Grading Pittsburgh Steelers' Free-Agency Plan so Far

The 2017 NFL league year is now over a week old, a time which marks a flurry of activity among all 32 teams. Players are released, signed, re-signed and traded as the teams try to revamp and improve their respective rosters.

While the Pittsburgh Steelers are traditionally not particularly active on the open free-agent market, they are still taking care of business during this front-office-centric period of the offseason.

Here are the moves they have made thus far and grades that represent just how well these moves will serve the franchise in the upcoming season.

Using the Franchise Tag on Le'Veon Bell

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In a move that was telegraphed for months, the Steelers used the exclusive franchise tag on running back Le'Veon Bell at the end of February. The tag, worth $12.12 million for 2017, is considered a jumping-off point for a long-term contract.

Spotrac estimates Bell's annual per-year salary average to be $10.6 million, and he and the Steelers were discussing the future as recently as early March.

Franchising Bell was a smart move on the Steelers' part, who were otherwise set to let him test the open market as an unrestricted free agent if they did not take action. This gives Bell the assurance of a quick and large payday if a contract offer does not materialize and affords the Steelers time to negotiate.

Pittsburgh typically does not negotiate with players during the regular season, doing business instead prior to or after. It would be surprising, though, if the Steelers opt to wait for the latter to try to get Bell locked down for the long term.

Bell is a central component to Pittsburgh's offense being one of the most explosive and multifaceted in the league and thus one of the NFL's best at his position.

Bridging from the tag to a contract is a savvy and classic move in the NFL and should lead to Bell being quite happy, potentially playing out his entire career with the Steelers.

Grade: A

Extending Antonio Brown's Contract

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Just days before the 2016 NFL season kicked off, the Pittsburgh Steelers restructured the contract of star wideout Antonio Brown, converting future salaries and bonuses to give him a total of over $11 million in pay while promising him a lucrative, long-term contract prior to the start of the 2017 season.

They made good on the promise, signing Brown to a four-year, $68 million deal with $19 million guaranteed to round out the month of February.

Like tagging Le'Veon Bell with the expectation of reaching a mutual agreement on a multi-year deal, extending Brown's contract was a no-brainer. Just as Bell is among the NFL's best at the running back position, so is Brown at receiver.

He has eclipsed 1,100 yards in four of his six professional seasons and has notched double-digit touchdowns in each of the last three years, while frequently being the league's leader in receptions and yards and reaching five Pro Bowls.

The Steelers would not have their current identity without Brown's contributions. Like Bell, he is a once-in-a-generation-type talent that NFL teams do not willingly relinquish. Giving him a contract extension this year was a no-brainer.

Grade: A

Re-Signing James Harrison

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Save for the 2013 season spent with the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-year old linebacker James Harrison has been a Steelers lifer. His career has been an against-all-odds story, an undrafted free agent signed in 2002 who is now one of the oldest players in the NFL, though his on-field performance wouldn't indicate it.

Harrison had been operating on a two-year, $2.75 million contract that expired at the end of the 2016 season, but a reunion seemed inevitable. The Steelers eventually re-signed him prior to the start of the league year, on a two-year, $3.5 million deal with $500,000 guaranteed.

Though not an every-down player or every-week starter, Harrison remains a significant role-player in the Steelers' defensive front. He had five sacks, an interception and 39 solo tackles in 2016 and should continue to rotate in and out at outside linebacker in 2017, while the Steelers coach up a pass-rusher of the future to split starting duties with Bud Dupree in the years to come.

Harrison is not just a quintessential Steelers player, he is also still effective at menacing opposing quarterbacks. And the Steelers did not overpay to retain his specific brand of services.

As long as the focus is on getting younger players and finding Harrison's eventual replacement, this signing is smart and strategic.

Grade: B

Giving a Restricted Free-Agent Tender to Ross Cockrell

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Cornerback Ross Cockrell, signed off of waivers from the Buffalo Bills in 2015, became a full-time starter for the Steelers in 2016 all while working off of a one-year, $600,000 contract.

Although he notched no interceptions on the season, he had 14 passes defensed and 62 combined tackles, enough production for the Steelers to choose to keep him around for 2017.

But Pittsburgh did not give Cockrell a contract, instead choosing to use an original-round restricted free-agent tender on him, worth $1.797 million for the year.

This means that the Steelers will either pay that amount for his services for the upcoming season or another interested team would have to sign him to a contract, giving Pittsburgh a fourth-round pick (where Cockrell was initially drafted in 2014) unless the Steelers could match or beat the deal.

This appears to indicate that the Steelers do not anticipate Cockrell having such a large role in their defense in the upcoming season, perhaps moving him inside to nickel/slot cornerback duties while adding someone (perhaps via the draft) to work on the outside with second-year corner Artie Burns.

But it also indicates that the Steelers do value Cockrell; exactly how much would only be put to the test if another team swoops in with an offer.

If no other team does, though, that gives the Steelers the 2017 season to evaluate Cockrell's importance to the defense moving forward. Thus, a contract could come his way in 2018. It's a prove-it year for the 25-year old.

Grade: B

Re-Signing Landry Jones

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It seemed as though the Steelers were going to take a new direction at the backup quarterback position heading into free agency, with little chatter surrounding the future of Landry Jones, Pittsburgh's No. 3 and, most recently, No. 2 quarterback behind starter Ben Roethlisberger.

But, on the first day of the new league year, the Steelers opted to bring Jones back, giving him a two-year, $4.4 million contract with $600,000 in guaranteed money.

Jones, who has started four games in his career including two in 2016, struggles under pressure, has messy footwork and questionable accuracy. But these are things that can be said of most, if not all, backup quarterbacks in the NFL.

His upside, though, is the four years spent in Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley's system, an education that cannot be minimized considering the alternative.

Keep in mind, though, that Jones' low guaranteed money would make him an easy roster cut later in the year should the Steelers bring on another quarterback or ultimately prefer current third-stringer Zach Mettenberger as Roethlisberger's primary backup.

The Steelers' moves and decisions in the coming months will more accurately determine Jones' role in Pittsburgh and the NFL for the 2017 season. And if he stays? Keeping him is cheap. 

Grade: B

Re-Signing David Johnson

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David Johnson is the old-school model of a tight end: A blocker who does his job, quietly, effectively and who gets paid for it.

Granted, it's not a handsome payday, but it's good NFL employment for those who get it, and Johnson is now heading into his eighth year and sixth with the Steelers.

After returning to Pittsburgh on a one-year, $760,000 deal in 2016 following two years with the then-San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers, the Steelers re-signed him to a two-year, $2.05 million contract at the start of the league year.

Johnson is almost solely a run-blocker; of his 302 total snaps charted by Pro Football Focus last year, 207 were as a blocker in the run game, earning him a 58.6 grade, enough to rank him 23rd at the position on the season.

Though he sometimes catches passes—seven on 11 targets for 80 yards in 2016 and 29 catches for 296 and a score in his five seasons with the Steelers—he's mostly used to help advance the run in shorter-yardage situations and at the goal line.

This glorified fullback role, though, is one that the Steelers value, and Johnson is a player they can clearly trust. With Jesse James still learning the nuances of blocking for Pittsburgh's run game and Ladarius Green primarily a receiving option, keeping Johnson in the fold is a smart, short-term move.

Grade: B

Signing Justin Hunter

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According to both Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the Steelers made their first outside free-agent signing of the year on Wednesday, with the arrival of wide receiver Justin Hunter. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Joe Rutter reported Monday that the Steelers hosted the former Tennessee Titans man for a visit.

Hunter, the 34th-overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, had 68 receptions for 1,116 yards and eight scores in three years with the Titans before being waived last September. After less than a month with the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills picked him up in late September. He appeared in 12 games, starting five, and though he caught only 10 passes on 23 targets for 189 yards, he also had four touchdowns.

It's that touchdown ability that the Steelers are after, as well as Hunter's speed. The 6'4" wideout is a chains-mover and end zone-finder—on 29 first-down catches, 20 have netted a new first down, on 23 second-down catches, 17 have converted and on 26 third-down receptions, 21 have turned into first downs. And on his nine red-zone catches, six have resulted in touchdowns and eight in first downs.

Hunter represents insurance—notably for Martavis Bryant, who may or may not be reinstated from suspension this year; for Sammie Coates, who has battled through numerous injuries; and for potentially not hitting on a receiver in the draft.

But it also means that those three factors will influence whether Hunter retains his roster spot once the Steelers have to cut ranks to 53 men in September.

Grade: B