The Steelers had the first starter from their Super Bowl winning team depart in free agency yesterday when cornerback Bryant McFadden signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, a move that should not significantly weaken the league's No. 1 defense but could shape their game plan for the NFL draft.
Especially because director of football operations Kevin Colbert said cornerback is one of the two deepest positions in this year's draft.
McFadden, a No. 2 draft choice in 2005 who started 21 games -- including playoffs -- in four seasons with the Steelers, is guaranteed $5 million in the deal he signed yesterday with the Cardinals, the team the Steelers defeated in Super Bowl XLIII.
He was something of an obvious choice for the Cardinals because they are coached by former Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and are trying to incorporate more of a 3-4 alignment in their defensive scheme under new defensive coordinator Billy Davis, a former Steelers assistant. The Cardinals were looking for a starting cornerback to pair with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, last year's No. 1 draft pick.
With the loss of McFadden, the Steelers now have two options to replace him: Move nickel back Deshea Townsend, a 12-year veteran, back into the role he held for several seasons; or promote third-year cornerback William Gay, who is waiting in the wings. Gay started four games last season when McFadden had a broken forearm and then rotated every two series with McFadden when he returned. That rotation continued through the Super Bowl.
Another option is the draft.
As many as four cornerbacks could go in the first round and 10 have a chance to be drafted by the end of the second round. The top corners are Malcom Jenkins of Ohio State (6 feet, 200 pounds), Vanderbilt's D.J. Moore (5-10, 184), Vontae Davis of Illinois (6-0, 204) and Alphonso Smith of Wake Forest (5-9, 193). But there are six others who could go in the second round, including Connecticut's Darius Butler, an athletic, aggressive cornerback who interests the Steelers because he is also a kick returner.
McFadden was in the final year of a four-year, $2.46 million contract that paid him $520,000 last season and the Steelers thought they would lose him in free agency, even though they had made a contract offer to his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
Part of the reason for the delay in the negotiations was that the Cardinals were not going to make a move in free agency until they knew what quarterback Kurt Warner was going to do. Warner agreed to accept a two-year, $23 million contract with the Cardinals Wednesday, paving the way for McFadden.
First Published: March 9, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
