FanHouse AllenRossum

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

After the uneventful tenure of head coach Mike Nolan, the San Francisco 49ers decided to promote Mike Singletary to interim head coach during the 2008 season.

After a bizarre debut that saw Singletary address his team without pants, the 49ers finished the season on a 5-4 run under their new coach, ending the year with a 7-9 record. Had it not been for a confusing ending to a Monday night game against Arizona, the 49ers would have finished with a .500 record for the first time since 2002. So close, yet so far.

The Steelers got out the axe on Friday, cutting lose a pair of long-time Steelers as well as washed-up returner Allen Rossum. Linebacker Clint Kriewaldt, a fixture on the Steelers special teams for the past five years, and tight end Jerame Tuman, a nine-year Steeler, were the other two to be sent packing.

Tuman and Kriewaldt both ended the year on injured reserve. But when healthy, Tuman is still the Steelers' second-best tight end, because he's a better blocker than Matt Spaeth. Admittedly, Spaeth did show improvement over the second half of the season, but he's got a long way to go both in blocking and in the passing game. The Steelers may look elsewhere for a third tight end, and Tuman may shop for a backup job, but like Matt Cushing before him, there's always the hope that he could end up back in Pittsburgh at a cheaper price.

Allen Rossum has done a lot to solidify the Steelers return game--he catches every punt and kick sent his way, which is more than last year's returners could promise.

What he doesn't do i make teams worry about long punt returns. Of returners who've caught 10 or more punts, Rossum ranks dead last with a 6.3 yard per punt average, and that's including his 49-yarder in the final minute of the Steelers blowout win over the Ravens. On all other punts, Rossum has averaged just over four yards per return. On a Steelers special teams unit that is much improved, Rossum's poor punt returns stick out.

After watching Ricardo Colclough and Santonio Holmes struggle to simply hang onto the ball last year, it seems almost greedy to ask for more from a returner who does catch the ball. But after watching Willie Reid turn some short passes into solid gains, it's tempting to see what he could do as the punt returner.