"Make Mine" Marvel Calls it a Career

Marvel Smith is done after nine years with the Steelers, hanging it up before he ever played a regular season snap with the 49ers, the team he signed with in the offseason. It's an unfortunate, if hardly unexpected development. The left tackle has been dogged by severe back problems the past two years - missing 15 of 32 regular season games in that span. I was more than a little shocked that there was anyone willing to give him more than a one-year deal, but that's exactly what the Niners did.

Marvel was a key cog back in the not-too distant days when the Steelers had one of the better offensive lines in the league. A Pro Bowler in 2004, he along with Alan Faneca and Jeff Hartings helped the Steelers to having a top-five rushing attack in 2004 and 2005. It's the memory of his best days that make Max Starks that much difficult to deal with.