Steelers reasoning for letting Lewis go...

[Shoe]

I wish I could agree with you shoe. I think the "Sticking to guns theory" is part of the problem. Woodley got his fat contract and hasn't lived up to it. Worilds "An ascending player" as you put it.. is younger, and deserving of a shot.

We are going to have to make some aggressive moves in order to get back where we need to be...with some luck undoubtedly..and I'm afraid the "Same old" is going to give us just that... 8 and 8's into the forseeable future.

Just to be clear: If we are just talking about player vs. player, I'd take Worilds over fatboy easily. The problem is, the cost associated. Assuming we can convince fatboy to take a paycut, it would work out pretty well, cap number wise.

Say Woodley is making $10m this year. We ask him to cut to $6.5m. We let Worilds walk, draft a young replacement (maybe a $2m or $3m), and move forward. Go the other route now. We sign Worilds. Let's say we get off cheap, at $8.5m a year. We eat a portion of Woodley's contract, cutting him outright. Maybe that is $5m.

These numbers are all hypothetical (I don't know the particulars), but in the first scenario, we have tied under $10 to that position. In the other scenario, we have approaching $15m, and we are stsill in a similar situation (relying on an injury-prone guy... both Woodley and Worilds can't stay healthy). In the former scenario, at least we would have a young replacement waiting in the wings.

The other knock on this whole scenario, is that spending a high pick on another OLB takes away that choice that could be used at another position.

[BURGH86STEEL]

The Steelers knew that Lewis wanted to test the free agent market. It's feasible that they knew that Lewis wanted to go home to play for New Orleans received a fair deal.

There was no way the Steelers were going to be able to compete with the money that other teams offered Lewis on the FA market. There was also no way the Steelers were going to be able to compete with Lewis' desire to go home and play for his home town team.

[thor75]

Financially the best case scenario would let Woirlds go, try to get Woodley to take a pay cut and draft someone this May. The money on Woodley is already spent, and as much as I hate to say we need to get some return on that next year. Personally I would like to cut Woodley outright and sign Woirlds to a new contract with games played clauses since everyone seems to think injuries are a concern.

Victor Butler only signed a 2yr 3million contract last year with the Saints after his whirlwind tour of the nfl last offseason. I think Woirlds can get a little more than that, but other teams will research his injury history also. Woirlds could be in that 2 yr 4-5 million range?? Might still be an option. Not well versed enough to know that 8.5 million is realistic. I know that's just your example.

[Ernie]

Just to be clear: If we are just talking about player vs. player, I'd take Worilds over fatboy easily. The problem is, the cost associated. Assuming we can convince fatboy to take a paycut, it would work out pretty well, cap number wise.

Say Woodley is making $10m this year. We ask him to cut to $6.5m. We let Worilds walk, draft a young replacement (maybe a $2m or $3m), and move forward. Go the other route now. We sign Worilds. Let's say we get off cheap, at $8.5m a year. We eat a portion of Woodley's contract, cutting him outright. Maybe that is $5m.

These numbers are all hypothetical (I don't know the particulars), but in the first scenario, we have tied under $10 to that position. In the other scenario, we have approaching $15m, and we are stsill in a similar situation (relying on an injury-prone guy... both Woodley and Worilds can't stay healthy). In the former scenario, at least we would have a young replacement waiting in the wings.

The other knock on this whole scenario, is that spending a high pick on another OLB takes away that choice that could be used at another position.

makes sense. Sucks that we are in that situation though. Seems we are faced with that scenario quite a bit.

[squidkid]

The Steelers knew that Lewis wanted to test the free agent market. It's feasible that they knew that Lewis wanted to go home to play for New Orleans received a fair deal.

There was no way the Steelers were going to be able to compete with the money that other teams offered Lewis on the FA market. There was also no way the Steelers were going to be able to compete with Lewis' desire to go home and play for his home town team.

Exactly.
Why people think the steelers dropped the ball on this one is beyond me.
lets just say the steelers way over paid lewis to make him stay. now you have a guy that is only here because of the money, more than likely wont play hard and it kills us capwise

[Steelhere10]

The reason are wrong, only half the money is spent and if you are Mr. Rooney do you want to spend the other half on a player who doesn't even commit to his weight and often injured. We are talking physical money, if I'm the Rooneys physical wasted money is worse than the cap.

[Ernie]

Not sure why you guys are acting like Lewis wouldn't have put forth 100% effort had he stayed.
and the statement was made that he wanted to "Test the market". Is he the first to do that? If what you are saying is true then we should never sign players to a 2nd contract.

[squidkid]

Financially the best case scenario would let Woirlds go, try to get Woodley to take a pay cut and draft someone this May. The money on Woodley is already spent, and as much as I hate to say we need to get some return on that next year. Personally I would like to cut Woodley outright and sign Woirlds to a new contract with games played clauses since everyone seems to think injuries are a concern.

Victor Butler only signed a 2yr 3million contract last year with the Saints after his whirlwind tour of the nfl last offseason. I think Woirlds can get a little more than that, but other teams will research his injury history also. Woirlds could be in that 2 yr 4-5 million range?? Might still be an option. Not well versed enough to know that 8.5 million is realistic. I know that's just your example.

i willing to bet worilds gets more than 1.5 to 2.5 per year and it will be longer than a 2 year deal.

[Ernie]

i willing to bet worilds gets more than 1.5 to 2.5 per year and it will be longer than a 2 year deal.

I agree with you there squid... he's ranked too high in the FA market for OLB's going into the offseason... We won't be able to afford him most likely

[squidkid]

I agree with you there squid... he's ranked too high in the FA market for OLB's going into the offseason... We won't be able to afford him most likely

cut ties with woodley as a june 1st cut and sign worilds to a 3-5 million per year deal.
eating woodleys cap hit would suck, but theres no sense paying the guy another 8 million next year when he has proven to be lazy, fat and soft.