Steelers give Darrius Heyward-Bey a shot

Posted by Darin Gantt on April 2, 2014, 1:29 PM EDT
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The Steelers are replacing some trusted performers with a guy who has always teased with potential.

The Steelers just announced they had signed free agent Darrius Heyward-Bey to a one-year contract.

Given a chance to revive his career with a good team, Heyward-Bey became a non-factor late in the year with the Colts, and was a healthy scratch down the stretch.

The former seventh-overall pick showed flashes with the Raiders, but his hands never developed to go along with the speed which was always there.

After losing Emmanuel Sanders and Jerricho Cotchery in free agency, the Steelers needed someone to come in to help Antonio Brown.

Now all that remains to be seen is if Heyward-Bey can hang onto the chance.

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73 responses to “Steelers give Darrius Heyward-Bey a shot”

  6. This article make it seem like the Steelers never signed Lance Moore.At best he will be a 4th receiver behind Wheaton and Moore and will play special teams.

  10. If Bay makes the roster, or Heaven forbid, becomes a starting receiver – that’s proof the Steelers utterly failed to replenish their receiving corpse following the losses of Sanders and Cotchery.

  15. Lance Moore, Marcus Wheaton and a very, very high draft pick. The Steelers continue to manage their salary cap properly, even with their backs up against the wall. Remember kids, not everything that makes up a football team are starters. Bey, with his 4.2 speed, can take the punting/return duties off of Brown and showcase what he does best. RUN.

  16. It would be funny if he actually turns his career around and shuts all you doubters. I will be the first one to post on here. You read it here first.

  19. Heyward-Bey is a burner who is going to have a great year in Pittsburgh. Mark it down, now. Just a tremendous off season for the Steelers, all the way around. again, i applaud the change in philosophy and hope it carries over into the draft.

    Winning the division should be an expectation now, in a battle with the Bengals. And the Ravens? Enjoy life at the bottom. In contrast, its been an off- season of nothingness in Baltimore.

  20. The great AB will be a great teacher and mentor to him just like he trains with wheaton. One yr doesn’t hurt and he might not even play. Signed for depth behind brown, wheaton, moore, moye.

  21. It is nice to see us signing quality players instead of having them arrested and beating fiances.

  22. Utilizing extremely limited resources on a player of Heyward-Bey’s caliber to be a 4th/5th WR certainly cuts down our chances to bring in DeBo (James Harrison aka Silverback) to get Jarvis up to speed with what it takes to play ‘Backer in the ‘Burgh.

    I guess Peezy will have to instill the doctrine from the sidelines, without the key help DeBo could have provided.

    Ouch.

  23. a Very intreging Low Risk Move!! if it dont work out atleast we different use the number seven pick of the Draft!! lol good Move Colbert

  24. Raiders were maligned for drafting him over Crabtree (rightly so) and should be praised for letting this guy go. Cant catch on in Indy and wont in Pitts….give them some credit for cutting a mistake.

  29. I love hearing all the hate from the other AFC North fans.

    Mitchell > Clark
    Blount > Dwyer
    Moats > Foote
    Thomas > Hood
    Moore > Sanders
    McCain > Brown
    DHB > Cotchery
    Worilds > Woodley

    Every player that we lost has been upgraded.

  30. Steelers will fight for a wildcard spot, but will fall short. Bengals to easily win that division. However, they will be lose their first playoff game….again.
    LMAO

  31. AB is one of the best WR’s in the league. Everything hinges on Marcus Wheaton developing and Lance Moore bouncing back though.

    While I like the majority of the free agency moves (and frankly it’s just nice to see the Steelers attempt free agency moves for a change) it’s starting to smell a little desperate. The 2014 campaign is feast or famine for Tomlin and Colbert.

  32. DHB has size,speed, and good character. He’s never really put it together consistently, but he’s going to a great organization and is still a young guy. If he has any chance to fully realize his potential, it’s likely with the Steelers and Big Ben. This is a good, low-risk/high-reward signing for the Steelers. Guessing it works out pretty well…

  36. Can DHB catch punts? That is what Big Ben’s deep balls will look like wafting down to him as the defense quickly closes the 10 yards he was open.

  41. Trusted performer? Who? Manny Sanders never met a crucial reception he couldn’t drop. As Colbert would say, they’re replacing guys who helped them to back to back 8-8 records. I know in Cleveland that sounds good, but that’s not the standard in Pittsburgh. DHB was signed to fill out the pre-draft depth chart and push young guys in camp.

  42. People seem to forget we had Sanders, a guy who twice in two seasons fumbled without even being touched.
    Upgrades. Nice call.
    The AFC North isn’t what it once was, and we all know the Bungles as the team that got walloped here late last season.
    Love the Steelers approach this year.

  43. Well, if he burns down the field 40 plus yards while Ben is doing his thang, and drags a defender or two down with him, well worth the vet minimum.
    And if the odd time, the defenders ignore him, Ben can put it on the mark. God help DHB if he comes back to the huddle after dropping a gimmee bomb though … ouch.

  45. I agree with the one year contract, hes got to prove himself. Only pitfall is the Steelers get something great here and cant re-sign him next year because of the cap… I hope he works and works with Ben to get on the same page as Ben.

  46. A lot of bold guarantees about the greatness of the Steelers front office because of signings like this.

    Congratulations Steelers, you got younger, not better.

  48. With the ball in his hands, one of the most dangerous receivers in the league. Superfast and big enough to run over DBs.

    The problem he has always had has been that phrase “with the ball in his hands”. Never learned how to run good routes, never good at using his size on jump balls, and worst of all, too many simple drops.

    Nevertheless, if he’s your 4th WR, you should be pretty happy.

  49. Now that you’re in divisio DHB, here’s some advice:
    1. There’s nothing wrong with your eyes, the ravens really are that old, slow and outta shape.
    2. Away games at Bal, avoid anyone named Sweet Pea.
    3. If you want to get in the Cin D’s head, just tell them it’s the wildcard rd of the playoffs. They’ll fold.
    4. Be alert on the sidelines, since you’ll be wearing an opponents jersey, Dalton will likely throw it right to you.
    5. And lastly, don’t marry Ray Rice.

  51. Wow! Heyward-Bey gets a shot too. His speed alone is a good enough decoy the lame secondary of the bungles and ratbirds. With all these Steelers upgrades, ratbird and bungles fans must be worried.

  52. This is likely a very low cost and low risk signing, with possible huge upside if he holds on to the ball. I am happy with this signing. Steelers have worked magic tnis year in FA and managing the cap. Meanwhile, Ravens and Bengals have spent more time managing their player arrests.

  53. The steelers continue to better their team with upgrades while the ravens organization, players and its fans tune in to Ray Rices arraignment on beating up his newly spouse. The browns will have new company this year.

  54. Couldn’t catch a cold He couldn’t catch a cold.. the Raiders lost Crabtree to him. he was so bad on the Colts that they finally took his uniform away. he’s never learn the basics the catch with his hands and not his body he’s never learn the basics the catch with his hands and not his body. just another Al Davis experiment that went bad.

  55. What everyone seems to forget is that a lot of times the difference between winning and losing is the bottom half of your roster instead of the top. Being able to run DHB down the field to pop the top off the defense once in a while is going to be handy. Having him returning punts (assuming he won’t drop them) would be useful to limit wear and tear on Brown. DHB isn’t going to be the new #1 guy and expectations are not exactly lofty. I’m more interested in seeing the young guys get their chances this season.

  56. I’m not going to judge anyone who spent the majority of his career with the Raiders. Personally, I will wait and see what he does with a more stable franchise (and QB) this coming season.
    I don’t care if he catches a single pass so long as he can stretch the field to open it up underneath. Besides, he’s a lot cheaper than Wallace who struggles to catch anything that’s not put right in his bread basket.

    DHB = Wallace – $8M

  57. The Steelers first pick of the draft will be a receiver. This guy won’t play much.

  58. Hahahahahahahahaha! In back to back days you morons signed the worst corner and the worst receiver in football. Tomlin is gonna have to spend a lot of time on the field to help this crap team compete. Hope you enjoy the competition with the browns for 3rd place. Love you stooler fans that try to spin this into a good move. You deserve your terrible GM.

  59. Of course Steeler fans are going to look this this as a good -signing fanboys and girls smdh. The guy sucks plain and simple as to why it took long for that OC in Indy to realize this i have no idea.

    I guess it is probably for the minimum, if he makes the team pray that he doesnt see the field.

  60. All the offseason signings may not have the wow factor but they are all solid signings. 2nd place in the AFCN last year and can move back into the 1 spot. The defense needs a little more work.

  61. Heyward-Bey’s TD dance makes me laugh, but I only saw it 11 times in four seasons. Seems like a good kid, and he did gain almost 1,000 yards in 2011.

  62. As a Colts fan, we lost DHB and gained Nicks. The Steelers lost Saunders and gain DHB. Good luck with that Pittsburg.

  66. He’s the 4th string WR right now and if they draft a WR, DHB could be the 5th WR by camp. He’s not great but he’s better than what most teams have as a 4 or 5 WR.

  67. Have you people forgotten about E. Sanders? He dropped critical passes throughout his career too. This signing isn’t a down grade or an upgrade.

  68. DHB and Moore do not replace the production of Sanders and Cotchery. Just compare 2013 stats and remember that Drew Brees and Andrew Luck were tossing the rock to Moore and DHB. These aren’t “solid signings” they are an obvious downgrade in the receiving core.

  69. The Steelers had no choice but to be active in free agency. Their off-season depth chart looked like an expansion team’s roster. And by picking up a handful of retreads — sans LeGarrette Blount — they still have the look of a team in disarray. They are going to need an exceptional 2o14 draft just to reach mediocrity.

  70. there is one good thing about DHB u don’t have to worry about that is him getn sick or As I Call him ” Flu Shot” cause he can’t catch a cold if he plays wearing glasses then he’d b atleast a # 4 wr two words practice squad!!!!

  71. I shrug my shoulders at this signing. Neither excited or upset. As long as his contract isn’t structured to impact their salary cap if he doesn’t make the team, I guess this is a good move. I like tall WRs and this guys is 6′ 2″, so that is a plus if he can catch. The Steelers are going to have a lot of decisions to make as to who makes the team or not this coming season. They need to do a better job of that this year than they did last year.

    Go Steelers!

  72. I read an article that was talking about his late season success on special teams for the colts. He has great straight line speed and he is 6-2, 219, he’s not selfish and he is not a bad guy in the locker room. He just has rocks for hands. He is apparently a pretty good gunner with several special teams tackles in limited late season duty. If he can return kick offs with that blazing speed of his (maybe moore can do punts) and play well on the coverage teams he could earn the last wr roster spot there alone.

  73. DHB drops balls, so Did Emmanuel Sanders, however at least DHB can make a dent on special teams.

    As for Moore replacing J-Co they are younger at the WR position other than that its a draw. J-Co doesn’t have blazing speed or fly trap for hands, he was just reliable and Moore can fill that role just fine.

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