• Free agent cornerback William Gay has signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers West Arizona Cardinals. With Gay signing elsewhere and Bryant McFadden being released, we may be seeing more of Cortez Allen and Curtis Brown.
• The NFL awarded the Steelers three compensatory draft picks in the upcoming NFL Draft. The picks, all coming in the seventh round, were awarded based on Nick Eason, Keyaron Fox, and Matt Spaeth signing with other teams last year. Who knew that Matt Spaeth would actually be good for something?
• Steelers GM Kevin Colbert believes that Rashard Mendenhall will play at some point this season.

“To clarify, what I said was I never think players coming off an ACL are 100 percent for a full year. It doesn’t mean they can’t play,” Colbert said Sunday in advance of the NFL Annual Meeting, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “At some point, we’ll have Rashard back. I’m confident of that.”

flickr/AxsDeny

Could Ward Watch 2012 be nearing its end?

According to NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora, Hines Ward will not be a Steeler next season.

Ward has one year and $4 million left on his contract with the Steelers. The Steelers, however, are facing a salary cap crunch and need to find ways to get under the salary cap. The Steelers have already cut Bryant McFadden and Arnaz Battle and are in the process of restructuring contracts of various players.

» Continue reading “Rumor: Hines Ward To Be Released”

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse on the injury front.

James Harrison will be out for the next several weeks with an orbital fracture around his right eye. Harrison will have surgery Wednesday and will be out “a number of weeks” according to Mike Tomlin. What’s even better? Harrison’s back-up, Jason Worilds is doubtful with a quad strain.

Other injury-rated items of note:

• Aaron Smith has a “mid-foot sprain” and is questionable for Sunday’s game.
• Mewelde Moore has a left ankle sprain and could miss the game.
• Rashard Mendenhall has a right hamstring injury that may only limit his practice time.
• Ben Roethlisberger has a sprained left foot, and may only see limited practice time.
• Doug Legursky, Jonathan Scott, and Bryant McFadden should be well enough to play.

Week three has come and gone and in its wake are more names added to the injury list. In today’s press conference, Mike Tomlin discussed the various injuries:

• Marcus Gilbert briefly left Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury. He is expected to practice this week.
• Jonathan Scott is questionable with an ankle sprain.
• Doug Legursky is also questionable with an injured shoulder.
• Brett Keisel sat out Sunday’s game and is questionable this week.
• Mike Wallace suffered a “cartilage injury”, but is expected to play.
• Jerricho Cotchery and Bryant McFadden should be ready this week.

“I am swapping our padded practices up this week,” said Tomlin. “We will go in helmets only on Wednesday and we’ll carry our shoulder pads on Thursday. We believe that approach will help us deal with some of these injuries and be inclusive in terms of practice and give some guys an opportunity to practice on Wednesday and give them another day to participate on Thursday.”

• Rookie Baron Batch was carted off the field yesterday after injuring his knee during practice. He may have torn his ACL and will miss the season. From what I hear, he seemed really promising in training camp, and it’s a shame he was injured. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery!
• In other injury-related news, Mike Tomlin confirmed that six players will not play Friday versus the Redskins. These players include Chris Kemoeatu (knee), Bryant McFadden (groin), Emmanuel Sanders (foot), Cortez Allen (hamstring), Eugene Bright (PUP list), and Mario Harvey (groin).
• In non-injury news, the Steelers signed former Jet WR Jerricho Cotchery . Cotchery is expected to be the Steelers’ fifth receiver and will not join the team until Sunday.