Faneca says this is last year with Steelers

[faba]

By Ed Bouchette

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Alan Faneca plans to report with his teammates for the start of training camp on time Monday, but it will be his final summer at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.

"I'll be there. I don't think I'll have bells on but I'll be there," Faneca said yesterday from his home in Louisiana.

Faneca, a captain and the most decorated guard in team history with six Pro Bowls, will enter the final year of his contract with the Steelers. He said he will play for another team in 2008 because no talks have taken place for an extension. Faneca will become an unrestricted free agent in March. He skipped all of the team's spring drills except for the required minicamp.

Although still upset about his contract situation, Faneca promised he would not be a distraction to the team this year and will perform as he has in his previous nine seasons with the team.

"I'm going to go about my business and play football. Any distraction would be through the media and how they perceive me going about my business of playing football.

"It's about playing with the guys next to you and playing for a job as well. It's a true sense of playing for a job. It just happens to be somewhere else the following year."

Faneca, 30, said the Steelers offered him a contract early this year but said it was so low it would not have put him among the top 10 guards in the league and called it merely a tool so club management could claim it offered him an extension. He will play for a salary of $3,375,000 this season in addition to a $1 million roster bonus he received in March.

Faneca ripped management on May 11 when he reported for the required minicamp. He said the Steelers treated him unfairly and he had asked for a trade.

"I'm still emotional about it," Faneca said yesterday. "I might not show it as much. I think the one big thing that got misconstrued or misunderstood was that I was making some sort of promise or threat not coming back. I was just stating a fact and putting it out in the open. Maybe I didn't make it a good enough point. It was not a promise or a threat or negotiating tactic."

Faneca said his situation could motivate him even more as people try to evaluate his play based on his unhappiness over his contract and the fact he turned 30.

"I think it's definitely motivation when everyone's talking about your age, your play. People are analyzing you and the situation, that motivates you."

Faneca said while he won't be a distraction, he will answer questions from the media about his situation, at least early on. "Hopefully, at some point they stop, but they probably won't," Faneca said. 'I'm just going to go about my business. When it reaches the point I'm tired of talking about it, I'll stop talking about it, stop rehashing the old."

[joewilly]

thats about the last thing you want is a key player announcing he's quitting heading into a season.

tiki did the giants no favors last year & you have to know he spread doubt into a lot of players minds about coughlin's abilities.

[ECURB]

I wish I could gripe about 4.3 million dollars...

[Maxman]

thats about the last thing you want is a key player announcing he's quitting heading into a season.

tiki did the giants no favors last year & you have to know he spread doubt into a lot of players minds about coughlin's abilities.

Nobody is really doubting Coughlin at this point. Everyone knows he sucks.

They are just waiting for the coaches that will be available after this season. Can you say wasted year for the Gints?

[joewilly]

I wish I could gripe about 4.3 million dollars...

or even the .3

[green_blood]

I am not sure if I want Cowher to coach the Gints, that is one less good coach in the AFC to worry about, but then the Gints fans will get all ****y again. I love it when they're all depressed, they keep their mouths shut.