The Pittsburgh Steelers Should Let Jason Worilds Walk
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a decision to make with outside linebacker Jason Worilds. Either let him enter free agency on March 10th or apply the transition tag to him for the second straight year, costing the team around $11-13 million. Last season Worilds had 7.5 sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble while getting paid $9.74 million dollars with the transition tag after he and the front office were unable to complete a long-term deal in the offseason.
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The Steelers are on the record as saying they would like to re-sign Worilds, which makes sense because they currently only have Jarvis Jones under contract at the outside linebacker position. With Keith Butler taking over for Dick LeBeau as the defensive coordinator, the hope is the Steelers can improve their pass rush, which finished last season with only 33 total sacks. In the past two seasons, Worilds has combined for 15.5 sacks. However his sack total decreased in 2014 despite playing in all 16 games.
Other teams have shown an interest in Worilds and would think about signing him if he became a free agent. The Saints are reported to be a good fit, as would the Eagles.
Personally, I think it’s time to let Worilds walk away. I don’t think he is worth $11 or $13 million dollars. He has yet to have a double-digit sack season and he is only a few days away from turning 27, which isn’t ancient but it’s he isn’t getting any younger.
Worilds is what he is at this point. I don’t see him having seasons with 12-15 sacks, which is the kind of production you would hope for with somebody who is earning that much money. At times last season he was almost invisible on the field. If the Steelers are going to use the transition tag on him, it could be wasting money on him rather than improving the team in other ways.
The Steelers should and probably will target pass rushers in the upcoming NFL Draft. They also have the option of resigning both James Harrison and Arthur Moats for significantly less money than Worilds if they wanted to. Harrison and Moats combined for 9.5 sacks last season compared to Worilds 7.5. The use of $11-13 million dollars on Worilds could severely limit their ability to re-sign other players that could help the Steelers next year.
What do you think Steelers Nation? Should the Steelers resign Jason Worilds, no matter what the cost or should they let him become a free agent on March 10th?