Starks has been repeatedly — and viciously — lampooned here at SteelerWatch as one of the primary reasons for the offensive line’s overall poor performance in the first half of the 2006 season. While I saw the re-signing as inevitable, I stand by my analysis.
Remember folks, you heard it here third.
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