Category Archives: Steelers News

Jason Worilds Accepts Transition Tag

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Jason Worilds has reportedly accepted his transition tag today. This means that he may no longer consider offers from other teams. There is reading between the lines to be done here. On the surface, it seemed like the best thing for Worilds and his agent to do was explore the market, hoping for a big payday.

Multiple assumptions can be made about his quickness to “sign” the transition tag. It’s possible that he wasn’t as hot a commodity as many people thought, though I don’t really think that’s true. It’s very probable that his camp and Steelers management are close to a long term deal. The Steelers knew that slapping the transition tag on a player makes it difficult for another team to make a play for him.

Of course it’s not impossible for another team, but the original team has the leverage in that situation. If you’re a team that’s hungry for a pass rusher, having to work out a deal with a player’s agent and then having to wait up to 5 days for the original team to match it, is less than ideal. The beginning of free agency is extremely active, and if you have to wait nearly a week for one player who you might not get, you put yourself in a tight spot, because you likely miss out on other available free agents. On top of that, teams hate to negotiate contracts for other teams, which is essentially what they would be doing. With the team being in worse shape than most from a cap standpoint, they made themselves vulnerable to losing Worilds to a deal they couldn’t match. It wouldn’t take too much for a team to offer the linebacker a front loaded contract that the Steelers wouldn’t possibly be able to equal.

Worilds and his representation may have feared the Steelers would rescind the tag. If he didn’t get the interest he hoped for, and the Steelers withdrew the transition tag, things could get tricky. Ultimately, it’s about risk/reward for both sides.

Now that he has in fact “signed” it, the Steelers have lost a lot of leverage in negotiations. Being a cap strapped team, Worilds’ agent knows the Steelers don’t likely want to pay him $9,754,000 guaranteed this year. The sooner they can lower that cap hit by signing him to a long term deal, the better.

Jason La Canfora reported earlier that the Steelers have made progress towards reaching a long term deal with Worilds. I imagine that’s true, and am sure that is their hope.

 

Steelers Staff At Auburn Pro Day To See Robinson, Ford, And Others

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Auburn is one of a few schools having their pro day today, and the Steelers have personnel in attendance to meet with some of the prospects. Some of the players the Steelers are likely interested in having a close look at there are OT Greg Robinson, OLB/DE Dee Ford, RB Tre Mason, CB Chris Davis, and FB Jay Prosch just to name a few. While Robinson is likely to be picked in the top 5, the team is going to gather as much information as they can.

Dee Ford, who was a surprise medical scratch at the combine, was said to have had a big performance today. The 6’2″, 252 lb pass rusher did 29 bench press reps at 225 lbs, and ran a 4.45 40. He definitely helped his draft stock today.

Here is a pic of Steelers offensive assistant coach Shaun Sarrett talking with Greg Robinson.

 

Redskins Franchise Orakpo, Stock Goes Up For Worilds

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The Washington Redskins have used their franchise tag on LB Brian Orakpo today. All teams have until 4:00 PM est to use their franchise tag. Obviously, the Steelers have no intention in franchising anyone this year, but the Redskins franchise tag is relevant to them.

The franchise tag for linebackers is $11.455 Mil. Both sides have until July 15th to work on a new contract. If they can’t reach a deal, then the tagged player will play for a one year contract worth the franchise designation. Brian Orakpo is the top free agent linebacker this year. By using the franchise tag on him, the Redskins have taken him off the market, making Jason Worilds arguably the top free agent linebacker.

I’ve never viewed the Steelers outside linebacker contract situation as being “either/or”. Releasing Woodley this year has never made much sense from a cap standpoint, and the team can’t (won’t) afford to get in a bidding war for Jason Worilds. If they let him play the free agent market, it seems very likely that he’ll be starting for a different team next year.  The Tennessee Titans seem like a very likely landing spot to me. Ray Horton is their new defensive coordinator and they have over $13 Mil in cap space.

Worilds, who turned 26 today, has suggested that he doesn’t want to return unless he can start and that doesn’t seem possible.

Plaxico Burress Wants To Play In 2014

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Plaxico Burress, who had to sit out the entire 2013 season due to a torn rotator cuff, says he wants to return in 2014. Burress is one of many wide receivers who will hit the free agency market next week. The 6’5″ wide receiver will turn 37 this August.

On his 36th birthday, Burress had surgery to repair the tear he suffered to his rotator cuff after falling in practice at Latrobe. He says he is still rehabbing from the injury, and still working on range of motion.

“Right now I am working on the range of motion, trying to get all of the range of motion back that I can. As the weeks and months go by I am getting stronger,” Burress said on the team’s website. “Getting my range of motion back is the most important thing for me with the position I play, being able to catch balls the way that I need to.”

The veteran receiver said it was tough watching at home and not being able to help the team during their struggles. “I watched every game…I was into it with what was going on with the guys. When we would get into the red zone at times and get field goals and not touchdowns, I saw myself going up there and maybe drawing double coverage or catching a touchdown to help us. That was the most difficult part about it, knowing I could be contributing and helping.”

Burress says that he hopes to get the chance to help in the redzone in 2014. “I am going to keep that mindset [of returning in ’14] until they tell me otherwise. I am going to keep going until I can’t go anymore. The stronger I can get, I can come back and play. I want to come back and play.”

“Plax” won’t garner much interest at the start of free agency. He might draw some tire kicking as an insurance policy later this off-season, though.

Report: Over A Dozen Teams Expressed Interest In Jason Worilds

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Tony Pauline of draftinsider.net reports that several teams have expressed an interest in OLB Jason Worilds at the NFL Scouting Combine. Pauline writes, “I’m told at least at least a dozen teams here at the combine have expressed great interest in Worilds if he hits free agency.”

The demand for Worilds shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Rotoworld recently ranked him the number two free agent linebacker behind 3 time pro bowler Brian Orakpo. If Orakpo comes off the market, which I believe he likely will do soon, Worilds will likely be considered the top available free agent pass rusher, regardless of Rotoworld’s ranking.

I’ve said before that the team will very much want to get Worilds signed before free agency opens up, the weekend of March 11th, if they truly intend to sign him. They could keep him here in theory by using the franchise tag on him, but they won’t. At an estimated $130 Mil salary cap (it’s been projected as high as $132 Mil recently) the franchise tag for linebackers would be just over $11.3 Mil. That’s just not something the team can afford to do, nor would they likely if they could.

Worilds has said that he would like to stay in Pittsburgh, but suggested that he would only stay if he could be a starter. The odds aren’t in favor of him wearing the Black and Gold next season.

 

Markus Wheaton Had Surgery To Clean Up His Pinky Recently

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Kevin Colbert spoke about Markus Wheaton today at the NFL Scouting Combine, and revealed that Wheaton had a ‘clean up’ type surgery recently on his pinky. Wheaton broke his finger early in the season and missed several games, and ultimately required surgery to repair it.

About the most recent surgery, Colbert said, “It was just a follow-up procedure where he had further [work done] on the pinky. It was follow-up surgery to clean it up.” When asked if there was high expectations for him, the GM said, “Sure. You take a kid in the third round, you want him to produce, expect him to produce, and we hope that’s the case.”

I’m not sure who has higher expectations for the receiver, the Steelers front office or the fan base. Either way, his recent surgery must have been very recent, or was very minor, because he was out in California practicing with Moye, Brown, and Ben Roethlisberger just a couple weeks ago.

The Steelers have a great track record in recent drafts when it comes to hitting on mid round wide receivers. Hopefully Wheaton keeps that record going in 2014.

2014 NFL Salary Cap Now Expected To Increase To $130 Million

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The 2014 NFL Salary Cap is expected to increase to roughly $130 Mil according to ESPN reporter Adam Schefter. This is a much larger increase than the $126.3 estimate that was being reported in December. This would be a 5.69% increase from last year’s salary cap of $123 Mil.

If this is indeed true, the Steelers would only need to trim down roughly $9 Mil in cap space to be in compliance by the March 11th deadline. $6.25 Mil of that is easily cleared by the release of OT Levi Brown. So, getting under the cap, while not terribly difficult for the team to do before, is obviously much easier now.

Think about the list of Steelers free agents. Now think about the impact that an extra $3.7 Mil has on that list.

[Audio] Big Ben Wouldn’t Return Antonio Brown’s Calls For A Week

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During part of Antonio Brown’s ESPN rounds yesterday, he made an appearance on Dan Le Batard’s Highly Questionable. He discussed being a toe away from the playoffs, his angriest moments of the season, his kids, and other topics.

The interview was very light-hearted, but when asked when he was the angriest at a coach or teammate, AB said, “Probably the last game of the season.”

“I was in tune with breaking Hines Ward’s record for 2 more catches, so I think my attitude with getting the ball was a little bit more, my frustration with getting the ball when I was open, was a little more different than the other games when I was able to control that mentality, and able to work poise under pressure.”

When asked if he thought that was selfish, he said, “I feel I was selfish. I’ve got a great QB. He loves me- we got a great relationship.

“When they see that attitude, and that selfishness, it draws guys away from you. Ben didn’t answer my phone calls for about a week. I was calling my quarterback, calling Ben from Hawaii…but, my attitude was so bad from that last game that he didn’t want to deal with me.”

Brown joked about sending Ben some fist emojis to get him to respond.  After about a week, the QB got back with him, according to Brown.  “[Ben said] I don’t want to talk to you when you’re like that. You know, you’re not infectious and contagious, when you’re attitude is like that, I don’t want my son to root for you.” Brown said that’s what got to him the most, and made him realize he needed to work on that for next season.

You can listen to the interview below.

Antonio Brown Wasn’t A Fan Of The Pro Bowl Draft

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Did you like this year’s pro bowl? Many people viewed it as an improvement over the flag football games we’ve come to associate with the pro bowl.  Antonio Brown was making rounds on ESPN today, and told Sports Center his thoughts on the new format.Via Profootballtalk, Brown said of the new format, “It was a little bit off.” Particularly, like most of the viewers at home, Brown didn’t like the new draft format.

“First off, you get there with a lot of great players, they make you wait two and a half hours under a tent for the draft at the Pro Bowl,” Brown said. AB went on to add that he would like to “see some tweaks, especially upon the draft. You don’t want guys waiting two and a half hours to get picked when we’re all Pro Bowl players.”

Brown’s definitely got a point. On top of that, the NFL network promoted that “draft” ad nauseam, and the drafts themselves were just cheesy. One thing’s for certain, Joe Fan isn’t likely wanting to see more of this-

photo credit- Deadspin.com

Ryan Clark Thinks Delmas Would Be A Good Fit With The Steelers

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I reported earlier that the Steelers were hosting Safety Louis Delmas today. Soon to be free agent Ryan Clark said via his Twitter account that he has been texting with Delmas, and thinks he’d be a good fit for Dick LeBeau’s defense.

It’s tempting to read too much into Clark’s comments. Does Clark know he’s not returning in 2014? Either way, he’s showing what a class act he can be. Not many people will go out of their way to send well wishes to their potential replacement.

Sine Delmas was released by the Lions last week, he is free to sign with whatever club he chooses. He doesn’t have to wait until free agency begins.