Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl Kimo von Oelhofen Antwaan Randle El

So what do you do during free agency if you're the defending Super Bowl champions?If you're the Pittsburgh Steelers, not much.Thus far, anyway, the Steelers have played the offseason game predictably close to the vest. Already, three starters have escaped from the team that crawled Steelers 36 Bettis Jersey
out from under a Wild Card rock to win four straight in the postseason, culminating in a 21-10 victory over Seattle on Super Sunday. Defensive end Kimo von Oelhofen signed with the New York Jets, safety Chris Hope fled to Tennessee and wide receiver/kick returner Antwaan Randle El will play for the Washington Redskins in 2006.None of those departures, however, is expected to hurt the champs too much. Brett Keisel -- who had three sacks last year and two more in the playoffs -- is expected to step in for von Oelhofen. Cedrick Wilson looks ready to replace Randle El, and the Steelers signed free agent safety Ryan Clark from Washington to take the place of Hope.At this point, the biggest loss appears to be in the area of punt returns, where Randle El was one of the league's best.Clark, meanwhile, could be an upgrade. He called defensive signals for the Redskins last season, is about the same size (5-11, 205) and speed as Hope, and said of his reasons to come to Pittsburgh: "Just the camaraderie and integrity they play with, and the love the city and the organization have for the team." An LSU product, Clark had three interceptions last year.Meanwhile, the Steelers got center Jeff Hartings to rework his salary and convinced RB Duce Staley -- injured much of 2005 -- to take a pay cut in return for some performance bonuses. The team also re-signed cornerback Deshea Townsend (who almost went to New England), and retained some key backups like TE Jerame Tuman and Steelers 10 Santonio Holmes jersey
quarterback Charlie Batch. Despite the glut of experienced and high-profile quarterbacks floating around the league, the Rooney philosophy is not to spend a lot of money on spare parts. Batch did just fine when Ben Roethlisberger was hurt last year, and he knows Bill Cowher's system intimately.Like most Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers have little room to maneuver under the cap. And given their 2005 success, there seems little reason for major changes.