LaMarr Woodley Reportedly Unlikely To Be With Pittsburgh Steelers In 2014
By Matt Shetler
Many people have their eyes on the outside linebacker position to see what the Pittsburgh Steelers will do as they prepare for an important offseason.
This weekend I looked at Kevin Colbert’s decision between LaMarr Woodley and Jason Worilds and it looks like Colbert may have already reached a quick decision on what he intends to do.
December 23, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley (56) reacts on the sidelines against the Cincinnati Bengals during the third quarter at Heinz Field. The Cincinnati Bengals won 13-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it is starting to look like Woodley will not be with the team in 2014.
If the Steelers were to release Woodley at the start of free agency, his cap number would be roughly $14 million, but on June 1, becomes $5.6 million according to OverTheCap.com.
It looks like the team will sit down with Woodley and if he is unwilling to take a pay cut, the Steelers will show the 30-year-old outside linebacker the door.
Woodley came out of the gate like a gangbuster and earned himself a big contract, but he has been very disappointing the past three seasons and has missed significant amounts of time due to injury.
That should be good news for the Steelers and their chances to re-sign Worilds.
Cutting Woodley creates a spot in the starting lineup or Worilds, as he has said he only would be interested in returning to the Steelers as a starter.
However, simply releasing Michigan product Woodley doesn’t do much to help the Steelers out financially as they will still have a lot of work to do in order to find money for Worilds.
Cutting Woodley would leave the Steelers with more than $14 million in dead money, a tough pill to swallow for a team already projected to be more than $10 million over the cap to begin with.
But it looks like Colbert has already shown his hand and he prefers Worilds over Woodley. That is the smart move, and now Colbert needs to take the necessary steps to make things happen.