Every week it seems to get said.
LB Jason Worilds played his best game of the season this week.
The linebacker was mostly an afterthought after the Steelers used their first-round draft pick on Jarvis Jones, but LaMarr Woodley missing the past three games has opened the door for Worilds, and he’s blown it right open.
Thursday night he was again the best defensive player on the field for the Steelers, putting up 2 sacks, 10 tackles, 3 quarterback hurries and a forced fumble.
Considering in the last five games he has five sacks and lead the team team with six, the coaching staff is going to have a tough decision to make if and when Woodley is ready to come back.
Woodley is in the second year of a whopping deal that was for six years at $61.5 million, and he’s missed a number of games the past two years with injuries.
Worilds has done great on the left side, which is Woodley’s side. Right now since missing the last three games with a calf injury, the Steelers are 2-1, and the defense seems to have been much better.
It’s a tough business, and with the impending free agency for Worilds, the Steelers are going to have tough decisions to make when it comes to the future of the linebacking core.
It is a good problem in terms of having a player like Jones, who does look like he has a bright future ahead of him manning the right side.
The issue will be what to do with the left side. Does the team bring back Worilds and cut ties with Woodley all together?
Can they afford NOT to play Worilds for the rest of 2013, no matter the situation and record?
As it stands right now, he’s deserved to get a shot to show the organization if he has what it takes to do it long term.
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Dave B.
December 3, 2013 at 6:28 am
Lamar Woodley , here are the facts . Is he a good outside linebacker when healthy ? Yes . However , with that being said , he has never been a player that was even close to being worth the 61 million dollar contract that the Steelers paid him . Secondly , until this year , he has a history of coming into camp overweight and out of shape and then having to be pushed by the coaches to get in game shape . Lastly , every year in November and December , instead of being on the field helping his teammates , hes sitting on the bench with some type of leg injury . Those are the facts . Bottom line , this team is going to clean house anyway after the season , so I say save some money , let him go and give the job to Worilds . Hes proving this season that hes ready for the job .
George H
December 3, 2013 at 12:15 pm
Given Woodley’s track record I’d say his 61 million dollar contract is not too far off from what he would of gotten on the open market. That being said, it is going to be a lot tougher to get rid of Woodley because of his big cap hit. I’d love to trade him for a 3rd round pick, which seems fair enough, but its going to take another team to take on his big contract. If anything, due to his money left on his deal, if he is traded it would be for probably no more than a 5th. I’m not sure what the cap hit would be if we just cut him 2 years into the contract either. Also the Steelers aren’t typically known for trading players anyway
Jalen
December 3, 2013 at 7:41 pm
5th rounder is more like it. Take his total bonus and divide it by length of contract, then multiply by two and tats how much the cap hit would sans any potential added in cap penalties.