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Steelers Free Agency: Defensive Line and Linebackers

By Kim Myers

Oct 25, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Ryan Shazier (50) and nose tackle Steve McLendon (90) celebrate after a stop against the Kansas City Chiefs in the second half at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City won 23-13. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 25, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Ryan Shazier (50) and nose tackle Steve McLendon (90) celebrate after a stop against the Kansas City Chiefs in the second half at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City won 23-13. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sean Spence, ILB

Jan 3, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Sean Spence (51) celebrates his team
Jan 3, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Sean Spence (51) celebrates his team /

Sean Spence’s story with the Steelers has been a difficult one. He was drafted in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft out of the University of Miami but missed his entire rookie season due to a gruesome knee injury suffered in a preseason game.

He missed the 2013 season after another injury placed him in the injured reserve list. He made his triumphant return to the roster in 2014 and finished the season with 53 tackles and a sack. He also basically lost the opportunity for a starting job thanks to the draft of Ryan Shazier in 2014.

Spence ranks 88th on PFT’s Top 100 free agents.

As far as the inside linebackers are concerned the Steelers are relatively young. Lawrence Timmons is on all of the salary cap hot takes as a potential salary cap casualty as he’s to count just over $15K against the cap for 2016.

Timmons restructured his contract last year to save some cap room but will be an unrestricted free agent next Spring. It makes financial sense for the Steelers to cut Timmons and re-sign Spence to a more economical deal and only have to deal with the dead money that counts against the cap.

Next: Addressing the struggling secondary

They also still have Vince Williams under contract and Spence getting healthy now means he basically doesn’t have the wear and tear of four full seasons under his belt. I’d assume the Steelers re-sign Spence although I’m still not sure they’d actually release Timmons after his first unproductive season with the team but we’ll have to see how it all goes down.

What do you think the Steelers do with their linebacker and defensive line free agents?

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