As Jerome Bettis often noted, it's a game of adjustments and the Steelers entered the weekend with two economic game plans: One if the NFL reaches an agreement with its players union by tomorrow night, and one if it does not.

Quarterback Tommy Maddox and cornerback Willie Williams found they weren't part of either game plan after being released yesterday to save nearly $2 million under the club's salary cap.

Maddox was to earn $1 million in 2006 and Williams $1,235,000. Both former starters, they slipped down the depth chart during the season to where they were inactive for most games.

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Also, Bettis' 2006 contract was eliminated when he went on the reserve/retired list, saving the team a little more than $5 million under the cap. Bettis was on the books for a $5,351,000 salary in 2006.

Those moves will save nearly $7 million under the team's salary cap. All three players were replaced on the roster by minimum-wage, first-year players who count $230,000 each against the cap. The top 51 salaries count against each team's salary cap until the season begins.

It allowed the Steelers to send tenders yesterday afternoon to their two restricted free agents. Cornerback Ike Taylor received a one-year $1.552 million tender and Sean Morey received one for $712,000. Each player can solicit offers in free agency, but the Steelers retained their right to match any other contract or, in Taylor's case, receive a first-round draft pick in return if they let him go.

"Ike is thrilled," said Scott Smith, Taylor's agent. "For him, it's an honor."

The Steelers' work is not yet done, though, as they prepare to restructure contracts to make more room under two scenarios.

Talks continued yesterday between NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFL union head Gene Upshaw to craft an extension for the collective bargaining agreement before the 72-hour delay for free agency ends at midnight tomorrow. If a new agreement is not reached, each team will have a $94.5 million salary cap, perhaps $10 million or more lower than what each team's cap will be if an agreement is reached.

That is why the Steelers, and virtually every other NFL team, have two plans ready to implement.

They have two separate plans to restructure the contracts of center Jeff Hartings (currently $4.75 million in 2006), backup center Chukky Okobi ($2 million) and halfback Duce Staley ($2.5 million). But first, they want to know under which salary cap they will be operating this year because it will determine how they will restructure the contracts.

If there is no new CBA agreement, the Steelers could lose Hartings or Okobi because either one might not agree to a severely reduced contract.

"We don't know yet. It depends on what the deal is," said Jim Steiner, an associate of Hartings' agent, Ben Dogra. "There are ongoing discussions. They are trying to work it out."

Maddox said two weeks ago that he expected to be released and that, "If it's time to move on, it's time to move on. I'm excited about the future."

Maddox, 34, signed with the Steelers in the summer of 2001 after he earned MVP of the now-defunct XFL. He had not played football for three full years before he played in the Arena League in 2000.

He replaced Kordell Stewart as the starting quarterback for the fourth game of the 2002 season and remained their starter until an elbow injury in the second game of the 2004 season opened the door for Ben Roethlisberger to replace him. Charlie Batch was promoted to No. 2 at midseason.

Batch is about to become an unrestricted free agent and the Steelers will try to re-sign him to back up Roethlisberger, but not before all the smoke clears over the weekend.

"I would just like to get somewhere where I can compete, whatever position that is," Maddox said. "That's probably one thing that I'm a little disappointed in myself. After being a starter for a few years and knowing the situation and knowing they drafted a quarterback No. 1, you kind of lose some of that competitive edge. I'd love to go somewhere where I can compete, have a shot to play and if it ends up being a backup then it's a backup. But I miss that edge going out and competing on a day-to-day basis."

Williams, 35, "will play if someone wants him, otherwise he's going to retire and get into the business world," said Steiner, his agent.

NOTE -- Veteran safety Mike Logan had surgery on a knee that was injured early in the Super Bowl against Seattle.