Starks Decides to Stick with Steelers

The Steelers have never seemed to fully know what to do with Max Starks, but it seems clear that Starks has always wanted to be a Steeler.

Two years ago, Pittsburgh slapped Starks with a transition tag--guaranteeing him a contract worth nearly $7 million even though he was considered a backup. It took an injury to Marvel Smith to finally get Starks into the lineup on an everyday basis.

A year later, Starks was slapped with the franchise tag, as Pittsburgh once again decided that it both couldn't part with Starks, but also wasn't willing to work out a long-term deal immediately. But Starks has now gotten his long-term contract. although the terms seem more favorable to the Steelers than to Starks.

Starks gets $10 million guaranteed, according to ESPN. If that's true, it's not a big bump over the $8.451 million he was already slated to receive because of his franchise tag. In exchange for roughly $1.5 million in guaranteed money and a four-year, $26-million deal, Starks gave up the chance on hitting the free agent market until he's 31.

Starks clearly wanted to stay in Pittsburgh and was willing to work with the team to make that happen. His new deal will carve roughly $3 million in current cap room, which may be enough to help the Steelers re-up tight end Heath Miller. And his $6.5 million per year contract seems relatively reasonable in cap terms, even if he is only an adequate left tackle. The reality is that Pittsburgh has no likely long-term replacement on the roster, so if they didn't re-up him, they were looking at likely having to slap another franchise tag on him next year or risk trying to break in a rookie first-round pick as a starter at the line's toughest position.

By re-signing Starks, Pittsburgh now has three of the five projected starting offensive linemen for 2009 under contract with only Wilie Colon and Justin Hartwig headed to free agency after the season. That's good news if you believe in offensive line continuity and bad news if you want to see a talent upgrade at the position. As far as continuity, Starks is now the only remaining starting lineman from the 2005 Super Bowl champs.

If you're prone to worry, it's worth noting that Starks' worst pro season came in 2006 after the last Steelers' Super Bowl win. He showed up heavier than he should have and struggled, including a disastrous game against Derrick Burgess and the Raiders. Eventually he lost his job to Colon.

By the way, if you want to make sure a Steelers story doesn't get a big splash, announce it in late June. It's worth noting that neither the Post-Gazette or the Tribune-Review have a byline on their stories of the Starks' signing--all the beat writers are probably on vacation considering how slow this time of year normally is for the team.