SteelerWatch

The Steelers have come to an agreement with third-round draft pick Matt Spaeth, a tight end.  The signing comes on the heels of yesterday’s inking of second-round pick LaMarr Woodley and leaves just first-rounder Lawrence Timmons and fifth-round pick William Gay to be signed.

Coach Mike Tomlin has said he believes all draft picks will be signed before training camp begins Monday.

The Post-Gazette has posted the just-released training camp schedule.  There’s nothing out of the ordinary, with two night practices two closed practices.  Everything else is wide open , with all daytime practices running from 2:55 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Training camp  begins July 23, with the first practice July 24.

Information for your Steelers’ 2007 Training Camp has been posted on the team’s official site, including practice schedules.  The players report to camp in just 24 days on July 23!

Find the info here.

I just found this out…Clark Haggans’ infant daughter, who was born prematurely in April, is currently waging a battle to stay alive.  I want to extend this opportunity to everyone to post your well-wishes for the family and I will do everything within my (very, very limited) power to attempt to get them sent directly to him via some avenue within the team.  So if you’d like to send the Haggans family some kind words of encouragement or prayers, you can do so right here in a comment.  I encourage everyone to post something.

Moving SteelerWatch — and the entire family — to a new home is going well, but it’s obvious my time to devote to the site has been cut short.  Fortunately news has been slow (fairly regular commenter Seeker recently pointed out that he noticed news had been completely absent for over a week in Steeler Nation) which makes me look like less of a slacker.

So, here’s what’s been going on:

1) The team re-signed running back Verron Haynes Monday to a one-year contract believed to include a veteran league-minimum $595,000 base salary.  There are no details available yet on a signing bonus.

2) Also now under contract with the team are fourth-round pick and uber-punter Dan Sepulveda and fifth-rounder Cameron Stephenson, a guard from Rutgers.  Stephenson will likely be warming the bench this season, because the Steelers have now got decent depth on the offensive line.  Sepulveda, however, will participate in what will, in all likelihood, amount to a mockery of a training-camp battle with perennial August roster filler Matt Barr.  The Steelers are not known for cutting a fourth-round linebacker…err…punter.

And now, around the league:

3) Odel Thurman is potentially in trouble with the law.  It now officialy Goes Without Saying that Thurman is a member of the Cincinnati Bengals; from this point on, if I report a felony and I fail to specify a team, you can simply assume it was the Bengals and you’ll have about 99.95518 percent chance of your assumption being correct.  The remaining 0.04482 percent possibility is reserved for “a current NFL or former college teammate, or a relative, of Mike Vick.”

4) Disgruntled Patriots cornerback — and bearer of the team’s Franchise Player tag — Asante Samuel announced he will not be attending minicamp, training camp, or even the first 10 weeks of the regular season as he cries like a little girl over his numerous millions of dollars holds out in a contract-related dispute.  Apparently unbeknownst to Samuel, holding out is costing him a shot at a long-term deal.  If he hasn’t signed a long-term contract by July 15, he can only sign a one-year contract — exactly what he is eligible for under the franchise tag rules.  Failure to show up for 10 games will cost him nearly $5 million of the $7.79 million he would be due this year as the team’s franchise player.  Holding out the entire season means the Patriots can lock him down again next year — and don’t put it past the Kraft family to do it purely out of spite.

I write a post about how news is already slow right now, and shortly thereafter the team goes on a…a…a doing-something spree. Let’s skip the gristle and get down to the bone:

1) Steeler assistant sends rude, crude and sexual joke to colleagues. Steelers o-line coach Larry Z. “accidentally” forwards it on further — including to His Highness, league commish Roger Goodell. This comes, of course, on the heels of Goodell’s new league conduct policy, which specifically singles out things of a sexual nature, and makes most things short of playing on Sunday and shaving twice a week a violation of league rules, regardless of whether they violate any actual laws. I’d imagine that would include a certain pair of Redskins publicly stating their support for Michael Vick and his band of traveling KillerMutts. No one expects the two assistants to be punished, but I still think Rog should rub their faces against the screen and say, “No!” Of course, that may have the complete opposite of the desired effect.

One thing worth mentioning: this story was broken by ProFootballTalk.com. They are now officially 2-for-17,331 for accurate reporting. Congrats guys, you just doubled your success level! Bear in mind, this is the same site that runs the Turd Watch and has the Steelers in the top 5 turd-producers a la Richard Siegler, even though the team cut ties with the player prior to his arrest (and, no doubt, because of the warrant). Needless to say, they rank one spot below the third cousin to the Prince of Wales’ chef’s girlfriend on my list of valued NFL news sources.

2) Alan Faneca skips more voluntary workouts. I don’t know how this qualifies as news at this point, considering he said he wouldn’t be there — and the fact that we, the media, have already beat this story to death several times over. If this story was a cat, it would be clinging desperately to life number nine at this point.

3) The Steelers have released Chris Gardocki. File this one under “whoa! Never saw that coming!” You’ll find it in the Sarcasm & Irony Department.

4) Did you hear the Steelers are moving to a new home city? The team will be dropping anchor in Dallas come January 2011 in that ginormous new stadium being built to house the Dallas Cowboys. Of course, after they win the Super Bowl they’re coming back to the ‘Burgh.

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

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Well, it looks like we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Left guard Alan Faneca and strong safety Troy Polamalu — two of the four players SteelerWatch has named indispensable — will participate in the minicamp that begins today. Also joining them will be Clark Haggans, who missed the voluntary workouts to be with his wife and new child.

While Polamalu had been excused from voluntary workouts last month due to personal reasons, some speculated it was because of frustration over non-existent contract negotiations. For Faneca, though, there was no speculation. Plain and simple, he wants his new contract.

While he has been frustrated over the Steelers passing on former offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt former offensive line coach Russ Grimm in favor of new head coach Mike Tomlin, Faneca has been involved in stagnant contract negotiations. Not playing in his favor is the fact that the team prefers youthful players while the bruiser is a nine-year veteran. As offensive linemen go, he probably only has three more Pro Bowl-caliber years left in him, but is likely seeking a contract that will keep him in black and gold for the remainder of his career — five years or more is a safe wager. While the Steelers don’t have much proven talent in reserve on the line, they truly are loaded with big, young bodies. They have guys like Chukki Okobi, Marvin Philip, Chris Kemoeatu, Trai Essex and some new draft picks and rookie free agents waiting in the wings. And don’t forget the signing of Sean Mahan this off-season.

I feel that Faneca is blowing the situation out of proportion, given the massive turnover in the coaching staff. Under the old regime, the starters in good standing generally received a contract extension a season before their contract expired. however, with a mostly new coaching staff, the new group most likely wants to see who steps up before making any new, long-term commitments. That’s especially understandable when talking about a guy who has nine pro seasons under his belt.

Pittsburgh native Kevan Barlow is coming home.

The Steelers on Thursday signed the six-year vet for the 2007 season. He will likely compete for the number two spot behind Willie Parker against Najeh Davenport and possibly Verron Haynes, if he can successfully recover from a knee injury suffered last season.

What does Barlow bring? For starters, a love for the team. he grew up a fan of the Steelers and idolizing Hall of Famer Franco Harris. He also brings a lot more skill than he’s show in recent years. His best season was 2003 when he went over 1,000 yards rushing as a backup to Garrison Hearst in San Francisco.

While he’s about 30 pounds shy of former RB Jerrome Bettis’ wrecking ball-like size, Barlow is likely to serve at least on third downs. Injuries last season to both Haynes and Davenport resulted in Parker shouldering more of the load, particularly on third downs, than the team would have preferred.

The Steelers have released tight end Tim Euhus, possibly indicating that third round draft pick Matt Spaeth is close to signing with the team. In his brief stint with the team, he played one game (the 2006 season opener versus Miami) and was inactive for three more.

The team added a huge weapon (literally, the dude is 6′7″ and 267 pounds) on Saturday when they drafted Spaeth. New offensive coordinator Bruce Arians later voiced his desire to better utilize a three-tight-end set with current starter Heath Miller potentially split out as a slot receiver. With two tight ends with great receiving skills, decent speed and a lot of heft to toss around, the door is now open for more creative use of the traditionally run-oriented set.

Filling the third tight end spot in the set is long-time Steeler Jerame Tuman. Tuman is used primarily as a blocker due to his less-than-adequate receiving abilities and the speed of, well, there’s no real speed there to speak of. Which doesn’t speak too well to the abilities of the newly unemployed Euhus.

The Steelers, who have made just two notable changes to their uniforms in the last 34 (changed face masks from gray to black and moved from block numbers to more modern rounded numbers during the Kordell Stewart years) will unveil a special uniform today that will be used for a single game to celebrate the team’s 75th anniversary, according to the Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette. No additional details are available; if anyone knows when the press conference will be held, please leave a comment.

For a complete review of past renditions of the uniform, click here.