Pittsburgh Steelers sign TE Leonard Pope, first move since unceremonious exit of veterans-NFL News
Pittsburgh Steelers has finally broken out of its phase of a lull that recently prevailed at the headquarters and Steelers announced the addition of a new tight end to its squad.
As per the details of the move, the management has signed veteran tight end, Leonard Pope, to a year contract, terms of which have not been made public by any of the stakeholders.
Pope’s signing has come about after a lengthy phase of silence at the team’s headquarters, since the controversial signing of offensive co-ordinator, Todd Haley.
Haley replaced the former co-ordinator, Bruce Arians, who left the side in a controversial manner. However, since then no news around the hiring firing has come from the team.
Also, this is first significant signing by the team after it released a number of veterans to settle down their salary cap issue.
Hines Ward, the wide receiver, Alex Smith and other veterans have been made redundant due to the salary expense issue.
A couple of them including Ward have called it quits from the NFL since then, while a few are waiting for potential suitors on the free agency.
Before coming to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pope played for the Kansas City Chiefs for three years and his record includes 24 pass catches for 247 yards.
He had joined the Arizona Cardinals as a third-round pick in 2006 and played for the side for three successive years and was instrumental in the team’s berth into the Super Bowl in 2009, which they lost to Steelers.
Now, he himself has become a part of the Super Bowl winning team. Steelers were also able to make it through to the playoffs in 2011 season, but the campaign was ended with the loss of the wild-card game to the Denver Broncos.
The team has gone through massive reshuffling of the squad with the unceremonious departure of almost all veterans. This has left the young players at the forefront of the squad.
Steelers’ head coach, Mike Tomlin, has admitted that the team’s future is now very much dependant on the ‘future leaders’. He expects them to live up to the expectations of the team.
According to some reports, the team has been able to create some space on the pay roster and there is a possibility of signing more new players in the future.
So far, the management’s next move remains unpredictable due to the fact that the team has been through the period of a rather calmness, without any hustle bustle of hiring firing.
The managers are also holding their draft recruitment cards closer to their chests. So, while other teams are weighing their options for the 2012 NFL draft due from April 26 to 28, Steelers are maintaining a mum on the prospects.
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