Several sources including ESPN and the local folks in Pittsburgh are confirming that Jason Worilds has signed his transition tag meaning he will play with the Steelers for the 2014 season.
He will earn the $9.75 million the tag is worth and he is now off the market to any of the other 31 franchises.
What also does is allow the Steelers to work on a long-term deal with Worilds. If that doesn’t happen, he would go back into free agency next offseason.
With Worilds signing the tag today, the future of Steelers’ linebacker LaMarr Woodley is now in serious jeopardy in terms of him remaining in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers are faced with the possibility of cutting Woodley now which would mean a cap hit of just over $14 million. The good news with that scenario is that he would come off the books after the season. They could also cut him June first which would basically cut in half that amount.
The catch there is that his numbers would remain against the Steelers’’ cap for this year and next year. Basically it boils down to how the team decides it wants to take its medicine.
Signing Worilds was pretty much a ‘must’ for the Steelers for a couple of reasons. They didn’t want a repeat of what happened with Keenan Lewis and the depth at outside linebacker is slim and none.
While I see the Worilds and Lewis situations as apples and oranges, the general fan base would not have liked the way things would have looked had Worilds walked as did Lewis.
I liked what Jason Worilds did last season, but I have concerns not only with his health but with his overall ability to get to the quarterback on a more consistent basis.
Stay tuned because more cap moves are on the way.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 730pm ET talking Steelers and is a blogger for ESPN 970 in Pittsburgh.
