By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Richard Huntley will be carrying a little extra weight on his shoulders next season after the Steelers release him in June.

"He probably has a little bit of chip on his shoulder right now," said David Joseph, his agent. "He's highly motivated to be successful. He has something to prove to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He thinks they let the wrong guy go. He wanted to be there because he chose to come back last year. They're the ones who chose to get rid of him."

Huntley turned down an offer as a restricted free agent last year to sign with the Miami Dolphins after he was told he would be able to compete for the starting halfback job with the Steelers. He signed a contract that paid him a $1 million bonus, but an early hamstring injury and the success of Jerome Bettis combined to keep him on the bench.

Huntley ran 46 times for 215 yards. Bettis ran 355 times for 1,341 yards.

The Steelers signed Bettis to a six-year, $30 million contract with a $6 million signing bonus in March. Then, they matched the one-year contract that backup Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala received from New England and extended it by two more years while giving him $750,000 in signing bonuses.

After that, Coach Bill Cowher told Huntley they would trade him or release him by June and not to report to their off-season workouts or minicamps. He was to earn a $1.25 million salary this year. By waiting until June, he will count $333,333 against their cap this year and again in 2002.

They also told safety Scott Shields he will be released by the end of next week. The Steelers have given permission for both players to talk to other teams, but they cannot sign elsewhere before their release.

"Richard is looking forward to going somewhere else where he can get an opportunity to get on the field," Joseph said. "The events relating to Jerome and Fu took that opportunity away from us. He's better off being out of there. He's going to miss Pittsburgh. He wasn't the one who chose to leave this time."

Joseph said there was nothing to the fact that the Miami Dolphins were listed as Huntley's affiliation when he signed up for a June 17 arm-wrestling match among NFL players in Nevada.

"The Dolphins were a little surprised," Joseph said. "We don't know where we're going. We're just waiting for June 1."

NOTE -- NFL teams no longer must make four players inactive two days before games next season. NFL owners voted to allow all seven inactive players to be chosen on the day of the game.

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