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Vince Williams' time with Steelers over?


armsteeld

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Vince is due $3.8 million whereas Matakevich is making &735k and with Mark Barron signing and the play of rookies Devin Bush and Ulysses Gilbert III, I can see the team moving in from him. Bush and Barron bring too much speed and to split time with Williams would be a waste. What are y'alls thoughts?

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I think vince still has a place on this team. I think against teams like the ravens he will be an asset over the other lbs because we know he is a plus run defender and a plus run blitzer. I like the potential of the others but they are legit unknown assets in being able to handle the same run duties. After this season could be a much different story if we get to see some of the others hold their own on those assignments. We have the cap room for him this year and he will have his role in helping this team win in certain situations.

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44 minutes ago, Big Snack said:

I think vince still has a place on this team. I think against teams like the ravens he will be an asset over the other lbs because we know he is a plus run defender and a plus run blitzer. I like the potential of the others but they are legit unknown assets in being able to handle the same run duties. After this season could be a much different story if we get to see some of the others hold their own on those assignments. We have the cap room for him this year and he will have his role in helping this team win in certain situations.

Vince himself is part of the problem with the run defense. He lacks sideline to sideline ability and teams like the Ravens love to attack the edges. 

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I mean he is a solid blitzer, a good thumper, but they shouldn't have ever given him the new contract. He is going to be a liability more often than not which is why I believe he will not be a starter, not for long at least. I do think itll be Barron and Bush lining up side by side more often than not. I think this is Vinces final season as a Steeler.

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Feels like I have about 3% of the faith in Barron being a capable full time ILB as most others.

Personally, I think Vince Williams is still a very capable guy - more as a rotational 50% snap type of person. Vince was at his best as the number 2 guy next to an athlete that covered his flaws (and vice versa). He is back to being that guy, so I suspect him to have a decent year again. 

Would love if Gilbert became a huge steal and could line up next to Bush (and Barren?) for years to come. But as of right now, Ill still take Vince provided Tomlin and Butler quit asking players to do things they cannot do over, and over again. 

All three ILB have a role this year and Vinces role is actually the one I am least skeptical of. 

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7 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

Feels like I have about 3% of the faith in Barron being a capable full time ILB as most others.

Personally, I think Vince Williams is still a very capable guy - more as a rotational 50% snap type of person. Vince was at his best as the number 2 guy next to an athlete that covered his flaws (and vice versa). He is back to being that guy, so I suspect him to have a decent year again. 

Would love if Gilbert became a huge steal and could line up next to Bush (and Barren?) for years to come. But as of right now, Ill still take Vince provided Tomlin and Butler quit asking players to do things they cannot do over, and over again. 

All three ILB have a role this year and Vinces role is actually the one I am least skeptical of. 

Agree. Vince is ok on "Run Downs" as long as he's not in coverage and is next to a guy that can go sideline to sideline (aka Barron/Bush/Gilbert). I've never been a fan of VW as a starter but this has more to do with the concerns I have about Barron being a full time ILB. He looks more like a DB then a LB. Maybe because he is. 

Edited by Chieferific
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I'm not even convinced Barron can be a fulltime starting ILB, I just dont love VW doing it. The only thing that really changed in our LB Corps is the presence of Devin Bush. That's a good thing but it's also concerning because OLB and ILB depth leave a lot to be desired.

If a starter goes down we could be in serious trouble.

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Williams isnt really cuttable til after the 2020 season due to dead $$$ especially after they restructured him...even then it’s eat $3 mill and save $4 mill.

Barron is easier to cut after this year...save $5mill and eat $3 mill.

Williams despite what we think of him, isn’t going anywhere.

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I think the big issue with VWill I have is the FO/Coaches settled with him.

Shazier covered well enough for VWill's weaknesses and allowed them to use VWill in a way that best suited him, being a middle shallow zone backer with A-gap blitz ability.  They got lulled into a tase belief that they were set there, and never invested enough in the position to try to upgrade to someone who could give you what VWill gives you with even average sideline to sideline run stopping ability.  And I fear they did the same thing at OLB with Dupree and Watt, believing that they are set with Dupree, because despite his individual limitations and weaknesses, his skillset plays off of Watt's skillset really well.

There's only one position on this team that they never truly 'settle' because the starting combination is 'good enough' in their eyes and that's at WR.  They continually drafted guys (rounds 3-4) who you would expect to somewhat contribute.  I truly believe that in the 2017 NFL Draft, they should have targeted another ILB in that mid-round range.  They knew at that point that VWill had liabilities, and Shazier was a guy that could cover for them, but there was room to improve.  I blame some of it on exactly what some of ya'll wanted, which was they were keeping VWill because he was the guy to come off the field in nickel situations rather than the NT.  But if they approached the situation differently, I'm certain we wouldn't be having this conversation now.

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I never liked the idea of colbert signing him to such a deal, another colbert fail - last year again:o williams should be gone with the new talent here but once again, time for colbert o admit he was wrong last year, and that might not happen. He has burns to cut and now williams? Fort should be here, now williams

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Well here’s what changed my take on it too:

Colbert publicly admitting that was the case last year. I used to chop it up to they had too many needs to prioritize improving on that area. But it hit the point imo where it wasn’t trying to catch up, but they were tricking themselves into it was fine at spots. 

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