Q: Please explain: What in the world were the Steelers thinking when they signed Max Starks to $6.9 million for one year? Are they absolutely locked into this deal?

Richard Carli, Ford City, Pa.

BOUCHETTE: There seems to be a difference of opinion on Starks among coaches and the front office. Some think he should not have lost his job to Willie Colon at RT last year. The way the line played last season, they believed they had to make an effort to keep Starks. If they did not make him the transition player (a required $6.9 million offer), someone would have signed him for a song. Turns out, no one wanted to sign him as a free agent for a large contract and no one wanted to sign him to a reasonable one because they knew the Steelers would match it and keep him. The problem the Steelers find now is, how do they do a long-term deal when, yes, that $6.9 million is a guaranteed contract? Starks can take that money and become unrestricted next year. In other words, the Steelers must give him even more -- say a signing bonus at $8 million or more for a long-term contract. Otherwise, what's the incentive for Starks to take less than that when he'll earn almost $7 million this year anyway? They are in a pickle, is where they are.