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Starks agrees to new deal
The Pittsburgh Steelers created $3 million in cap space on Tuesday when left tackle Max Starks agreed to a four-year contract.
Starks, who was to earn $8.45 million in 2009 after the Steelers placed the franchise tag on him in February, signed a deal worth $26.3 million that will keep him in Pittsburgh through 2012. The deal includes $10 million in guaranteed money.
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The move paid off, however, when starting left tackle Marvel Smith was injured for the second year in a row, missing the final 11 games of the regular season and the playoffs with a back injury. The 6-8, 345-pound Starks replaced Smith and played well as the Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl.
Smith signed a free agent deal with the San Francisco 49ers this year and the Steelers placed the franchise tag on Starks, hoping to get a long-term deal completed.
"We were very fortunate to have him," Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert said. "A transition on a backup probably didn't make a lot of sense, but we didn't feel like we would have been as good a team without him. We wanted to do a long-term deal (in 2008) but we couldn't get it done."
A third-round pick in 2004, Starks has been a starter on the Steelers' past two Super Bowl championship teams. In addition to starting at left tackle in 2008, he started at right tackle when the team won Super Bowl XL in 2005.
In other news Tuesday, the Steelers announced cornerback Fernando Bryant has retired from the NFL.
The Steelers signed the 32-year-old Bryant last November after injuries to Bryant McFadden and Deshea Townsend depleted their depth at cornerback. He saw action in two games.
Bryant was re-signed by the team in February, but the addition of draft picks Keenan Lewis and Joe Burnett, and free agent Keiwan Ratliff, probably meant Bryant would have been released in training camp.
