Larry Foote vs. James Farrior, Not Lawrence Timmons

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the most consistently competitive football franchise in the NFL. This year-to-year success is a result of a proven methodical formula used by the Steelers since the days of Chuck Noll.

For the first time in recent memory the Pittsburgh organization has strayed from that formula. At the heart of problem with the Steelers release of MLB Larry Foote is the signing of another one of the team's linebackers.

The formula for success includes the practice of choosing not to re-sign aging players who, although good now, will not be worth large contracts in two to three years. The Steelers broke this rule by re-signing MLB James Farrior to a five-year, $18 million extension, leaving no room for the future of the younger and equally talented Larry Foote.

Conventional NFL wisdom might not frown on this personnel decision. Re-signing Farrior, a Pro Bowl LB who is the captain and intellectual leader of the Steelers top-rated defense, sounds like a pretty smart choice to most professional and amateur football minds. 

This theory, however, would argue that the Steelers should have re-signed a slew of aging veteran LBs throughout their history including: Jason Gildon, Levon Kirkland, Greg Lloyd, and most recently Joey Porter.

None of these veterans left holes that could not be filled and neither would James Farrior. Steelers fans know that Lawrence Timmons is too talented to be riding the bench next year, and while cutting Foote creates room for a more explosive player it is the wrong way to create that room.

Instead of keeping the older veteran and releasing the 28-year-old, five-year starter the team would have better suited its future and its formula for success by doing just the opposite.

Releasing Farrior would not have been the right decision, but by choosing not to give him an extension and instead using this upcoming season as a year to groom either Timmons or Foote into the next defensive captain the Steelers can keep their talent and maintain leadership.

This strategy would also allow the Steelers to satisfy Foote by convincing him that he is a key to the Steelers’ future, and while he might lose some playing time in the next year he would be assured a solidified starting spot in the years to come.

By keeping Foote rather than Farrior the Steelers' oldest LB would be James Harrison at 31, giving the team a starting four experienced enough to win Super Bowls and young enough to remain together for at least four years if not five or six.

As is, the Steelers will have another linebacking hole to fill in two or three years and money wasted on a player no longer worth his contract.

The Steelers seem to have a constant supply of young talented LBs waiting to take over starting roles and it is possible that Farrior retires before he becomes a salary cap burden. But the Steelers are a team hoping to win one or more Super Bowls in the next five or so years, and the best way to do that is by staying young and eliminating as many potential holes as possible.

The Steelers, for the first time in a long time, have decided to build for right now and not the future, a decision that should scare Steelers fans and have them hoping this is a fluke and not a trend.