Countdown: Only Dennis Dixon until training camp

Hey, only two days until training camp!

Big news floating around the Steelers today. Director of football operations Kevin Colbert inked a new five-year deal. I’m very excited about this. Colbert is one of the better personnel and operational minds in the game and he has helped to continue the long tradition of winning for the Steelers. There have been several rumors in the past that he was looking for a new challenge. There has always been lots of talk that Bill Cowher will only return to coaching with Colbert on his team. It looks now like Colbert is happy in Pittsburgh and not planning to leave any time soon. The coaches and players and even the owners get a ton of credit for the team’s recent Super Bowl wins, but Colbert played as key a role as anybody. I’m glad to see he’ll be sticking around.

News also surfaced that the Steelers expect to reach an agreement with 2nd-round pick LB Jason Worilds before camp breaks on Friday. Getting to camp on time is always important for rookies but especially so for any rookie linebacker in Dick LeBeau‘s complicated scheme. Maurkice Pouncey is the only draft pick still unsigned. With all of the injuries up front, he obviously needs to report to camp ASAP.

Lastly, news broke yesterday that the Bengals signed the one and only TO to a contract, continuing the bizarre theme of signing troubled and overrated players the last few years. The signing is getting a lot of play on ESPN and I’ve even read a few pieces saying that this could make them a “very dangerous” team in the AFC. I’m not buying it. TO carries a lot of baggage and brings a ton of hype, but he just is not that good of a wideout anymore. Statistically, he is comparable to Jerricho Cotchery or Mike Sims-Walker and I certainly wouldn’t call the addition of either of those guys the missing piece to a Super Bowl-caliber team. Owens/Ochocinco will be a lot of fun to watch, but it’s not like the Bengals have the next Moss/Welker or Fitzgerald/Boldin going on here. Odds are probably close to 50 percent that Owens isn’t even playing come week 17.