Lammar Woodley Anyone?

[BurnleyJet]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000332432/article/lamarr-woodley-to-be-released-by-pittsburgh-steelers

 

six-year, $61.5 million contract signed by Lamarr Woodley after the 2011 lockout will go down as one of the worst in Pittsburgh Steelers history.

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Having placed the transition tag on left outside linebacker Jason Worilds last week, the Steelers informed Woodley of their plans to release him on Tuesday, a person informed of the transaction tells NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoprt.

ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the team's intention to release Woodley.

Woodley will be designated a post-June 1 cut, allowing the Steelers to spread the salary-cap hit over two years. Now the No. 1 outside linebacker on the open market, Woodley will be free to sign with another team at the start of free agency on Tuesday.

After totaling 35 sacks from 2008-2010, Woodley managed just half that number over the past three seasons since signing his lucrative extension. Battling multiple hamstring injuries, Woodley was heavily criticized in Pittsburgh for failing to keep himself in football shape.

Still, the decision was hardly a no-brainer for the Steelers' brain trust. When healthy and motivated, Woodley stood with Troy Polamalu and Lawrence Timmons as the premier talents on Dick LeBeau's defense.

An organization with few defensive building blocks is taking a sizable cap hit to cut loose a talented player with the potential to come back and haunt them by earning a Pro Bowl bid in another city.

Still just 29 years old, Woodley will enter Around The League's list of the top 101 free agents at No. 21.

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[Greenseed4]

 

Steelers will release OLB LaMarr Woodley.

He'll be designated as a post-June 1 release, allowing the Steelers to spread out his $19.76 million in dead money over the next two seasons. The move clears $10.57 million in cap space. Woodley's release was a fait accompli after the Steelers re-signed OLB Jason Worilds. Woodley still has some juice left as a pass rusher, but has become increasingly injury prone, and will turn 30 in November. He'll draw interest as a situational pass rusher for 3-4 teams.

 

 

There's talk that the Jets will bring Calvin Pace back on a team friendly deal.  Considering his success last year we'd be crazy not to.  Coples, now healthy, started popping off the screen later in the season, and Antwan Barnes is technically still under contract and was playing well before his departure.  

 

Still, there's a feeling that we could improve our exterior pass rush.  We were supposedly linked to Worlids, now his predecessor has moved on...Anthony Spencer from Dallas can be lumped into this category as a 30-year old (once highly thought of) pass-rusher who will likely be limited to sub-packages on his next team. 

 

Other options include both ends of the spectrum.  Do we spend big on a Demarcus Ware type (someone we know will be dominant)?  Or do we look to the draft, and get a relatively cheap unknown?

 

I says we need to address the position somehow.  The question is how?

 

 

 

[Greenseed4]

Mods, please merge with BurnelyJet, 

[SenorGato]

I'm down for a quality veteran OLB like Ware or Woodley, but what of Woody's money? Do you even care? Are the Jets Ready? What of The Future?

[Greenseed4]

I'm down for a quality veteran OLB like Ware or Woodley, but what of Woody's money? Do you even care? Are the Jets Ready? What of The Future?

 

I have a feeling a player like Demarcus Ware would take us over the top.  He's just a dominant player at the position, and once we get a secondary that could reap the benefit of forced throws under pressure, we could start creating turnovers.  

 

Spencer/Woodley/Barnes are great players, but they have crocodile arms and are situational guys who have been flirting with IR for the last couple seasons. 

[derp]

I think they should sign re-Pace and draft someone, perhaps reasonably early. That's assuming Barnes is healthy. If not, cutting him and bringing in someone like Woodley on a reasonable deal to be a situational pass rusher would make sense.

 

This way the rookie can improve overall depth/athleticism at the position and hopefully get on the field more and more as the season goes on - but maybe play in obvious pass rushing situations early. Barnes/FA can function as a situational pass rusher which went well early last season, and Coples/Pace can be the primary early down guys where the priority for Rex is stopping the run.

 

Coples is really the only three down guy in this scenario, occasionally Pace as well, but the hope would be that the draft pick could develop into that role as the season goes on and be ready to take it on next season.

[SenorGato]

DeMarcus Ware as a Jet would be awesome, but something about age and money. One of the Pats' secret advantages of the 2000s is that they were able to revive fallen stud veterans with slightly reduced but still high impact roles. I don't see any reason the Jets can't do the same - worked with Tomlinson and Pace (though you're not getting Ware that cheap).