The View From Here

The Steelers sent Santonio Holmes to the Jets last night for virtually nothing. A fifth-rounder, which is the real life equivalent of the guy being traded for the cold Coors Light.  There are so many angles with this that they’ll have to be addressed individually, but they all add up to the Steelers being lucky as all get out.

Except one: Santonio Holmes had sort of become the main piece on offense after Ben NoMeansNo. The identity of the Pittsburgh attack was not the pounding of the running game or the dink and dunks to Hines Ward. It was a play breaking down, Ben hurling the ball downfield and Holmes being around to catch it. So for this very moment, the Steelers lost.

But, here are the many ways they lucked out considerably.

1)    Holmes Screwed Up. The fact that Holmes did anything wrong at all is the best thing that could have happened to the Steeler organization. While the allegations against him were not as strong as the ones against Roethlisberger, they could be in a position to say, “We take character seriously” without having to make a drastic move with their serial rapist franchise player. Sure, Holmes is good, but Ben’s the team. He became the perfect fall guy. If he doesn’t hurl a glass at a lady, the Steelers have to figure out how they can save face while still keeping their quarterback. Now they don’t have to.

2)    They got something at all for Holmes. The Steelers are very good at not succumbing to players’ high-priced demands, which means a lot of them leave in free agency (see Plaxico Burress, another class act). Holmes specifically wanted No. 1 receiver money and to play in a bigger market: Chicago, DC, New York. Boom, goes to the Jets, gets what he wants. So the Jets now have a potentially loaded roster and all it cost them was a 5^th-rounder. The Steelers got a compensatory pick. But ...

3)    Dez Bryant is slipping. Does no one else see the writing on the wall? Is there any way Pittsburgh makes this trade if Bryant shows up on time to his pro day? The best receiver in this draft and many others is going to slip like Randy Moss did in 1998. The Steelers pick at 18 and have eleven picks in the draft. If he gets past Miami (or maybe even not), the Steelers will have a clear shot at a guy who’s better than Holmes and cheaper in the short term. They couldn’t have justified taking him with Holmes still on the roster, considering they also have Ward and Mike Wallace. But now, it makes total sense. This is the master plan, and it just fell into Pittsburgh’s orange-jumpsuited lap.

It’s always better to be lucky than good.