There’s one thing you’ve gotta love about the NFL off season: The unpredictable rhythm of the news cycle. This is a sharp contrast to the regular season or even training camp, where they news cycle is defined by:
- post game interviews
- game debriefings
- press conferences
- injury reports
- in-locker room visits
- conference calls with out of town press
- sit down chats with the TV crews
Then finally, there’s the game itself.
No such template exists for the NFL off season. It’s the wild west, where every agent is a bounty hunter, every player a claims speculator, every reporter a saloon keeper, and every general manger a would-be county sherriff desperate to instill order.
Such it was that James Starks never made the vist that was “promised” to Pittsburgh, Jerricho Cotchery left the Steelers cruise in search of a contract with Carolina and not the South Side, Lance Moore arrived for his Tuesday visit on Wednesday and Maurice Jones-Drew showed up “unannounced at the South Side.” Jones-Drew would give the Steelers the veteran back up they’ve been seeking for Le’Veon Bell in the wake of Jonathan Dwyer’s departure.
He and Moore also left the South Side without contract offers, if reports are to be believed. And as of 11:00 pm eastern on March 19th, Jerricho Cotchery had still not made up his mind between competing offers from Carolina and Pittsburgh.
- And the biggest news didn’t even involve any of the above.
Last week James Harrison was cut by the Bengals. Later this week he was interviewed and asked where he’d like to finish his career.
- Debo wants to finish his career with the Steelers
And he’s not talking about one of the one day contract signings that are now in vogue. Harrison wants to play, and reports are that the Steelers are seriously considering welcoming him back.
This amounts to a very large turn about for the franchise, who cut Harrison a year ago, and then said “thanks but no thanks” when Harrison indicated he wanted back on the team after finding little interest on the free agent market.
Suffice to say, Steel Curtain Rising will be monitoring this story as it develops.
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