Kevin Colbert laughs on the Steelers’ sideline before a December game at Heinz Field. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
As steward of the Steelers, a franchise that’s founded not so much a following but a freakish Nation of fanatics, Kevin Colbert’s level of calm can come across as spectacularly ironic.
“It’s good,” the GM was telling me Tuesday from the team’s South Side headquarters. “We’re off to a good start, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re excited.”
Yep, all good. Got it.
Because all that was being described in that low-key, good-uncle voice was a summer’s challenge that includes, oh, signing the franchise quarterback to a multiyear extension, bolstering a secondary that’s sprung more leaks than the CIA, deciding the future of several iconic Steelers, building up to a 2015 schedule that will include both Super Bowl finalists and, just for good measure, all else that accompanies free agency and the draft.
“It’s a lot,” Colbert came back when I cited a couple of those. “But we’re up to it.”
To hear him, you almost believe him. You want to believe him because he makes it sound like deciding between steak or burgers on the outdoor grill. But we’ll see.
The top priority, as Colbert conceded, is Ben Roethlisberger. And to that effect, Colbert acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that the Steelers and their quarterback have begun negotiating a new contract, a stirring sign in and of itself that their most essential piece could be in place for years to come.
This is overdue, in my view, but nonetheless welcome.
And I couldn’t describe why any better than Colbert did: “We have a franchise quarterback, and we feel fortunate about that. Our feeling, actually, is that Ben’s best years are still ahead of him.”
I asked why, given that Roethlisberger is 32 and will be entering his 12th NFL season.
“Well, the numbers bear it out for one thing.”
Fair point. Roethlisberger is coming off career highs in 2014 with 4,952 passing yards, 408 completions and a 67.1 completion percentage. All that, and he’s stayed on the field.
The latter can be a touchy topic with all concerned, but I tossed out to Colbert if he felt Roethlisberger had followed the template set up by management two years ago — starting with Art Rooney II and the resultant hiring of Todd Haley — that he’d stay more in the pocket and better protected to avoid injury.
“A template? I don’t know if that’s the word I’d use,” Colbert said. “But I think we’ve seen Ben grow as a quarterback and improve year to year. Some of that’s because of the approach, but Ben’s just gotten better. That’s how I look at it. And I think he’ll keep getting better, in part, because his supporting cast will keep getting better. Le’Veon Bell will be better. Antonio Brown can be better. Markus Wheaton. Martavis Bryant. Our offensive line. I don’t think we’ve seen the best from any of them.”
I can’t picture a better AB, but I’m down with the rest. Even Ben, not so much because of the supporting cast but because of his increasing comfort level in having expanded the Haley offense — whether by force or not — beyond the dinks, dunks and bubbles.
“We want to keep Ben,” Colbert said. “That’s our goal here. I’m not going to set a timetable on it, but that’s what we want to do.”
It won’t come cheap …
Graphic — DALI KOVACEVIC
And that doesn’t take into account the Seahawks pledging last month to put Russell Wilson atop that list in the next few months.
But it sure would make for an uplifting element to the Steelers’ offseason, even if it’s hardly all that’s needed. On other topics, in my talk with Colbert and other media sessions Tuesday, he shared:
• The cap situation is “manageable, for sure,” calling it not as much of an issue as in other recent years. There was no indication as to how a Roethlisberger extension would affect that.
• The futures of Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, Brett Keisel and James Harrison haven’t been discussed yet, but that could begin with management meetings Wednesday.
• The team would like to have Jason Worilds back, but it’s got little interest in applying another tag to their most pivotal potential free agent. That strongly suggests a multiyear extension is the goal. “We feel like Jason had a good season and that he’s still probably an ascending player.”
• In general, Colbert described outside linebacker as “an area of concern,” understandable in light of Worilds’ status and Jarvis Jones’ early inconsistency, but he added, “We expect to feel better about it in August than we do now.”
• Brice McCain is another potential free agent Colbert would have back, he told me. And not just because corner is such a position of need. “We feel Brice stepped into a tough situation and did a good job for us.”
• To that end, it might have come across as blissful coincidence that Colbert described both corner and outside linebacker as areas of strength in the coming draft class: “We like a lot of what we see at both positions there.” He added that corner is a position the Steelers have bypassed in the early rounds of drafts in recent years mostly because they picked too low to take the good ones. They’re at No. 22 this year, and Colbert suggested to me they could take more than one this time.
Imagine that.
Corner actually made up the bulk of our conversation, and I’ll say it was richly revealing to hear the candor with which he spoke about the needs there.
“We know what we have, and we know what we want,” Colbert said. “We had a situation where Cortez Allen was benched, then hurt when he tried to come back, and Ike was hurt and had a hard time coming back because of age … and we had Brice, William Gay and Antwon Blake step up to fill in and do a good job. We’re looking at ways to improve. That might be free agency, though we aren’t really sure how that will play out. That might be the draft with a player or two. But we understand the need. We recognize it.”
That’s the first step to any smart solution.
February 10, 2015
Column: Colbert calm amid Steelers’ storm
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Steelers
Kevin Colbert laughs on the Steelers’ sideline before a December game at Heinz Field. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
As steward of the Steelers, a franchise that’s founded not so much a following but a freakish Nation of fanatics, Kevin Colbert’s level of calm can come across as spectacularly ironic.
“It’s good,” the GM was telling me Tuesday from the team’s South Side headquarters. “We’re off to a good start, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re excited.”
Yep, all good. Got it.
Because all that was being described in that low-key, good-uncle voice was a summer’s challenge that includes, oh, signing the franchise quarterback to a multiyear extension, bolstering a secondary that’s sprung more leaks than the CIA, deciding the future of several iconic Steelers, building up to a 2015 schedule that will include both Super Bowl finalists and, just for good measure, all else that accompanies free agency and the draft.
“It’s a lot,” Colbert came back when I cited a couple of those. “But we’re up to it.”
To hear him, you almost believe him. You want to believe him because he makes it sound like deciding between steak or burgers on the outdoor grill. But we’ll see.
The top priority, as Colbert conceded, is Ben Roethlisberger. And to that effect, Colbert acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that the Steelers and their quarterback have begun negotiating a new contract, a stirring sign in and of itself that their most essential piece could be in place for years to come.
This is overdue, in my view, but nonetheless welcome.
And I couldn’t describe why any better than Colbert did: “We have a franchise quarterback, and we feel fortunate about that. Our feeling, actually, is that Ben’s best years are still ahead of him.”
I asked why, given that Roethlisberger is 32 and will be entering his 12th NFL season.
“Well, the numbers bear it out for one thing.”
Fair point. Roethlisberger is coming off career highs in 2014 with 4,952 passing yards, 408 completions and a 67.1 completion percentage. All that, and he’s stayed on the field.
The latter can be a touchy topic with all concerned, but I tossed out to Colbert if he felt Roethlisberger had followed the template set up by management two years ago — starting with Art Rooney II and the resultant hiring of Todd Haley — that he’d stay more in the pocket and better protected to avoid injury.
“A template? I don’t know if that’s the word I’d use,” Colbert said. “But I think we’ve seen Ben grow as a quarterback and improve year to year. Some of that’s because of the approach, but Ben’s just gotten better. That’s how I look at it. And I think he’ll keep getting better, in part, because his supporting cast will keep getting better. Le’Veon Bell will be better. Antonio Brown can be better. Markus Wheaton. Martavis Bryant. Our offensive line. I don’t think we’ve seen the best from any of them.”
I can’t picture a better AB, but I’m down with the rest. Even Ben, not so much because of the supporting cast but because of his increasing comfort level in having expanded the Haley offense — whether by force or not — beyond the dinks, dunks and bubbles.
“We want to keep Ben,” Colbert said. “That’s our goal here. I’m not going to set a timetable on it, but that’s what we want to do.”
It won’t come cheap …
Graphic — DALI KOVACEVIC
And that doesn’t take into account the Seahawks pledging last month to put Russell Wilson atop that list in the next few months.
But it sure would make for an uplifting element to the Steelers’ offseason, even if it’s hardly all that’s needed. On other topics, in my talk with Colbert and other media sessions Tuesday, he shared:
• The cap situation is “manageable, for sure,” calling it not as much of an issue as in other recent years. There was no indication as to how a Roethlisberger extension would affect that.
• The futures of Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, Brett Keisel and James Harrison haven’t been discussed yet, but that could begin with management meetings Wednesday.
• The team would like to have Jason Worilds back, but it’s got little interest in applying another tag to their most pivotal potential free agent. That strongly suggests a multiyear extension is the goal. “We feel like Jason had a good season and that he’s still probably an ascending player.”
• In general, Colbert described outside linebacker as “an area of concern,” understandable in light of Worilds’ status and Jarvis Jones’ early inconsistency, but he added, “We expect to feel better about it in August than we do now.”
• Brice McCain is another potential free agent Colbert would have back, he told me. And not just because corner is such a position of need. “We feel Brice stepped into a tough situation and did a good job for us.”
• To that end, it might have come across as blissful coincidence that Colbert described both corner and outside linebacker as areas of strength in the coming draft class: “We like a lot of what we see at both positions there.” He added that corner is a position the Steelers have bypassed in the early rounds of drafts in recent years mostly because they picked too low to take the good ones. They’re at No. 22 this year, and Colbert suggested to me they could take more than one this time.
Imagine that.
Corner actually made up the bulk of our conversation, and I’ll say it was richly revealing to hear the candor with which he spoke about the needs there.
“We know what we have, and we know what we want,” Colbert said. “We had a situation where Cortez Allen was benched, then hurt when he tried to come back, and Ike was hurt and had a hard time coming back because of age … and we had Brice, William Gay and Antwon Blake step up to fill in and do a good job. We’re looking at ways to improve. That might be free agency, though we aren’t really sure how that will play out. That might be the draft with a player or two. But we understand the need. We recognize it.”
That’s the first step to any smart solution.