Mar 10, 2023 5 min read

When it comes to Dick Haley, most young Steelers fans know him only as the former team front office member who was the father of former offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

But older fans know Haley was the Steelers’ director of player personnel from 1971 through 1990. He then went on to hold a similar position with the New York Jets from 1991 through 2007.

Haley died Friday at the age of 85.

A native of Midway, Haley went to Pitt, where he was a star cornerback. In 1959, he was selected in the ninth round – making him the 100th pick – in the draft by Washington. He moved on to the Minnesota Vikings in 1961, joining the Steelers later that year and playing here through 1964.

Haley finished that portion of his NFL career with 14 interceptions in 75 career games.

Haley was hired by the Steelers in 1971 as their director of pro personnel, a position later held by Tom Donahoe and then Kevin Colbert before it morphed into the general manager position that Omar Khan holds today.

Working alongside Bill Nunn Jr., Art Rooney Jr. and, of course, Chuck Noll, Haley helped the Steelers build perhaps the greatest dynasty in NFL history, one that won four Super Bowls in six years in the 1970s.

“Dick played an instrumental role in our unprecedented success in the 1970s during the second part of his career,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement Friday. “He developed a unique eye for talent, and he ultimately helped identify and draft many of the players that allowed us to win four Super Bowls during that decade.”

Washington and Greene counties have produced more than their share of players and coaches who have affected the NFL. Haley belongs right there with any of them, even though he doesn’t always get mentioned in the same breath as Joe Montana, Marty Schottenheimer, Bill George or the many others who have left their marks on the league.

He should.

Though he didn’t garner the publicity or acclaim as some of the others in the Steelers front office during their magical run in the 1970s, Haley was as responsible as anyone else.

• The Baltimore Ravens are playing a high-stakes game of chicken with quarterback Lamar Jackson. And it’s fascinating.

The Ravens placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson last week, meaning he is free to negotiate a deal with another team. If the Ravens choose not to match that deal, they would receive two first-round draft picks – one in 2023 and one in 2024 – in exchange for Jackson from the team that signs him.

Considering the Ravens and Jackson – who does not have an agent – haven’t been able to work out a long-term contract in the past year, it’s an interesting tactic.

The sticking point, according to reports, has been guaranteed money. Jackson wants a fully guaranteed contract like the 5-year, $230-million one Deshaun Watson got from the Browns.

And, as a player who has won an NFL MVP award, Jackson has a point. He’s a better player than Watson and has a lot less off-field baggage.

The problem for the Ravens is that all Jackson has to do is find another team willing to fully guarantee a contract that pays him upwards of $50 million per year and the Ravens won’t match it. They’ve balked at doing that all along with Jackson.

Let’s say, for example, the Washington Commanders decide to sign Jackson to what he wants. Owner Daniel Snyder might be on his way out of the league and this would give him a chance to thumb his nose at the rest of the owners, who are pushing him out.

If the Ravens refuse to match the contract offer, they’ll get the 16th pick in this year’s draft and Washington’s first-round pick next year – which, with Jackson in the fold, won’t be in the top 10 and probably not in the top 15.

If you’re Washington, the deal makes sense. If you wanted to move up this year and get a quarterback, then the cost is going to be your first-round draft picks the next two seasons plus more.

But in Jackson, you already know what you’re getting – a dynamic player at the league’s most important position.

And the Ravens would be left out in the cold.

• The NFL’s silly season kicks off Wednesday when the new league year begins and with it the start of free agency.

Actually, the real silly season begins Monday when the “legal” tampering period begins.

The NFL instituted its legal tampering period because so many teams were negotiating with pending free agents ahead of when they should have been that the start of free agency had become a farce.

I can recall in 1996, Steelers offensive tackle Leon Searcy agreeing to a five-year, $17-million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars less than a minute after the official start of free agency. Does anyone really believe the contract had not already been worked out?

There are many, many other examples of similar instances. It’s just what happens.

So, don’t be surprised Monday when the legal tampering period begins at noon, there are a bevy of deals announced almost immediately. And they’ll likely be for a lot more than $17 million.

But yeah, we’re supposed to believe that the teams and agents worked out these multi-million-dollar deals in mere seconds.

• It is possible, maybe even likely, that Pitt, West Virginia and Penn State all will be in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this year.

That would mark the first time since 2011 all three have made the tournament.