You know things are bad when Kevin Colbert makes a mid-season trade. You know things are worse when he trades for a bad player. That's exactly what transpired today. Pending a physical, Brown will be joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, ostensibly to replace the ghostly hologram of a football player Mike Adams is.
Drafted 5th overall in 2007, Brown has pretty much been a bust in Arizona. Pro Football Focus ranks him the 60th most effective tackle in pass protection in the NFL. Remember that each team starts two tackles, and there are 32 teams. If every tackle were set in his position, Brown would rank 60 of 64. Mike Adams is 68.
So Brown is technically kind of an upgrade. The move itself isn't what's alarming, it's the organizational attitude the move illustrates. Trading for a 29 year old tackle isn't a move for the future, it's a move for now. As in, the front office still expects the team to compete this year. Now, everyone else in the AFC North is 2-2, so being two games back isn't a death sentence. But for a team that has struggled the way the Steelers have to find cohesion on offense, make stops of defense, and play well enough as an entire team to beat anyone, it's hard to look at the Steelers and say they need to go for it.
Perhaps I'm reading too much into this move, and it's simply Colbert giving his coaches literally any other option at tackle (this would also mean we can assume Guy Whimper is dead). But it's just about time for the Steelers to think about selling instead of buying and live to fight another day.
By the way, Max Starks was released by the Rams yesterday.
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