INDIANAPOLIS -- Placing a non-exclusive franchise tag on tackle Max Starks was the first step in what will be an expensive offseason for the Steelers. Signing linebacker James Harrison to a contract commensurate with his performance as the NFL's defensive player of the year will be another.

The Steelers' offseason got off to a pricey start yesterday when Starks, a backup right tackle who started the final 14 games at left tackle for injured Marvel Smith, was designated the team's "franchise" player, a move that will keep him from becoming an unrestricted free agent and pay him a salary of $8,451,000 in 2009 -- the average of the NFL's top five offensive linemen.

"He was a big part of our success last year and, looking at the free-agent class, we felt this was one player we needed to keep," director of football operations Kevin Colbert said last night after the first day of the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. "We thought it was the right thing to do at the time in free agency to make sure we secured an important player."

The franchise tag placed on Starks was non-exclusive, meaning he is allowed to negotiate with other NFL teams. However, if he would receive an offer sheet from another team, the Steelers could match the offer or receive two No. 1 draft picks from that team in return.

The Steelers also could have used an exclusive franchise tag on Starks, which would have prohibited him from negotiating with other teams. But, under that designation, they also would have been required to pay him 120 percent of the average salary of the top five offensive linemen, or $10.14 million.

Either way, Colbert said, the Steelers want to sign Starks to a long-term contract, and they discussed the situation yesterday with his agent, Eugene Parker.

"We want to try and do something that is in the long-term interest of him and the team," Colbert said. "That's everybody's intention. That's our intention."

It is the second consecutive year the Steelers have used a tag to keep Starks from becoming an unrestricted free agent. He was named a "transition" player last season, even though he wasn't a starter, and was paid $6.9 million -- the average salary of the league's top 10 offensive linemen.

Since losing his starting job at right tackle to Willie Colon before the start of the 2007 season, Starks has earned $15.4 million in two years.

Nonetheless, the Steelers had to sign at least one of their three tackles who are unrestricted free agents -- Starks, Smith and Trai Essex -- and they chose Starks, who has been a starter on two Super Bowl teams.

"Last year, it may have been surprising to see [that designation] because he was a backup," Colbert said. "But with the injury to Marvel and Max stepping up and becoming the starting left tackle, we think he proved he can do that job. I think there is a difference between last year and this year."

Colbert stopped short of anointing Starks the starting left tackle -- "I think that's a determination only the head coach can make," he said -- but the decision to make him the franchise player means there is little likelihood the Steelers will sign Smith, 30, to any type of multiyear deal.

Smith has started only 17 games the past two seasons, failing to complete either one because of back injuries that required surgery.

"Will one signing affect the other? Yes," Colbert said. "Does it mean [Smith] will be out? No. I hate to say securing one player should mean the end of another player, only because we don't know what will happen over the next three weeks of free agency."

Parker wasn't the only agent with whom the Steelers met yesterday.

They also continued their discussions with Harrison's agent, Bill Parise, in an attempt to get a new deal for their All-Pro linebacker. Harrison made only $1.2 million this season when he was named the NFL defensive player of the year and is scheduled to make $1.4 million in 2009, the final year of a contract he signed in '06 -- numbers that pale when compared with the $8 million received by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs this season.

Colbert said the Steelers did not rework Harrison's contract after the '07 season, when he made the Pro Bowl in his first season as a starter, because of their policy of not redoing contracts (other than quarterbacks) with more than one year remaining. Now, they want to reach a deal that would allow Harrison, who will be 31 May 4, to finish his career with the Steelers.

"He's earned a chance to finish his career here," Colbert said. "We recognize what James has done for this organization. He made a game-changing play in the Super Bowl. He's a special player and he's proven that. You want to try to take care of him if you can."