By Teresa Varley
Steelers.com
The Steelers played host to their first free agent of the season on Monday when wide receiver Joey Galloway was in Pittsburgh to meet with the coaches and player personnel.
Galloway played five seasons in Tampa Bay and head coach Mike Tomlin is familiar with him, having coached the secondary during two of Galloway's seasons there. He had three 1,000-yard seasons in Tampa, and six in his career.
He played in nine games in 2008, hampered by injuries which forced him to miss playing time.
Galloway, 37, was originally drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 1995. Galloway was recently released by Tampa.
The Steelers lost wide receiver Nate Washington when the free agent signed with the Tennessee Titans. Starting wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes will return, as well as Limas Sweed and Martin Nance.
The Steelers said goodbye to two free agents, cornerback Bryant McFadden and safety Anthony Smith.
McFadden, who was a second-round draft pick in 2005, signed with the Arizona Cardinals. He missed six games in 2008 because of a broken forearm, but started eight regular season games and all three post-season games, including Super Bowl XLIII. McFadden started 21 games in his career.
Smith, who became an unrestricted free agent when the Steelers didn't offer him a tender, agreed to a contract with the Green Bay Packers.
Smith stepped in to start 10 games in 2007 when Ryan Clark was out, but saw limited playing time in 2008.
Quarterback Dennis Dixon lent a hand to help the family of a teenager who died several days after being hit by a car in Portland, Oregon.
Dixon, who played college ball at Oregon, held an autograph and photo session to help raise money for the family of Nathan Vredevelt. Vredevelt, who had Down syndrome, was attending a Portland Trailblazers game and wandered away, ending up outside trying to cross a busy highway when he was hit.
"After reading the story about Nathan, it really touched me, and I wanted to see what I could do to help out," said Dixon. "The community of Oregon has been really good to me, and I thought this was the least I could do to give my support to Nathan's family."
