Pittsburgh Steelers seek to strengthen secondary, draft Texas A&M’s CB Terrence Frederick-NFL News
The Pittsburgh Steelers have received the much needed help from the draft market to add strength to their secondary after they lost nickelback, William g*y, to the Arizona Cardinals off the free agency.
However, the management has not gone for an excessive amount of activity and ended up taking only Texas A&M’s cornerback, Terrence Frederick, in the seventh round on last day of the draft, held from April 26 to 28, 2012.
Steelers were said to be interested in bringing back William off the agency, but he had received an interest from Cardinals in the meantime. The player chose to move there, instead of coming back to his old employers.
The delay on Steelers end has been attributed to the management’s efforts to get fixed their salary cap problem, as the expense under head of players’ salaries was well above the limits of about $120 million, which the National Football League (NFL) had set for the last year.
Steelers have got themselves into trouble with some other players due to delay in negotiations of new terms with them and some of them including wide receiver, Mika Wallace, have gone rebellious and refrained from participating in the team’s offseason activities as a protest to their demands.
In spite of the budget limitations, the managers have looked into the opportunities to add the required strength to the squad at certain positions, largely by bringing in fresh talent off the draft market.
The signing of the cornerback came a day after the team added a quarterback at the backup position and a defensive player.
These rookies will be joining another breed of younger players, who have been entrusted with the future of the team, following exit of a number of veterans.
Both head coach, Mike Tomlin and president, Art Rooney II, have expressed confidence in the players and hope they will put in their maximum to help the team to be on winning spree.
Meanwhile, some of the veterans have welcomed the new talent in the team, saying it will benefit the side in the longer run.
Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers’ veteran quarterback, for example, said he is happy over addition of another QB behind him.
He has also sounded a warning to the managers not to set too higher standards for these players and that they should be given time and space to prove their talents.
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