Oh Max, where art thou?
At 6’8″ tall and 345 lbs., Steelers’ offensive tackle Max Starks should be impossible to miss. Yet, missing he has been. Some have hypothesized that he’s in the Witness Protection Program. Others speculate that he’s on a top secret mission in Afghanistan. Here at Steelers Today, we believe he’s yet another victim of alien abduction (along with Dick Cheney, Barry Bonds, Tommy Davidson, and Limas Sweed).
When Steelers guard Kendall Simmons was injured and placed on the injured reserve list for the season, Steelers fans assumed that Max Starks’ role in the offensive line would increase. Wrong! When Marvell Smith battled cramps in the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Starks was the obvious replacement, right? Wrong! Perhaps we were hallucinating (we do that sometimes), but we could have sworn we saw Steelers kicker Jeff Reed play a few snaps at right tackle while Starks languished on the bench. Apparently, the Steelers believe that career backups and practice squad players can make a greater contribution to the Steelers offensive line than their $7 million man.
When questioned on the subject, Steelers Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians said “Max is far too important to us as a 4th tight end. It would be a waste of his considerable talent to play him at tackle”
Kevin Colbert, the Steelers’ Director of Football Operation shared a more business-oriented view of the Starks situation. When asked about Starks, Colbert said “We’re paying Max $7 million dollars this year. He’s our highest paid offensive lineman. Do you think we’re going to risk his health by letting him actually block somebody? We’ve got to protect our investment”.
Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s answer was much more to the point. When asked why Starks hasn’t been playing, Tomlin replied, “Who?”
If you should happen to see Max Starks (at the grocery store, or perhaps the library), please call Steelers Today at 1-800-FourthTE, or e-mail us at Where’sMax.com.
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WTF! Why is this guy not playing? Better question, why is he still on the team? Better yet, why did we (the Steeler’s front office) dish out this kind of money for this guy?
He’s started in this league before, he’s one of the biggest players in the league, and he’s one of the highest paid BACK-UPS in the league. What is going on here? When we need offensive lineman the most, why hasn’t this cat stepped up? Does anybody have an answer? I’m interested (and so is the rest of the Steeler nation) in hearing it.
Great article by the way.
1The Steelers are acting childish on this one, pay him off and let him loose. One caution remember Keydrick Vincent we let him go because he wasn’t bright enough. Check out his history he is still in the NFL (althought with his 5th different team) but he is still playing.
2Thanks for the compliment. It is good to know that someone other than my mom is actually reading my blog.
I agree with you on Max. He is one of the biggest tackles in the league. He started for us when we won the Superbowl. It is hard to believe that he is totally useless now.
I’ve heard that Willie Colon is a natural guard, not a tackle. If that’s the case, why hasn’t the team tried moving him to guard and inserting Max at Tackle? Is the team saying that even a guy who is a “natural guard” is better than our $7 million tackle?
One thing that seems to be certain is that Max Starks will not be resigned next year.
3Shawn,
I disagree with you on letting Max go. If I understand you, you are suggesting that they simply cut him in mid-season. That would accomplish nothing. They’d still have to pay him, and that would leave him unavailable to us if Willie Colon got hurt.
Besides, he’s too valuable as a 4th tight end for us to cut him.
4