FanHouse PatrickBailey

Good news: those players lucky enough to make a UFL roster will get paid (and by the looks of it, I suspect training camp will be a lot like little league tryouts: you show up, you get a uniform).

Bad news: salaries are approximately one-tenth what an undrafted second-year NFL player will pull down next season. The UFL is offering one-year, $35,000 contracts. (By comparison, the Steelers' Patrick Bailey, a special-teamer entering his second season after signing as a free agent out of Duke, will make roughly $385,000 in 2009.) Added bonus: there will be a chance to earn an extra $15,000 through incentives. So, right, somebody's getting a Kia Rio.

Gary Russell may be pretty talented for a No. 4 tailback, but he's still a No. 4 tailback, which explains why he's on the waiver wire this week, victim of the Steelers' need to pick up a linebacker because of Donovan Wood's injury. To fill Woods' spot the Steelers have brought former Duke linebacker Patrick Bailey up from the practice squad.

You may think that the fourth game of the preseason doesn't mean anything, but Bailey has earned his roster spot on the basis of that game. Bailey made the tackle in kick coverage on three different kicks in that game, which helped earn him a spot on the practice squad, and also ensured he was the first option when the Steelers needed a fill-in special teamer.

For Russell hopefully this will be a two-day vacation. If Woods is healthy enough to play next week it wouldn't be surprising to see the Steelers waive Bailey to pick Russell back up next week, but for that to happen, Russell will have to not be picked up by someone else. It's a pretty safe gamble, as there aren't many teams struggling at running back enough to shake up the roster a day before a game to add a fourth-stringer who's yet to be active this year.