Steelers Between a Rock and a Hard Place with Free Agent OLB Jason Worilds

To say that the Pittsburgh Steelers are thin at outside linebacker right now would be an understatement. They have just one: 2013 first-round draft pick Jarvis Jones. The other three who were on the field for them in 2014—James Harrison, Arthur Moats and Jason Worilds—are all unrestricted free agents.

Of the three, Worilds seems the most likely to return. Though not the most ideal situation, it may just be the one for which the Steelers must settle.

The Steelers defense will undergo a transformation this offseason, one which began with longtime defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau stepping down and linebackers coach Keith Butler taking his place. It will continue on the personnel side with cornerback Ike Taylor, safety Troy Polamalu, inside linebacker Brett Keisel and Harrison all likely not playing for Pittsburgh in 2015.

Year	Games	Starts	Sacks	INT	PD	FF	FR	TD	Tackles
2010	14	0	2.0	0	1	0	1	0	2
2011	12	7	3.0	0	0	1	0	0	25
2012	16	3	5.0	0	2	0	0	0	18
2013	15	11	8.0	0	1	2	0	0	43
2014	16	16	7.5	1	2	1	2	0	42
Total	73	37	25.5	1	6	4	3	0	129

In result, the Steelers will field younger players in their starting defense, something uncommon for the team.

Free agency does not seem like it will bear much fruit for the Steelers in 2015. Currently, their top-51 salary cap figure is over an estimated team cap of $142 million by just over $1 million. The Steelers also need to work out a contract extension with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, one that should result in a restructuring that frees up money.

Other players like linebacker Lawrence Timmons and wide receiver Antonio Brown will also likely restructure their respective contracts in order to give the Steelers more cap space. Still, cash will be limited, so it's hard to imagine the Steelers shelling out money to a veteran, free-agent edge-rusher this offseason.

It's not that Worilds is a bad player. It's just that the Steelers have backed themselves into a corner that makes him their first, last, best and only veteran option at outside linebacker.

Worilds played 2014 under the transition tag, making $9.754 million. In return, he had 41 tackles, 7.5 sacks, an interception, two passes defensed, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. He was Pro Football Focus' 11th-ranked 3-4 outside linebacker on the year (out of 46), just one spot below Harrison. He was also third in run-stop percentage, stuffing a run on 7.1 percent of his run-defense snaps.

It was a similar season to his 2013, which earned him the transition tag while the Steelers tried to find a way to compensate him long-term. He had eight sacks that year, a pass defensed, two forced fumbles and 43 tackles.

However, that doesn't necessarily warrant a long-term deal that averages $9-10 million a season—not when better-performing linebackers like Baltimore's Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil are making an average of around $5 million per year.

According to CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora, the franchise tag, meanwhile, should be around $13 million for linebackers in 2015, which seems like a highly unrealistic amount of money for the Steelers to pay him—let alone find a way to come up with.

But should Worilds hit the free-agent market, he could very well command a yearly salary closer to his transition-tag amount than the fee commanded by his Baltimore counterparts. That would leave the Steelers in an even more difficult situation: alone with Jones and his three sacks in 2014. And it would further damage the Steelers' efforts at retaining some semblance of roster continuity after the attrition that is likely ahead.

So what do the Steelers do? Gamble with Worilds' testing the free-agent market and hope that he doesn't get the offers he expects, then negotiate something more realistic and team-friendly? Should they give him the franchise tag and try to walk that number back in a long-term deal? That didn't work out last year after giving him the transition tag, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac pointed out in January.

Do they break the bank before free agency, manipulating their current salaries enough to make Worilds one of the five highest-paid players on the roster in order to keep him happy and to not see their crucial outside linebacking ranks thin considerably?

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had praise for Worilds at the close of the season, saying, per ESPN.com's Scott Brown:

"

I thought [Worilds] came out of his shell a little bit and interacted with younger players and helped them in their growth and their development. There is value in terms of that. I thought he evolved over the course of the season. I thought he did a nice job for us regardless of what we asked him to do. I thought it was a productive year.

"

The helping of lesser-experienced players "in their growth and development," is a big one here, with the Steelers defense, as noted, getting younger and younger still. That could add another $1-2 million on his yearly price tag, just because he can assist with the transition to the NFL and the Steelers' defense. There are fewer and fewer players, especially in the pass rush, of whom that can be said in Pittsburgh right now.

But balancing Worilds' on-field value with his on-paper value in a way that works with the Steelers' salary-cap restrictions as well as with Worilds' view of his worth is going to be a tricky strait to navigate. No matter what decision the Steelers end up making, it's going to be an expensive one.

Salary-cap info courtesy of Spotrac unless otherwise noted.