Steelers give OL Max Starks Franchise Tag

[SD2042]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=a ... &type=lgns

Offensive tackle Max Starks was designated as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ franchise player on Thursday, the second successive year they have retained the two-time Super Bowl starter by placing a tag on him.

Starks made $6.9 million last year as a transition player, although he didn’t begin the season as a starter. He ended up starting 11 games at left tackle after Marvel Smith was injured.

“We were happy we had Max Starks available to us when he was needed,” Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert said. “We were fortunate that he was still here because he gave us an experienced guy who had played as a starter in the playoffs and in the Super Bowl.”

Starks was the Steelers’ right tackle when they won the Super Bowl during the 2005 season.

By being designated as a franchise player, Starks will make $15.35 million over the 2008 and 2009 seasons, unless he agrees to a long-term deal— considerable money for Pittsburgh to pay a player who didn’t make their lineup at the start of last season.

Starks must make $8.451 million in 2009, the average of the NFL’s top five offensive linemen last season.

Another team could sign Starks because he is designated as non-exclusive, but that team would owe the Steelers a pair of first-round draft picks.