Personally I think the stories of the Steelers' interest in guys like Dumervil or Jake Long strain credulity. Not only do the Steelers have precious little cap room, as a rule they pretty much never sign high profile FAs. Guys like Ryan Clark were ho-hum, middle-of-the-road signings at the time. Even Kevin Greene in the 90s was considered a declining player when he signed with Pittsburgh.
I stated this before--Pittsburgh is hard enough against the cap as things stand that I don't know that it buys much for NE to wait. Unless the Dumervils and Jake Longs are going to take multimillion dollar pay cuts to play in Pittsburgh (LOL), the Steelers' remaining signings will likely just be the Matt Spaeths and Bruce Gradkowskis of the world--i.e. the kind of signings that won't impact the Steelers' (in)ability to match much one way or the other.
I just think it's more likely that NE has some interest in Sanders at the right price, but aren't necessarily 100% sold on the guy (given the 3rd round price tag) and are checking out other FA options.
I also think that lost in the excitement on this board over a potential Sanders signing is that this is a guy who's been nicked up a lot for two of his three years in the league, who has had some foot problems, and ultimately couldn't beat out a lower draft pick (albeit a talented one in Antonio Brown) for a starting spot. Don't get me wrong--I think Sanders is a talented player who can help a team as a starter, and I'd prefer to keep him--but there are some issues with him, so it's not like the team that signs him is guaranteed massive production by any stretch.
