Posted on 08/30/2006 6:31:42 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
Steelers' Parker cashes in with new four-year deal
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
The Steelers rewarded starting halfback Willie Parker Thursday with a four-year, $13.6 million extension that included $3.75 million to sign.
In new money, the Parker deal is considered a three-year extension that totals $13.2 million and has him signed through 2009. He receives a $3.75 million signing bonus and keeps his $425,000 base salary. The Steelers can look it as a four-year deal worth $13.6 million while Parker looks at it as a three-year deal worth $13.2 million.
Parker was one of the great stories in 2005. An undrafted halfback out of North Carolina, Parker won the starting job and helped the Steelers win their fifth Super Bowl ring as an organization. The 5-foot-10, 209-pound Parker rushed for 1,202 yards on 255 carries and four touchdowns.
He was the Steelers' big play back and teamed up with Jerome Bettis in 2005 to give the Steelers a great one-two punch.
Bettis has since retired, and the Steelers are counting on Duce Staley to be team's big back. The Steelers are considering expanding Parker's role and maybe using him a little on third downs. Verron Haynes is the team's third down back, but Parker can give the Steelers some big-play run ability in passing situations.
Parker was an exclusive rights free agent with a salary of $425,000. He signed the one-year contract before the start of training camp with the hopes that the Steelers would reward him with long-term security.
Senior writer John Clayton covers the NFL for ESPN.com.
Duce is a nice back (I saw a lot of him with the Eagles), but he's not the kind of guy who's going to be the hammer that Bettis was (few can do what Bettis did for the Steelers).
And he hasn't exactly been durable of late.
0 / 3 in the Preseason. < |:(~
They gotta start showin' me somethin'. Cinci looked pretty tough the other night against Green Bay.
My boy Hines can't come back from IR soon enough.
He's a comparable back to Brian Westbrook. Better runner between the tackles (than Westbrook), but not quite the receiver(who is?). Westbrook had a reputation for being brittle. Despite that, the Eagles moved Staley & made Westbrook #1.
0/3 in the pre-season kind of bothers me, but remember last year the Colts went 0-4 in the preseason then promptly rattled off 13 straight wins to start the regular season. Not saying we'll pull that off, just a useful reminder of how little the scores matter in pre-season.
Preseason is a joke, the w/l means nothing
Staley never had Westbrook's speed nor hands. Since Philly runs a pure west coast offense, they have to go with the guy who can catch and run the ball.
Plus, Staley was injured a lot too. I see Parker getting the goal line work to open the season and his ability to keep that particular job will be based on results.
Preseason doesn't count in the standings, but it does mean something. Guys get cut based on bad preseason showings, and it can determine starters. Preseason shows the things that need to be worked on, and the preseason has showed that Cowher has some work to do to get the champs up to speed. I'm sure they'll be fine in the regular season because of the willingness to learn from preseason failures and successes.
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