Kovacevic: Steelers' new standard should be availability taken on the North Shore (DK'S GRIND)

Derek and T.J. Watt. - AP

DK'S GRIND

Kovacevic: Steelers' new standard should be availability

By Dejan Kovacevic

Mar 18, 2020 • 7:40 pm

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Those who coach or manage a professional sports team tend to show two distinct phases when dealing with injuries:

1. Standard's the standard, blah, blah.

2. Find me some sturdier bodies.

And the chasm between those steps couldn't possibly sound more contradictory, from hearing Mike Tomlin's passionate preachings about 'next man up,' to Mike Sullivan's 'we just play,' to Clint Hurdle's 'shower well' -- even as we all realized they'd much rather have their primary players participating -- right through to the stage where the next chance would come for action.

For the Steelers, pending the passing of the ongoing apocalypse, this is shaping up to the summer of ... well, shaping up or shipping out.

The team's signing of free agent Derek Watt yesterday to a three-year, $9.75 million contract will generate a whole lot more fuss because he's T.J.'s brother than for anything he'll bring as a fullback or even as a special-teams demon. But here's what leaped off the page for me: In his four NFL seasons with the Chargers, he logged the following game totals: 16, 16, 16 and 16.

Contrast that to Rosie Nix, the fullback the Steelers now certainly will release, who logged two whole games and 39 snaps in 2019, none after early November because of knee injury.

We all forgot about that, huh?

Well, those on the inside didn't. The players loved Nix and, man, did Tomlin love Nix. Saw him as fearless, selfless and strong as a bull, pretty much every quality anyone would want in a fullback. And they'd speak often about how much he was missed, particularly in all those short-yardage situations they'd fail to convert.

Now, he's gone, even as others on that same besieged offense are being either set aside or pushed.

James Conner's Exhibit A, obviously. He's missed 11 games over four seasons, not counting the four others in 2019 he exited early. (And the latter variety's more onerous since it occurs mid-game.) He proved last season, consistently and conclusively, he can't be trusted to carry the load as the lead running back.

If anyone doubted that, this was Tomlin's assessment of Conner's status in January: “He didn’t spend a lot of time on the field healthy. That’s as much a part of the game as blocking and tackling. We’ll assess it with him.”

Conner's sounded characteristically defiant on social media ...

... and that's fine. He is who he is, and I say that in the best sense. But when the Steelers' turn comes in the second round of the NFL Draft, they won't be buying what he's selling. They'll get a running back, and they'll be doing so in large part because what they'll value at the position is availability.

Doesn't mean the rookie back will be handed the starting role upon reporting to Saint Vincent. But it does mean Conner's default place on the depth chart won't be what it was.

Then there's Vance McDonald. Which really should be accompanied by a sigh.

I've made no secret of a wish to see the Steelers move on at tight end. Same reason as above. He's missed nine games over three seasons in Pittsburgh and, even setting that aside, his year-over-year performance plummeted in 2019, from 50 catches to 38, from 610 receiving yards to 273.

Not having Ben Roethlisberger hurt. Not having an offensive coordinator who's aware that there's a middle to the field hurts almost as much. That's still an unsightly decline at age 29, and more injuries only added to it.

Here's the issue, though: No one on the current roster's a threat to replace him, no one in the coming draft pool looks all that attractive where the Steelers will pick and, worse by far, the free-agency options were either going to be exorbitantly expensive -- hello, Cleveland! -- or not worth it.

So they're biting the bullet, likely having coerced a restructure, and sticking by Vance. Whatever.

Oh, and the quarterback?

Not the same scenario, sorry. I'm of the firm belief that Ben will be fine in every way, not least of which is being reenergized for a big final run to his career. I'm of the almost-as-firm belief that Mason Rudolph is a quality NFL backup when he isn't buried amid all kinds of broken-cart, helmet-swinging, racism-accusation madness. Good kid, good player.

Making sure everyone in front of the quarterbacks stays standings seems like a sound approach.

***premium***

• This Watt's a player, even if he isn't either of his brothers:

The question, of course, is whether he's worth more than $3 million per season after playing only 12 percent of the Chargers' offensive snaps last season. Particularly to a team already banging its head on the cap.

My tentative answer is yes, but only upon weighing the whole picture.

Tyler Matakevich was the Steelers' top special teams performer, but he was lost to the Bills earlier yesterday for two years at $9 million, a markedly higher average wage and cap hit than Watt. Also, he was a miles-below-average linebacker when given a rare chance to play, so he serves only one role.

Watt's a better special teams player, and he comes with the added bonus of being a bona fide fullback and allowing the Steelers to move past Nix.

Personnel moves don't occur in vacuums.

• There's this, too, though the Steelers could never confess to this: Anything that makes T.J. happy makes him likelier to sign the Steelers' next franchise-record contract. And anyone who appreciates the closeness of the Watt brothers knows this is real.

Remember T.J. telling me two days after the season how much he'd hoped the team would keep Bud Dupree?

OK, he got his Bud, and now he's got his brother, even if he didn't ask. I'm not suggesting either will mean more to T.J. than the money -- that's not how sports work -- but every little bit helps.

• This is brilliant:

• The day after Ramon Foster retired, B.J. Finney was gone, too, signed by the Seahawks for two years at $9 million. That's two (very) big figures lost from the interior O-line, with Finney being bigger and better than maybe most knew. Because in addition to being able to sub for Foster, he could spell Maurkice Pouncey at center.

Now, no one can do that.

So it's no coincidence that, shortly after Finney's deal, the Steelers tendered Zach Banner for a year at $1.75 million.

This will make Banner extremely happy, as he'd told me in Baltimore after the season finale that all he'd hoped was to be tendered, then given a chance to compete with Chuks Okorafor to start at right tackle.

"I believe in myself," he told me that day in his inimitably stoked style. "I know what I can do, and I can't tell you how pumped I am for everyone to see that."

That's how it's playing out. With Banner and Okorafor dueling at right tackle, Matt Feiler can make his long-anticipated move to the inside in Foster's place.

I'm not sure if that makes for a stronger line, especially right away, and that's a concern with a 37-year-old quarterback fresh off a lost season. But I'm sure as I can be that a backup center's a must.

• Am I the only person anywhere who couldn't care less where Tom Brady will play football at age 43?

• Wait, am I also the only person anywhere who couldn't care less if Antonio Brown joins him Tampa, where Bruce Arians just last year derided AB as 'too much diva' for his liking?

Well, all right, that'd be interesting.

• The Penguins' signing of Cam Lee, an offensive defenseman out of Western Michigan University, isn't standout news in any circumstance, even amid the absolute dearth of NHL news. That's not a knock. He's just not one of the top NCAA prospects among the undrafted free agents, and he's not a name I'd heard much at development camp last summer.

What does matter here is that Jim Rutherford and staff keep the college stream coming as a way to compensate for trading away draft picks year after year. And within that, all concerned have forged relationships and trust with such prospects before, during and after those development camps, cognizant that, because of league rules, they can't offer any more cash than anyone else. The athlete simply has to want to come to the Pittsburgh system.

That's how it worked with John Marino and Zach Aston-Reese, in case anyone forgot. And for that matter, Dartmouth's promising power forward, Drew O'Connor, just a couple weeks back.

This has to happen. The pipeline can't stagnate. And the Penguins' apparent inroads into what's still a fairly new approach to acquiring amateur talent is a highly welcome development.

• The world must protect Alex Letang at all costs:

• I haven't been wild about the public pressure on professional sports teams to pay part-time stadium workers, partly because it's felt like the common contrived social media cause du jour, partly because -- contrary to widespread misperception -- they usually aren't team employees but, rather, employees of an independent agency with its own resources.

Still, it's better that it's happening. The NHL's process was predictably disorganized, with some teams like the Penguins agreeing, others like the Flames and Jets not going along with it, but Major League Baseball handled it best: All 30 teams, including the Pirates, will pitch in the same $1 million.

Here's wishing the best for all involved.

• I had business on the North Shore yesterday and snapped this for you:

PNC Park, Tuesday. - DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS

My friends, that's rush hour. On a weekday. And yes, that's a Pittsburgh Police cruiser representing the only vehicle on General Robinson Street.

It's serious. Be smart.

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