The issue with Polamalu is there is NO ONE behind him. Will Allen and Ryan Mundy are free agents. Robert Golden and Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith were special-teams players only (5th and 6th safeties on our roster last season). Do we realistically think that one of them can step up and start, and the other could be the primary backup to both spots? Safety is our weakest position, depth-wise. I think we will consider drafting 2 safeties, even if we keep Troy and Clark, so there is no way that I see cutting Troy loose.
Deebo may go, even though it hurts to part with him (but Tomlin made a similar decision with Joey Porter when his age and salary weren't in line), but at least we have Worilds behind him, which is better than anything we have at safety right now.
There is also a possibility that Ike could be sacrificed if that means we are able to re-sign Lewis. Keenan and Cortez are both ready for prime time in my option, and if we let an emerging Lewis go in order to hold onto a playing-the-back-nine-of-his-career Taylor, then that is a mistake in my opinion.
The team likely feels comfortable letting Hampton test free agent waters because they know that they have McLendon, Ta'Amu, and Fangupo.
Similarly, they'll let Starks see what he can get in free agency since they have Gilbert and Adams.
There is even a possibility that they could make Keisel a cap casualty if they feel they can get by with Heyward-McLendon-Hood as their starting front 3.
Rather than restructuring Ben and Heath, I could see them trying to work out actual extension for those guys.
Colon is the biggest question-mark, because his injuries make him unreliable, but we don't really gain any real degree of added cap room by cutting him loose (and restructuring his deal will only make things worse), so they may just try to hold onto him for another year if they are unable to re-sign Foster (I'd rather have Beachum as a Trai-Essex-like fall-back option at multiple positions than a guy we need to start on day one).
I'd say Timmons and Woodley are the primary candidates for restructuring (I suppose they could add Ben and Heath to this list if they are unable to extend their deals, but I would prefer extension to restructures in those cases).
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