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Steelers hurt by distractions?

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The best blocking tight end in the league is hurt again. So, too, is the new quarterback. The starting right tackle was arrested and handcuffed after he was caught smoking marijuana in a hotel with the window open in July in Arizona. This came days after receiver Plaxico Burress appeared before a judge in Virginia on alcohol charges. Their best defensive end is threatening to hold out almost to Armistice Day. And their top rookie, who will compete for a starting job at guard, hasn't signed a contract yet.

	Defensive end Aaron Smith won't report to camp on time. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette)

The distractions would seem to be piling as high as the expectations for the Steelers when they report to training camp tomorrow evening at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.

The agent for Aaron Smith, for example, said last night that the starting defensive end will not arrive in training camp tomorrow.

"Absolutely not," Peter Schaffer said. "And it's not a holdout because he doesn't have a contract."

Schaffer has been working on a long-term deal for Smith with the Steelers but the two sides are nowhere near an agreement and have not talked since last week. Smith was a restricted free agent who was given, as required, a one-year contract tender by the Steelers that remains on the table -- at $1.227 million -- while they negotiate a longer-term deal. Schaffer has threatened to keep him from signing anything until just before the 10th game of the season.

While that is headed for distraction No. 1, Coach Bill Cowher actually delivered some good news with the bad yesterday.

First off, he said tackle Marvel Smith likely won't be suspended by the NFL if he is convicted of marijuana possession. Then, after revealing that Mark Bruener and Charlie Batch would open training camp on the physically unable to perform list, he said their injuries were minor and their absences would be brief, and expected both to be practicing by next week.

And those contract negotiations that seem so heated on the eve of training camp have a way of quickly cooling off and coming to a conclusion before too long.

So, what first looked like the early, dire warnings from the Russian K-19 might be mere blips on the radar screen.

Batch, signed in the middle of June to compete for the job as backup quarterback, had an even more optimistic outlook than his coach. Batch felt soreness in his left knee while he was running about 10 days ago and a piece of loose cartilage was discovered.

"It was floating around, got caught in a groove," Batch said yesterday. "I thought it was a muscle spasm."

They discussed whether to do nothing at all, but then decided to pop it out with an arthroscope.

Batch met with a Steelers trainer yesterday and said he now might suit up for the first practice at Latrobe Friday. He will run and throw today, run Thursday and "see how it responds," Batch said. "If there's nothing, I'll practice on Friday."

Bruener, who missed seven games last season because of a torn rotator cuff, got a sprained foot while running recently.

Marvel Smith, their starting right tackle the past 1 1/2 seasons, likely will enter the NFL's substance abuse program and be subjected to random testing because of his arrest in a Tempe, Ariz., hotel room. Second-time offenders can be suspended for four games.

"I do not believe that it will end up with any suspension," Cowher said. "But there will be some steps that he will have to follow, and we will definitely comply with the league in regards to that."

The other Smith, Aaron, remains the biggest potential distraction to a team favored to win the AFC championship. The Steelers do not have great depth at defensive end even though Cowher said he would "open up the opportunity" to players if Smith does not report. He said he would move Rodney Bailey into Smith's spot.

Bailey, a sixth-round draft choice from Ohio State last year, played well in his one start for an injured Kimo von Oelhoffen at right end in 2001, and as a substitute. But Bailey seems better suited on the weak or right side than on the left, where Smith's value comes as a sturdy two-gap player who also can rush the passer, as his 8 1/2 sacks showed.

Schaffer rightfully points out that Smith is not obligated to sign the Steelers' one-year tender and practice while the Steelers work on negotiating a longer-term deal. Technically, he could hold out until just before the 10th game of the season, sign the one-year deal and become a free agent after the season. Rarely do players take that course, but it has happened. If they stay out after the 10th game, they no longer can report and they lose their status as a free agent the following year.

Tight end Mark Bruener will open camp on the physically unable to perform list because of a sprained foot. But Coach Bill Cowher said Bruener is expected to be back on the field next week. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette)

Players do not receive their salaries until the start of the regular season. Veterans such as Smith earn $750 a week until then. Schaffer said it would cost $80,000 to insure Smith against injury -- to provide the kind of protection he would be seeking in a contract -- and the player won't pay that. However, that $80,000 might seem cheap if Smith stays out and starts missing paychecks at $72,000 weekly during the season.

"As much as he'd like to be in training camp," Schaffer said, "what is the value and what is the risk of injuries and all that other stuff? He has a family to look after. Insurance has gone through the roof. He has no obligation to be in training camp."

It's been a long time since a player has held out into the regular season for the Steelers. The previous one to do it, linebacker Mike Merriweather, missed the entire 1988 season as a holdout under contract. Rod Woodson did not sign as a rookie in 1987 until late October.

"They know what our position is," Schaffer said. "They know what has to happen. Barring that, he has no obligation to perform for the team. It would be totally different if he had a contract, but he doesn't. And so, his only remedy is to withhold services."

Or, he could sign the one-year contract, pocket the $1.227 million this season, help the Steelers to the Super Bowl and become an unrestricted free agent next year -- provided he does not come to an agreement between now and Sept. 9, the start of the regular season.