Good morning,

    The Steelers, who planned to allow all of their free agents to hit the market without an offer, obviously changed their minds with Ramon Foster. Perhaps they surveyed their offensive line, saw what little depth and little experience they had there and decided they needed to add to it. Either way, it was a good move by them.
      They could not continue to go with Willie Colon, as well as he played at midseason in 2012 after his adjustment to playing left guard. He’s been on injured reserve in each of the past three years. He probably would have taken a paycut but Foster has been the most durable, he’s capable and he can also play tackle in a pinch.
    So, too, can Kelvin Beachum, who looked as though he would be their starting left guard. Now he appears to be their swing man as the backup guard-tackle.
 All they need now is a backup center. That could be Doug Legursky, who is an unrestricted free agent, or John Malecki, who is on the roster.
      Onto some stuff:
 --- If he signs with Miami, as expected, Mike Wallace will be going for the money, not the best place to win a Super Bowl. However, sometimes finding the best places to win the Super Bowl is not easy. If teams are good enough to be Super Bowl contenders they either do not need a player such as Wallace and/or do not have the money to pay him.
--- Wallace, though, may find it a little different catching passes from Ryan Tannehill than he did Ben Roethlisberger.
 --- Rashard Mendenhall would be one of those free agents the Steelers might pursue if he had become free with another team. He is young, talented, and should come at a bargain.
 --- With Stevenson Sylvester now an unresrtricted free agent, they need Larry Foote more than ever.
--- Chat today at 1:30 p.m.
Onto your questions:
--- YOU: Am I correct that the difference between the low tender and high tender for Steve McClendon amounted to only $700,000? If the Steelers truly think he’s a capable starting nose guard in the 3-4 defense, that’s a big risk (losing him), for minimal reward (saving $700,000). If the Steelers can’t pay a capable starting nose guard $2,000,000 as opposed to $1,300,000, then their cap issues are more severe than I thought. Do you think that they’re not as high on Steve McClendon than reported? What are your thoughts?
ME: The Steelers have a good record of placing RFA tenders on players and not losing them. However, I am with you on this one because I thought McClendon showed enough last season that someone will at least give him a decent offer, one the Steelers may not be able to match.
--- YOU: Should we be reading anything into the appearance that the Steelers are dragging their feet on restructuring LaMarr Woodley? Are they trying to put that off unless they absolutely must?
ME: Yes,  they must be. Remember that they still need room to sign their draft picks, although they do not count against the cap until they’re signed. I also think they’re trying as hard as they can to avoid pushing any more money into the future and maybe by not restructuring Woodley, it is a message they are sending.
 --- YOU: I missed a lot of the Harrison reporting - but had a question - let's say that Harrison decides that if he's going to play for less $ than he wants, he may as well play for the Steelers. Granted not likely on a couple of levels, but is this possible?
ME: I would think that if James Harrison does not get the kinds of offers he expected as a free agent, it would be possible he could return to the Steelers, albeit a long shot.

First Published: April 6, 2016, 4:16 p.m.