January 5, 2015
Column: Keep Worilds, keep building defense
Jason Worilds was held without a sack in Saturday’s playoff loss to the Ravens at Heinz Field. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
The Steelers folded up the chairs one final time at their South Side headquarters Monday afternoon, most fanning out across the country but many also sticking around Pittsburgh to take advantage of the facilities and prepare for Latrobe.
“Before you know it, it’ll be here,” Jarvis Jones was telling me in an otherwise mostly empty locker room. “Everything’s right here for me to get ready. I’m staying right here.”
Good for him.
“I’ll be here, too,” Shamarko Thomas chimed in from a nearby stall. “I’ll do some training out in California, too, outdoor stuff. But I’ll be here.”
It matters. Enough that Mike Tomlin was making the rounds asking everyone exactly that.
Here’s another guy sticking around. And if he has his way, it’ll be for years to come …
Keep Jason Worilds.
I’ll start right there in looking at the Steelers’ offseason that began in earnest with this sullen scene of hugs, handshakes, farewells and frowns, and I’ll start there for a reason.
The offense is hardly a finished product. Ben Roethlisberger’s extension will offer daily drama, especially if any of the parties go public — Roethlisberger declined to speak with us reporters Monday — but it’ll get done. The running back, the top three wide receivers, the tight end and the entire offensive line — save, perhaps, Marcus Gilbert — look like locks for 2015. Depth is needed. Another running back. A better slot receiver than Lance Moore. A young tight end to eventually supplant Heath Miller wouldn’t hurt. But the starting spots are pretty much set.
They might even be more set on defense than most seem to realize, at least for next season.
Up front, Cam Heyward, their best player, will have Stephon Tuitt at the other end, and Steve McLendon and Dan McCullers either sharing or dueling for nose tackle. It’s a big, strong, “get-after-it” group, as Heyward said, and they’re all young. I’m not saying they’re the next Aaron Smith-Casey Hampton-Brett Keisel trio, but I am saying they’re set. With a promising ceiling.
“We’re all the get-after-it type,” Heyward said.
The secondary is a serious issue, obviously, especially if the Steelers take what, from this view, would be the right course and cut ties with Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, Mike Mitchell and Cortez Allen. Polamalu could retire or be bought out. Taylor probably will retire. Mitchell and Allen would need to be released. And should be.
I don’t need to pile on about their respective performances. Just check out this chart …
It’s easier to design rocket ships for Jupiter than to decipher NFL salary caps, but I’ll strip down the process and say that I’ll take the cap savings over the player in every case up there except Keisel (if healthy) and Gilbert (only because he’s better than Mike Adams). Secondary coach Carnell Lake really likes Allen’s potential, but that would be a hard sell. Overall, among this group, less is more.
And more money equals a chance for the Steelers to address this glaring shortcoming both through the draft and through free agency. Michigan State’s Trae Waynes, the top-ranked corner, could be there when they pick at No. 22. Yeah, I know they never, ever take corners early, but maybe desperation will take over. And yeah, I know they never, ever sign big free agents, but the open market could work, too. Darrelle Revis will be out there again. As long as whoever did the advance work on Mitchell doesn’t have a voice at the table, an immediate contributor could be culled with the aforementioned cash.
It’s also not as if there’s no one in place. Willie Gay, Brice McCain and Antwon Blake showed something, particularly the latter. They could battle for one corner spot or provide depth. Safety could require starting from scratch, but it also could be time for Thomas to take a stride forward in his third season.
“Year 3 is it for me. I know that,” Thomas was saying Monday. “A lot of us are going to have to step up, and I’m part of that. I welcome that. I like what we have. If you look at the style that me and Antwon play, you know we can be physical, that we’re going to go for the big hit, that we’re going to make people uncomfortable.”
That would, indeed, be welcome. The Ravens’ secondary sure put a hurting on the Steelers’ receivers Saturday.
Which brings us to linebackers and, really, the general thrust here.
The inside is set with Lawrence Timmons and some combination of Ryan Shazier, Vince Williams and/or Sean Spence. Tomlin and Dick LeBeau can continue rotating them per specialty or effectiveness or, preferably, offer a full opportunity to a healthy Shazier. This is real depth and pedigree. And if Timmons can be left alone at the line, rather than constantly being dropped into coverage — which, maddeningly, occurred all night Saturday — it’ll be all the more meaningful.
The outside has only Jones. Seriously, he’s the only guy under contract.
“Huh,” he said, “I hadn’t even realized that.”
The Steelers had better. That’s the chief reason why, regardless of which way James Harrison goes, it’s critical that they sign Worilds to a multiyear extension.
Worilds played this season on the $10 million transition tag, of course, and had absolutely zero chance of living up to that dollar figure. Which he didn’t. Maybe only J.J. Watt could have done that on the defensive side. But Saturday’s egg aside, Worilds was the Steelers’ only player to take all 998 defensive snaps, and he recorded eight sacks, 16 quarterback hits, 28 hurries, five tackles for losses and an interception, a forced fumble and two recoveries. Of the NFL’s 33 outside linebackers in a 3-4 scheme who participated in at least 500 snaps, Worilds ranked 10th, according to Pro Football Focus‘ grading system.
Who thinks the Steelers are going to upgrade on that?
And how would they do so, if they chose?
Not even this team can keep drafting linebackers year after year after year. And don’t say free agency, because that would prioritize linebacker over the secondary or necessary extensions for Roethlisberger and others.
Besides, outside linebacker in the LeBeau system can be the equivalent of … well, understanding NFL salary caps.
“I thought I knew football in college, but it turned out I didn’t know anything until these two years since I’ve been here,” Jones said. “This isn’t easy. There’s a lot of thinking, even though you know there can’t be a lot of thinking. It’s got to be instinct. That takes time.”
And it’s one additional adjustment the Steelers would have to await while also, theoretically, working in new members of the secondary. No thanks to that.
I asked Jones about Worilds.
“I hope he stays. I do,” Jones said. “He’s a Pittsburgh Steeler through and through, and we need him. I need him. I’d love for us to be those bookend outside linebackers here for years.”
So would Worilds. So get it done. Then get to work on the heavier lifting.
