William Gay returning to Steelers?
According to published reports, cornerback William Gay could be returning to the Steelers.
That noise you just heard was the sound of thousands of Steelers fans fainting in unison. Anyone who watched Gay play while he was with the Steelers will understand why his return would elicit that response from fans.
William Gay doing what he does.
Gay is scheduled to be at the Steelers training facility today, and he tweeted that he’s rejoining the Steelers. First he changed his Twitter account information to say “Cornerback of the Pittsburgh Steelers”. Then when asked on Twitter by Steelers’ safety Ryan Mundy if he was returning to the team, Gay replied “Yea.” He also wrote, “I’m glad I didn’t sell my condo in Pittsburgh.”
William Gay allows another TD
Gay would give the Steelers a veteran presence in the backfield. This is particularly important because it looks like Keenan Lewis may leave via free agency. If that happens, the Steelers don’t have much depth at the position.
At least he’s consistent.
The concern that I have over a possible return by William Gay is that he was arguably the most hated member of the team when he left. Gay’s career was schizophrenic. Fans were never sure if Gay was going to make a great play, or if he was going to get burned for a touchdown. But getting burned for touchdowns seemed to happen far more frequently.
Gay strikes again.
Gay spent 5 years with the Steelers before leaving in 2012 to join Ken Whisenhunt and the rest of the Steelers’ castoffs with the Arizona Cardinals. But after one season in Arizona, it looks like Gay will be returning to the Steelers.
He’s perfected this play.
So what do you fans think? Is Gay’s return a good thing or a bad thing? I’d love to hear your opinions.
Lest we forget.
I don’t think Gay’s likely return is a negative by itself because he is probably close to league-average cornerback play. The problem is what it likely signifies–losing Keenan Lewis and degrading the play of the Steelers’ strongest unit. While not a top NFL corner, Lewis is above-average and young. I’d prefer creating cap room by cutting Harrison (assuming he fails to accept a paycut) or even Troy (who cannot stay healthy long enough to justify his salary). Lewis helps us now by making our secondary second to none and secures the future when Ike Taylor is too old to play at a high level.
1He wasnt bad his last 2 years or so but i would prefer keenan lewis over him. Cortez is better then both of them in my opinion and maybe Curts Brown has gotten himself sorted out. Cutting Harrison and Troy for Lewis is totally foolish. Yes he is young and above average but Troy was hurt just this year and when he was healthy in the final two games you could see a difference. Harrison wasnt making the sacks but he kept his side locked down all year. Wanna make some cuts how about Colon(who really cant stay healthy), kiesel(who doesnt do much imo), Hampton(looked good this year for a change but would prefer McClendon). Right there alone has got to be 8-10 million because colon accounts for 5 by himself.
2Actually, Gay may be well-below league average. He gave up 15th most yards (726) according to ESPN.
3Dan,
I didn’t get to see Gay play last year, so I don’t know if he performed better than he did with the Steelers. However, the fact that he is leaving after only one season may be an indication.
But as DP said, he wasn’t bad during his last 2 seasons. He wasn’t “good” either, but I’ll admit that he did make a few nice (and even game saving) plays.
4DP,
I agree with you. I just can’t see cutting Harrison or Troy. But if just might happen.
As you said, if I had to make a tough decision and cut someone strictly for financial reasons, it would be Willie Colon (although LaMarr Woodley is also in the crosshairs). Colon gets hurt too often, and he may not be a good fit for a zone blocking scheme.
I could also agree with getting rid of Casey Hampton. But I have to disagree with you about Brett Keisel. He’s been a monster the past 2 years. He’s definitely been our best defensive lineman.
5CB leaves Steelers, plays for Arizona, they don’t want him, he comes back.
Am I talking about Bryan McFadden or William Gay. Hopefully it’s not desha vu all over again. (Because McFadden was TERRIBLE when he came back after 2 years away)
BTW if you type “nfl cornerback steelers cardinals” into Google you get a listing for McFadden first, and Gay second.
As far as cuts? Colon. Hurt too much. Good in run blocking, but shakey in pass protection. He is 6’3″ – how are guys getting under his pads that much? Have to be cheaper alternatives.
6I like the signing… relatively cheap for someone who knows the system… hopefully Horton didn’t turn him back into the old William Gay. He had his best season in his one season under Carnell Lake and I don’t believe that signing him signifies they are letting Lewis go… They currently have an injured 34 year old Ike and an unsure thing of Lewis coming back… which leaves Cortez Allen, who will be a beast, and unknowns in Josh Victorian and Curtis Brown (I think Victorian has more upside). Bringing Gay back only adds depth… hopefully.
7@Admin Monster whoa sir…With all do respect didnt I see a stat where kiesel went a year without getting a sack. Not sure of what he is costing the team but I think Cam Heyward,if he gets serious this offseason, can do the same level job kiesel was for less then half the price.
8@Steve Josh Victorian cost us the game against dallas…understandably cause he was a practice squad player thrown into the starting lineup. That game made me wonder what was up with curtis brown and where he was because ,imo, he should have been starting but they had victorian on bryant and I believe a guy name golden getting all the pt. That game victorian was good for atleast 7 yards every throw his way. Curtis brown did have a good game the next week against cincy though. Hope he does do better then mcfaddens comeback but he came cheap so you cant complain to much.
I could stomach him on special teams…but let’s hope he never sees anything beyond being the dime back. Ike, Lewis, and Allen are a good trio.
And Keenan Lewis needs to be priority #1 for the Steelers this offseason. Forget Wallace, forget some of these overpriced, oft-injured, mid-thirties players. Good, young CBs are hard to come by, and Lewis isn’t even hitting his prime yet.
9Victorian has the best ball skills out of anyone on the team except for maybe Allen. And the entire team played horribly against Dallas, not just Victorian…
I definitely agree that Keisel was the best defensive lineman these past few years, not even a contest. 3-4 DE’s aren’t going to get many sacks to begin with (unless your name is JJ Watt) and dp, you better start looking at the stats, because the last season that Keisel didn’t have a sack was in 2004 when he was a backup to Smith and Von Oelhoffen and was a nasty wedge buster on special teams. Keisel had 4.5 sacks last season, which on a team where the OLB’s are supposed to produce, that is a nice number, especially since Harrison led the team with 6 sacks… anyone who watched more than one Steelers game last year knows that he had an excellent year.
10I watched every game last year but 4.5 sacks sucks when Aaron smith in his prime use to produce 8-9-10. Cam heyward had 1.5 and didnt see half the snaps kiesel did so once again 4.5 isnt great and there were many times he was getting no pressure at all. Comparing him to a guy that missed 4 games an wasnt healthy when he did come back is a terrible comparison especially when harrison faced more then his fair share of double teams on that bad knee. Second the whole team didnt have a bad game Victorian did. He and golden got picked on left and right. They didnt even bother to mess with keenan lewis. His ball skills must not be that great if he was on the practice squad.
11If you looked at stats at all you would have realized that Aaron Smith’s best season sack wise came twice… 8 both times… other than that, he had two seasons with 5.5 sacks and the rest were either at or lower than Keisel’s 4.5. At Keisel’s age, Smith was not producing that many sacks in a season. I am not saying Keisel is better than Smith was, but you can’t say it was a crappy number of sacks when Smith only bested that number four times in his career, all when he was much younger than Keisel is currently. And it is fair to compare him to a guy who should have had a lot more than six sacks on the season, despite his injury.
And you really didn’t watch the Dallas game then, because the entire team sucked, especially the offense. Victorian had more interceptions in the pre-season than most of our defensive backs did the entire regular season… and pre-season combined. He is raw and not the tallest guy, which is why he was on the practice squad. And my grandmother can probably catch a football better than Ike Taylor or Keenan Lewis, so it isn’t too difficult to say that Victorian has better ball skills than them.
12First offense wasnt bad not great but not bad. 24 points a game puts them in the playoffs. Plus we know ben wasnt 100 percent but the issue was the defense giving up 24 plus points and having the ball thrown on them all day by tony romo with no ints. Preseason is just that preseason backups against backups. The defense only had 2 bad outings after week 5 which was the chargers game and the dallas game. Chargers game every one looked bad in the beginning. Dallas game josh victorian was getting smoked all game. Romo had just choked the week before against the bengals then went 30-42 with no ints. Austin and Bryant average over 10 yards a catch and most of that was on josh v because keenan eventually switched to bryant then romo started targeting austin. Back to kiesel its not all about sacks its also about pressure and there were plenty of times you can see kiesel standing at the line of scrimmage playing patty cake with the olineman. Thats is useless even if he only gets a good push that atleast puts the lineman close to the qb which gets in to his comfort zone and will force him to adjust somewhat but pattycake at the line of scrimmage does nothing.
13You really are not paying attention if you think Heyward and Hood have been playing better than Keisel has… I am not going to even address that any more, as you are obviously not going to change your mind when the evidence is clearly there in front of you.
As for Victorian… yeah, he got smoked by Dez Bryant when in his first start off of the practice squad… I have no idea how you expect anything else… he played much better after that game
14I have never said hood or heyward played better. I never even mention there names except to say heyward could probably do the same level job IF he got serious this offseason. Honestly the best prospect to me is Steve McClendon because it seems like with what few snaps he got he was always near the ball.Honestly ziggy has been a little dissappointing seems like he has some good games then other he just gets pushed around. I have seen way to many instances as a group(kiesel hood hampton are standing at the line of scrimmage doing patty cake and the qb is sitting pretty in a pocket. If hood wasnt young I would be readdy to ship him out as well. Even if you dont get the sack collapse the pocket a little and make the qb move a step or two.Josh v one word…excuses!!!I expected that when he stepped on the field he wouldnt be giving up 7+ yards every throw…it was basically pitch and catch. You brought up his “ball skills”.
15Funny… you just said that you wanted Keisel out because he wasn’t a good DE and wasn’t collapsing the pocket… but then said that the other guys played worse. I agree McClendon is easily the best prospect on the D-line and I have no idea why he didn’t start at NT last year. Keisel brought pressure and collapsed the pocket, but had no help on the line.
No more to say on Josh Victorian… there is no doubt he has more upside than Brown.
16The other guys are younger and cheaper then kiesel if im correct!!!
17