Who do you keep?

http://www.foxsportsohio.com/01/09/12/W ... eedID=3725

But Brett Keisel (33), Casey Hampton (34), James Harrison (33), Aaron Smith (35), James Farrior (37), Ryan Clark (32), Ike Taylor (31) and Troy Polamalu (30) are in the post-30 time when injuries and not winning prompt questions. That list is the heart and soul of a dominant defense. And that defense is run by Hall of Fame assistant Dick LeBeau, who is 73 and also getting to the point where the future might be a year-to-year decision.

I have read a lot of comments from people on how we have to keep most of the older players on our team (include Hines Ward), but the reality is that it is not possible or smart. I agree some need to stay another year or so maybe to bring along the younger guys, but financially we are looking at possibly a new look Steeler team for next year.
I think we say goodbye to some fan favorites this offseason.

 

Gone-Smith, Hoke, Hampton, Farrior

Will stayolamalu,Clark, Kiesel

On the Bubble: Harrison and Foote

 

I think Heyward needs to see the field on a full time basis. It would be really good if Ziggy could play nose, then you could swing Heyward over so he can bookend Keisel.

Keisel may be 33, but he doesn't have a lot of tread on his tires. He didn't start until his 4th or 5th year I believe???

Man I can't believe Farrior is 37. He is ancient in football years.

 

Agree with this list with the following exceptions: move Harrison to "stay" & move Foote to "gone". Oh, and move BA to gone too.

:FBAI!:

 

I may be wrong, but with Keisel being Mormon, he probably started football a little later. I'm assuming he did a two year mission when he was old enough, which would have naturally set him back two years...

 

I'm not so sure about Farrior being gone. Do we really think that Sylvester (or a 1st round pick) is ready to start and wear the green sticker and be the playcaller of this defense? Or is the thought that Timmons will take this duty over?

On your list, I would switch Farrior to stay, move Foote to Gone and also move Harrison to stay. Harrison bounced around after being cut and although he's had some back problems, he isn't as old as the age may indicate because of those few years when he was cut. He is still effective and will be back IMO.

 

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It might be crazy, but Harrison could play ILB for a year or two, I bet you he could wear the green dot. Depends if they like one of the young guys at OLB at this point?

 

There is no way the Steelers let Harrison go before next season. Absolutely no way. I know he has a big contract and his production fell off this year, but I attribute that to injury and the fact that he and Woodley were never on the field at the same time. While Worilds played pretty well and looks like a future replacement, I'd be shocked if the Steelers went in this direction now.

Like others, I assume Farrior will retire. This makes it unlikely to me that the Steelers will cut Foote also. You'd be losing too much experience at that ILB position. Who steps in -- Sylvester?

The most interesting question to me is Hampton. At an $8MM cap charge in 2012 he is clearly underperforming his contract and I'm not sure the Steelers can afford to keep him. At the same time, given Hoke's injury, the Steelers have nothing behind him and the NT is a critical position in the 3-4 defense. You pull Farrior and Hampton out of the middle of this defense and the Steeler's ability to stop the run is severely impaired. You may have to swallow hard and pay Hampton his money. Even with that, I would not be surprised if the Steelers draft a nose tackle in the first round.

 

I think you start at the top and work your down. Tomlin has done nothing. The only reason why he has two SB rings is becasue they were someone else's teams. Ben should have not played that game but he let's Ben do what he wants to do and so does Arians. All Ben did was hurt the team the last few games. Sure we tied the game but then the defense went home. I think LeBeau is getting to old for the job he needs to be looked at. Gay needs to go. . Rooneys you better start to take a stand in your team or come playoff time next year we will be in the same situation, on the outside looking in.

 

I like Sylvester. But, I fear he may just be a great special teams player and not such a good starter.

 

Can we please not turn every thread into Tomlin/Ben/Arians??? This is a thread about defensive players and their role on next years team

 

worilds played pretty well ????????

 

i've been thinking about worth in some of these guys. trade worth that is. there is not much there except for harrison. he still has worth to us though. my thinking is, ike and gay. is lewis ready to start? will cortez allen and brown be ready to start? i think they will be. lewis is. would gay and ike be worth trading at this point for a couple of draft picks or just for cap space?

i have a hard time seeing casey comeback and be effective with a knee injury at this point in his career. add his weight to the equation and a rehab could take a year or better. same as starks. when these two are up and moving they have trouble with weight. having them sitting around for months will not be helpful to either of thier rehabs. i think those injuries just did those two in. again more cap space.

foote is not worth keeping at that amount of money. remember he was young coming in and now has alot of nfl years on him for his age. more cap space. i'd like to see a farrior type guy brought in, like we did when we got him. that has been one of the best moves this team has made over the years. we also have the option of moving harrison inside next to timmons. worilds and carter could fight it out at the olb spot. then if it came down to it harrison instead of timmons could jump out there if needed.

i'm just throwing some things out there for discussion.

 

We got Worilds and Sly ready to come in. Im pretty sure SLy is decent on special teams. Ive seen him many times making tackles.

 

Just saw this...if you think Lolley has anymore insider info...

http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com/

Main thing I noticed is he thinks Gay signs with some other team.

 

This is my projected roster:

Ben, Lefty, New UDFA for 3rd or Batch again
Redman, Dwyer, Batch, and Clay (Mendenhall starts on PUP list)
Wallace, Brown, Sanders, Cotchery, Draft Pick, Battle or Ward or another special teams guy (prefer big WR who can be used across the middle)
Miller, Saunders, Johnson (he will be pushed by UDFA)
Gilbert, Colon, Pouncey, Legursky, Foster, C. Scott, plus 3 New Olineman - Starks, Essex, J. Scott, Kemo, and Meredith are all gone. We need a bunch of help here. I bet we try to bring in some UFAs to help with depth as well as work in the draft.

Hood, Keisel, McLendon, Woods, Heyward, and new NT - probably from the draft
Harrison, Woodley, Carter, and Worilds
Timmons, Sylvester, New Draftee, Farrior and Foote - I have both coming back, but if we like the draft pick it would not surprise me if we only kept one so the other could do some tutoring.
Troy P., Clark, Mundy, 1 new draftee or UFA - if McFadden would take a pay cut and move to S, he might actually be good there. He would have good cover skills for a S, he just isn't a corner any more.
Ike, Lewis, Brown, Allen, Gay, Draft pick (if he can be resigned as a backup)

Kapinos comes back.
Warren comes back.
Sepulveda is gone.
Suisham is gone.

 

I agree with this list and the other recommendations. Also add Mcfadden, Kemo, and Essex to the gone list. Don't know how old they are but still.

 

Oh I forgot someone. Dick Lebeau.

I have enjoyed Dick Lebeau through the years and have great respect and admiration for what he has done for this team. But I think time has pass him by.

We need some new innovations on the defensive side of the ball.

 

I cant believe we are paying Mcfaddeb 2.8mil and all he does is sit the bench and play some special teams. Ax him

 

Also I would keep Foote if Farrior leaves. I'm not ready to give the reins over to Sylvester.

 

Actually I agree. I pop the bubble though and let those guys go too. Cap space and poor JH cant do anything without drawing a flag. There is a double standard on the personal foul calls....tey are looking at everything he does and throwing the flag if its close and fining him if legit.