Blog : Should the #Steelers Make a Play for Bradshaw?

The NY Giants cut him yesterday to save room under the salary cap. I've always liked him as he's a tough runner between the tackles, he has elusiveness and speed (4.6 ypc over his career), and (most importantly for our newer offense) he's a great receiver out of the backfield (he has topped 40 catches in a year).
He's due to make $3.75 mil next year, which is not a large sum of money for a player who can be a traditional 3 down back. We can still keep Dwyer or Redman (sorry, but one should go) as the primary backup and short-yardage back. Both of those guys have value in that role, but I don't see either of them as being a great fit as an every down back in our new offense. I think we need to face facts that neither of them are destined to be our primary back.
There is, of course, a huge knock on Bradshaw. He's injury prone. One can't skip over that part, but then again it's football, every player can get injured on any play. I think you have to look at his ceiling and how he fits a scheme and make a decision based on that. Also, by all accounts, he's a good "locker room guy" and brings a toughness and leadership to a team, story here.
Truthfully, we could use a guy of his character. I think that our team has drifted away from that over the last few years and we've gotten too far on the other side of "acceptable confident cockiness" and into a "pure showboat" realm.
I think there are going to be cuts made (Hampton etc) that will get us enough under the cap that a pick-up like this can work. He'll be 27 when the season starts and has only 2 years on his contract. Why not take that chance?
His career stats are here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/8504
Well?