Steelers Smart To Let Worilds Enter Free Agency
The Steelers decided that despite not having much in the way of star talent or even much depth at the OLB position it was better to let Jason Worilds test the waters of free agency.
It’s a smart move, and even though it means quite a bit of uncertainty for that key component of the defense, I like it.
Above all else, it shows that the front office is beginning to learn avoiding signing bloated and undeserved contracts. After the LaMarr Woodley debacle, and with Cortez Allen’s deal staring them squarely in the salary cap face for 2016, Kevin Colbert might be a little gun shy in signing a player who could not cement his role.
You probably remember that it was just a season and a half ago that Worilds went on a tear becoming a formidable pass rusher. The Steelers slapped the transition tag on him last season – hoping he could show more consistency while they figured out their cap situation.
Worilds was worlds apart from his 2013 self this past season. He collected 8.5 sacks in 16 games in 2014 compared to 7 sacks in 8 games last season. That didn’t instill much confidence to ink Worilds to the deal he probably wanted.
Media reports out there from the PPG and others stated that Worilds wanted to stay in Pittsburgh and really wanted to make a deal happen. If the two sides entered negotiations, nobody was notified of it, and I’m guessing his asking price was too large to overcome sentimentality.
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Some top OLB’s in the league are locked up, and thus the pool of pass rushing OLB’s is limited. This could fetch Worilds anywhere between $7-9 million a year. My guess is the Steelers didn’t want to breach $7 million.
Length of contract could have played a large role as well. Worilds just turned 27 today (March 3rd). If he wanted anything beyond four to five years, the Steelers may have shied away from anything that kept Worilds on contract pass the age of 31.
I guess the smarter thing would have been to lock Worilds up to a five year deal last season. For whatever reason, the team decided to tag him and roll the dice with his output for 2014. Looks like the tag wasn’t too great of an investment.
No matter. Worilds will hit the FA market and could land on an OLB hungry team like the Falcons and Texans.
The Steelers will now more than likely re-sign Arthur Moats to a longer contract. This also means that the Steelers will probably draft an OLB and early in this year’s draft.
While most of us would have loved to see them go CB early with maybe a DE and another CB in the first three rounds, we could see them nab the BPA in the first two, including an OLB in the first…. again.
There is the off chance that Worilds doesn’t get signed, and the Steelers can get him for cheaper and a shorter period of time. Don’t hold your breath.