Full circle for Finney
Long journey ends back with Steelers
Life in the NFL is tenuous. Almost as much as it is unpredictable. And it’s undoubtedly a business.
B.J. Finney knew that all too well having entered the league as an undrafted free agent who had to prove himself year in and year out to earn a spot on the
Steelers 53- man roster. He knows that even more after a trying year in which he experienced unrestricted free agency, got traded and released — all during a worldwide pandemic that contributed to his misfortune.
“It was absolutely a whirlwind,” Finney said Thursday afternoon after the conclusion of the second week of Steelers OTAs at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “If you think about it my family did one great, big lap of the United States, going from Pitt to home in Kansas, then out to Seattle and then being traded to Cincinnati, and now we’re back here in Pitt. I don’t suggest moving four times, especially across cross country, with a little one. It’s not fun. Last year wasn’t ideal, but we’re happy to be here with some familiarity and people we know and love.”
After spending his first five years in the NFL with the Steelers, Finney, a center and guard, signed a two-year, $8 million deal with Seattle in March of last year. But what should have been one of the happiest times of his life became one of the most stressful due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finney signed with the Seahawks on March 17, just before the country went on lockdown. He couldn’t get to Seattle to take a physical and was stuck in Kansas. He was concerned if he trained away from Seattle’s facility and got injured that he might never see any of the $8 million that he was set to earn.
Some NFL teams will honor contracts if their players are
injured away from team facilities, but Finney received no reassurances from the Seahawks. It’s a problem many players face as the players union tries to force change and give players the freedom to train on their own over the offseason.
Veteran offensive lineman Ja’Wuan James signed a four-year, $51 million deal with the Broncos in 2019. He tore his Achilles in early May training on his own. The Broncos cut him a couple of weeks later with no intentions of honoring the contract. In fact, the NFL went to the lengths of sending out memos to all teams shortly after James was injured to let them know they are under no obligations to pay players who get injured away from team facilities, which initiated a strong push-back from the players union.
“As you guys see with Juwan James. If you get hurt away from the training facility they void your contract,” Finney said. “That was the one time I saw some money. I wasn’t going to risk losing all that money and that opportunity by training and getting hurt away from the facility.
“What goes along with that is showing up to camp overweight and out of shape. I got beat out. There is no way around it. I’m not seeking comfort. They traded me. When I got to Cincinnati they got some guys back from injury that they liked and didn’t need me. They kind of put me on the shelf. The rest is history. They released me in March and here I am.”
Finney is back with the Steelers, but much changed in the year he was away. Longtime center Maurkice Pouncey retired and tackle Alejandro Villanueva and guard Matt Feiler signed with other teams in free agency. Finney is competing with rookie third-round pick Kendrick Green and veteran J.C. Hassenauer to replace Pouncey at center, but he has been told he could play some guard, too.
When Finney arrived to the Steelers in 2015 he settled in as a valuable reserve behind a group of established starters that included Pouncey and Villanueva as well as David DeCastro, Ramon Foster and Marcus Gilbert. Everyone except DeCastro is gone now, replaced by younger players who will be trying to make their mark in the league this year.
“There were seven of us together for five years, which is unheard of,” Finney said. “It’s extremely rare. We really didn’t have to say anything. We were just on the same page. Having these new, young guys come in there is younger energy. I won’t say they’re hungrier, but they’re starting to find their traction in the NFL and they’re starting to figure out what it’s like.”
Between 2016 and 2019, Finney played in 59 games with the Steelers and started 13 times, most of them at guard. The 2016 and 2017 Steelers ran the ball well with Le’Veon Bell as the feature back, and they’re looking to get back to those roots with the addition of Najee Harris, the No. 24 overall selection in April’s entry draft. New offensive coordinator Matt Canada is redesigning the running game along with new line coach Adrian Klemm after three consecutive years of being ranked at or near the bottom of the league in rushing.
“Honestly that’s the talk not just in our room but across the building and across the NFL,” Finney said. “Everybody is like, ‘What’s the Steelers’ run game going to look like?’ We know we have to come out with an edge and be nasty about it. We have to reassert the run game and get back to what Pittsburgh is known for – three yards at a time and that dust cloud, as Jerome Bettis would say. When the dust settles that ball is moving forward. We take pride it in. We’re hungry. We know we have something to prove, and we’ve got a chip on our shoulder, so we want to do it.”