How To Piss Off A Fat Man

Life presents many deep questions. To be or not to be? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound? Is Lady Gaga really a dude? Add another inquiry to this list. Would you rather have a pissed off Casey Hampton on your roster, would you rather try to financially appease him with a long term contract, at the risk of being saddled with another huge contract doled out to a 30 something defender, or would you rather just move on, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of your once dominant defensive line?

The Steelers' front office is carefully pondering all three scanarios in their most current free agency conundrum, as they consider the use of the franchise tag while they continue to pursue a long term deal. The Hampton situation is one that will surely require front officemen Kevin Colbert and Omar Khan to earn their big boy bucks. This negotiation has more wrinkles than Hampton's enormous belly has stretch marks. The realities are simple: Hampton, a player already noted for an occasionally disagreeable attitude, has made it perfectly clear that he wants no part of the franchise tag. His reasoning, although seemingly greedy, is fiscally sound. At his age (33), a single year deal greatly reduces his opportunity for one last long term deal, and with it the large stack of guaranteed cash that comes via the signing bonus. Coming off another Pro Bowl season, and in decent health, Hampton will most likely never have this roster value again. Should he agree to a one year tender, and then have a unproductive season, or worse, sustain a serious injury, his chances of a juicy long term deal in 2011, at age 34, would be remote.

who wouldn't drop $30 million on this guy.

The Steelers' viewpoint is basically the same, only from the reverse angle. At Hampton's age and mileage, and given the fact that his overall conditioning is, well, less than stellar, it's a safe conclusion that his shelf life of high performance is probably three seasons or less. Let's also remember that Hampton has at least one major knee surgery on the books, and at 330+ pounds, his knees are already under formidable siege. Now the economics kick in. The team is already sitting on long term deals to elder defenders like James Farrior, James Harrison, and Brett Keisel. Guaranteeing mega bucks to yet another gray beard could prove to be financially strapping, if not disastrous down the road. So what does the armchair GM inside you say to do?

The public message that the team continually sends is that one viable course of action is to tag Hampton (most likely Franchise - Non Restricted), and then earnestly work towards a long term deal, like the handling of the Max Starks scenario from a year ago. The big difference between the two situations is that Starks was significantly younger, and the long term deal was much more viable to the team, in terms of recouping the bonus loot.

The Hampton camp appears to be ready for the forthcoming tag, and is now emitting softer messages regarding the potential action. Regardless of what road the team takes, it is critical to the overall success of the defense to get the Big Snack under contract for at least 2010. As said here before, Hampton devours running lanes like they were made of cookie dough, and his loss would be as enormous as his appetite. Perhaps the hidden leverage is that 2010 will most likely be an uncapped year, without a new collective bargaining agreement in tact. Maybe some North Shore hocus pocus can be spun, and maybe a long term deal can be struck with an exaggerated weight (no pun intended) placed on the 2010 season. Who knows? I imagine that by the time you are all in your afternoon drive, the decision will have been announced.