Not the Summer of George
It’s been lingering for a while now, and despite lurking somewhat under the radar, the possibility of San Francisco 49ers TE George Kittle missing Week 1 against the Steelers has become a very real possibility.
Couple the possibility of Kittle’s absence with the possibility of Nick Bosa not showing up, or showing up rusty, and it’s a wonder the Steelers are still home underdogs next Sunday.
Tight End Money Getting Interesting
Everytime I bring it up, someone wants to shout me down that it’s not a concern.
That’s fine. At this point in time, maybe you’re not worried about it. But Omar Khan should be keeping one eye on it.
‘It?’
The tight end market.
Pat Freiermuth will be eligible for a contract extension after this season, the third on his four-year rookie deal.
Do yourself a favor and google some tight end rankings. Maybe even put some stock in what the folks at Pro Football Focus say.
Or just look at the numbers.
In Hockenson’s third season, he pulled in around 5 catches/game for a little less than a 10 yards per reception average and only 4 TDs in 12 games.
Are you trying to tell me if the Steelers offense isn’t going to be as good as you think it is, Freiermuth can’t pull in 85 receptions for 10 yards/catch and 5-6 TDs?
If he does, he’ll rightfully be expecting at least Top 5 tight end money, which is going to put him in the neighborhood of $15-16 million/year with at least $25-30 million guaranteed.
Can the Steelers afford it? Sure.
Can they make it fit under the cap? Yeah, but it’s going to mean less money to spend elsewhere. About $13-14.5 million less per year. (Freiermuth’s making $1.5 million now.) And it would also make him the 2nd- or 3rd-highest paid player on the team, behind only T.J. Watt and right on par with Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Speaking of Big Money Deals
The sale of the Washington Commanders to a group led by Josh Harris, who currently holds less than a 5% minority share in the Pittsburgh Steelers with David Blitzer, means Harris has to divest himself of those shares to avoid a conflict of interest.
That means another current minority owner, Thomas Tull, is reportedly intersting in increasing his stake by acquiring Harris & Blitz’s shares.
What would that mean for the Steelers on the field, or even in business or in the community? Very little. Tull has been a minority owner since 2009, and other than letting Heinz Field score a cameo in The Dark Knight Rises, and more recently, re-naming the stadium after his insurance company, his impact has still been that of a minority owner: Quiet and mostly uninfluential.
The More Things Change…
Nobody asked me, but I think I’d prefer if they’d just changed the name back to KBL.
In all seriousness though, it sounds like good news that the network will continue to be operated from right here in Pittsburgh. That means that -hopefully- there won’t be any job-cutting.
Still unresolved however, is the future of Pirates broadcasts. Will they work out a deal with Fenway to air on SportsNet Pittsburgh? Will they hand over productions & rights to MLB? What would it look like if they did? Could another group with local interests -CBS (KDKA-TV2), Cox (WPXI Channel 11), Hearst (WTAE Channel 4)- swoop in and snag the rights?