Free agency? Holding your own best move of all

The Pittsburgh Steelers won a Super Bowl last month with arguably one of the worst offensive lines in the history of the big game.

At least it appeared that way on paper. They played better than their reputation, and good enough in the three-game postseason run.

It was a five-man group the Steelers brass put together from drafting of players, one free agent, and an injury replacement at left tackle. After playing well in the playoffs, it was a line the Steelers wanted to keep together, a five-man unit they felt is good enough to win a title again.

Chris Kemoeatu was just a piece of an underrated line that proved to be super good. (Getty Images)

So when two of the starters from that Super Bowl line were set to become unrestricted free agents, the Steelers did what they do as well as any team in the league.

They kept their own.

That's why they've won two Super Bowls in four years and a considered one of the top teams in the league heading into 2009.

It's really not rocket science to be successful in this league, and the Steelers are proof. The formula: Draft well, make sure you keep your own when you want them, and then have replacements in place when you think it's time to let a player walk.

The Steelers have not signed one player from another team in this year's free-agency market. They've actually lost one in third receiver Nate Washington and might lose corner Bryant McFadden.

But they've kept the guys they want. They re-signed tackle Max Starks and guard Chris Kemoeatu.

"Fortunately, most of our free agents, 90-95 percent of them, they want to stay," Steelers director of player personnel Kevin Colbert said at the scouting combine. "I'm not just talking this year, I'm talking years past. They're going to give us an opportunity. Now, they have to do what they have to do for them from a financial standpoint, we understand that. But if we have a chance to match what they're going to get, that's good. Most of our guys want that opportunity to stay here."

With Washington gone, the Steelers are ready with Limas Sweed and Martin Nance, second-year players ready to step in and play.

At the beginning of free agency in the 1990s, teams sometimes looked past their own players at the chance to land a player from another team. But that wasn't always successful. You had to assimilate players into what you wanted them to do for your team. It was an adjustment. Their families had to move, and that could be a strain on a player.

Not happy at home, not happy at work.