Time for Faneca to Grow Up
By Jerry DiPaola

Let's try to put the impending divorce between Alan Faneca and the Steelers into a realistic perspective - one fans can understand.

OK, your neighbor, who is in desperate need of reliable transportation, buys a used car for $40,000. He's happy with the purchase, the car runs well and serves its purpose, but your neighbor is not necessarily proud of his business acumen.

Meanwhile, car dealers start calling you and asking if you want to spend the same money on a slightly better vehicle that nonetheless has tens of thousands of miles on the engine.

Maybe you need a car just as badly as your neighbor, but you say, "No, thanks," and start looking elsewhere.

The Rooneys are doing the same thing. Why be stupid just because someone else was stupid? Like your mother always told you, "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?"

Who can blame Faneca, a six-time Pro Bowl guard and one of the best linemen in the NFL over the past decade, if he believes the Steelers should pay him what other teams have paid inferior players at the same position? Leonard Davis of the Dallas Cowboys, Steve Hutchinson of the Minnesota Vikings, Eric Steinbach of the Cleveland Browns and Derrick Dockery of the Buffalo Bills all received seven-year, $49 million deals (give or take a few hundred thousand dollars).

Davis, who underachieved and was unwanted in Arizona, received $18.75 million in guaranteed money as part of his deal with the Cowboys. None of those players, with the exception of Hutchinson, are even remotely as accomplished as Faneca. And Faneca is better than Hutchinson.

The Steelers' offer to Faneca, who is between two and four years older than all of the $49 million guards, came in far below those contracts, even though he has been a good soldier (remember, the move to left tackle during the doomed 2003 season?) and a mighty force on the line almost since the day he was drafted in 1998.

His age (30), a slight slippage in his level of play last season and the more important need to re-sign quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Pro Bowl strong safety Troy Polamalu in the next year or two led to the Steelers taking the prudent approach in regards to Faneca. Rick Smith, who is Faneca's agent, is right when he said that this doesn't need to be a cap issue. But spreading out payments over seven years and paying an outrageous, guaranteed bonus to a guard who will be 31 before the end of the season isn't the way the Steelers do business.

Smith and Faneca should know that.

The Steelers got more than their money's worth from Faneca when they signed him to a six-year, $25.6 million contract in 2002, making him the richest guard in the NFL. Here's a player -- a team captain, no less -- who hasn't missed a game since 2001 and has sat out of only six in nine seasons.

But now he wants traded and, most distressingly, wants to relinquish his captaincy because of his unhappiness. Do the words Big Baby come to mind?

Don't expect the Steelers to accommodate him on either issue.

No. 1, his contract binds him to the Steelers for one more season.

No. 2, the Steelers don't have a reliable replacement at the moment, and they need Faneca to make the running game go and keep Roethlisberger upright. Keeping Faneca's respected and considerable locker-room presence for as long as possible-especially after the recent losses of Jerome Bettis and Joey Porter-isn't a bad idea. People, you're not going to the Super Bowl this year, anyway, but without Faneca, you may not even beat the Bengals.

Meanwhile, Faneca needs to swallow hard and accept his $4.375 million salary from the Steelers.

One more thing, Alan: Set an example for your children and grow up.