With the combine workouts over and free agency ready to open for business Friday, the Steelers' Kevin Colbert offered two surprising opinions about his team:
It is better today than it was one year ago, and the secondary does not need the overhaul or added speed others might think it does.
"We went one step less this year," Colbert, the club's director of football operations, said last week. "But I'm still encouraged because the majority of our players are still young and ascending."
The Steelers opened negotiations with several of their impending free agents since the middle of last week, including quarterback Charlie Batch, tight end Jerame Tuman and fullback Dan Kreider. Whether they can reach contract agreements with any of them before Friday is unlikely.
"We've had some conversations," said Kreider's agent, Jon Feinberg. "For us to do something before Friday, it would have to be pretty enticing. Dan is very interested in a long-term deal with the Steelers and is looking for a deal commensurate with the marketplace for fullbacks."
The Steelers won the new AFC North Division at 10-5-1 last season but lost in the second round of the playoffs at Tennessee. They went 13-3 in 2001 and played in the AFC championship game at home, in which they lost to New England, the eventual Super Bowl champion, by seven points.
Overall, their passing game improved last season, their running game slipped, their defense dropped and their kicking game improved.
A year ago, the Steelers faced more decisions about their players than they do now, Colbert said. Jason Gildon, Earl Holmes, Deshea Townsend and John Fiala were unrestricted free agents; Joey Porter, Aaron Smith and Amos Zereoue were restricted free agents; and Kris Brown and Oliver Ross signed elsewhere as restricted free agents.
The Steelers matched Ross' contract and kept him, put the franchise tag on Gildon and signed him and eventually signed Porter, Smith, Townsend, Fiala and Zereoue. They signed James Farrior to take Holmes' place, Todd Peterson to take Brown's place and wound up extending the contracts of Alan Faneca, Tommy Maddox, Mark Bruener and Kimo von Oelhoffen.
While they will have 14 free agents on Friday (10 unrestricted, four restricted), only three starters are among them. They've decided to allow two of them to find their fortunes elsewhere -- tackle Wayne Gandy and safety Lee Flowers. Kreider is a restricted free agent in a market that will be packed with good fullbacks.
Among the more important backups eligible for free agency are Batch, Tuman and restricted linebacker Clark Haggans.
"We have more of the team under contract this year than we did at this point last year," Colbert said. "So you feel good about where your team is and where it can be next year, based on just what you have coming back."
Contrary to popular opinion, Colbert said team officials and coaches do feel good about their secondary. The Steelers' pass defense was battered last season, slipping from No. 4 in 2001 to No. 20, even though it ranked fifth in the league in sacks per passing play.
Yet, Colbert believes the Steelers do not need to seriously address their secondary.
"I don't think so. We had a good team with our starting secondary. Obviously, our pass defense ranking dropped. Yeah, that's a concern. Anytime a part of your team does not perform statistically like we did the year before, you have to be concerned. But there's more than one factor in why any part of a team goes down. To single out a player or group of players is not correct."
New England and Oakland opened the season by successfully running spread offenses against the Steelers, and other teams followed. After the season, Flowers said the defense began playing more man-to-man coverage that involved him, and he was not suited to that style of play.
An apparent lack of speed in the secondary has often been cited as a problem for the Steelers, something Colbert vigorously denied.
"The speed thing just drives me crazy. I still think players are players. Everybody gets hung up on speed. Yeah, everybody wants fast, big, all this other stuff. But to say your team is slow or anything like that ... I don't get caught up in all the 'Oh, we're not fast enough.' Well, we're pretty good in some areas, let's not discount that. So I don't sit here saying we have to get faster. To me, faster's not always better.
"The organization has all the faith in the world in those guys who are returning."
Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.
Colbert says Steelers DBs fine for now 
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