Transition Tag for Jason Worilds Best of Bad Options for Cap-Strapped Steelers

As the Pittsburgh Steelers look to defend their AFC North title in 2015, tough decisions face the team. Decisions born of one the worst salary-cap situations in the NFL.

Those decisions include what to do about outside linebacker Jason Worilds, who led the team with 7.5 sacks in 2014.

Worilds played 2014 under the transition tag, and while tagging the 26-year-old could be an expensive proposition for a team with not much wiggle room, sometimes you just have to make the best of a bad situation.

Gerry Dulac of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted Tuesday that the transition tag was still on the table with Worilds this year:

The tag, which would allow the Steelers to match any offers made to Worilds in free agency (but not entitle Pittsburgh to any compensation if they refuse), would pay him in the neighborhood of $11 million in 2015.

It's a lot of money to pay a five-year veteran who has yet to amass more than eight sacks in any one season, especially given that the Steelers are presently over a projected salary cap of $140 million according to Over the Cap.

Year	G	GS	Tack.	Sacks	FF	INT
2010	14	0	17	2.0	0	0
2011	12	7	38	3.0	1	0
2012	16	3	27	5.0	0	0
2013	15	11	63	8.0	2	0
2014	16	16	59	7.5	1	1

In a perfect world, the Steelers would work out a long-term, cap-friendly extension between now and the start of free agency on March 10. Mark Kaboly of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said as much recently:

"

He is probably still an ascending player. I don't think you've seen the best of him, either as a Steeler or as a potential player for someone else's team. He is definitely someone that we will consider keeping. We will see where the market goes.

"

However, it's not a perfect world, and there are a couple of big reasons why the transition tag for Worilds makes sense as a fallback plan.

The first is that market Colbert spoke of.

When it comes to free-agent 3-4 outside pass-rushers in free agency this year, there really isn't one.

Player	Team
Justin Houston	Kansas City Chiefs
Brian Orakpo	Washington Redskins
Pernell McPhee	Baltimore Ravens
Jabaal Sheard	Cleveland Browns
Brandon Graham	Philadelphia Eagles

Mind you, this isn't to say there aren't any talented outside linebackers set to hit free agency. After all, Justin Houston just piled up 22 sacks for the Chiefs in 2014.

There's also no chance in Cleveland (see what I did there?) that's he's leaving Kansas City.

Brian Orakpo has missed as many games as he's played over the past three seasons in Washington. Pernell McPhee is in a very similar position as Worilds—an ascending player who would command a fat deal on the open market.

Upgrading the Steelers' outside linebackers via free agency is going to be an awfully hard trick to pull off in 2015. The team would be well served just to tread water.

In fact, the Steelers can't afford not to.

In addition to Worilds, outside linebackers Arthur Moats and James Harrison are also set to hit free agency next month. As things stand right now, the Steelers have all of three outside linebackers—Jarvis Jones, Howard Jones (who spent 2014 on the practice squad) and CFL transplant Shawn Lemon—under contract for 2015.

The position that was the engine for the "Blitzburgh" defenses of the past decade has become a huge question mark. The last thing the Steelers need is to take another step back there, especially after falling all the way to 26th in the NFL in sacks last year.

Granted, there's also a good group of edge-rushers entering the NFL via this year's draft, and Colbert told Kaboly he's confident the team will have a strong cadre of outside linebackers in the fold come training camp:

"

We are worried about it today, but I feel comfortable that we will be fine once we get to August. There will be good candidates. Even looking ahead to the draft, that's probably one of the positions that is potentially strong.

"

Still, Worilds' departure would create one more hole in a Swiss cheese unit that a Steelers team with limited resources would have to fill. Those limited resources also mean that should Worilds hit the open market, a bidding war could quickly escalate out of Pittsburgh's price range.

Even then, the transition tag isn't ideal. That $11 million hit is a big one, and it remains possible that a team flush with cap space (say, the Tennessee Titans, the new home of former Pittsburgh DC Dick LeBeau) could make the sort of "Godfather" offer the Steelers just can't match.

In that case, they get squat.

However, at the very least the transition tag buys the Steelers time to negotiate, and it offers them the right to match any offer Worilds receives from another team.

In short, it gives Pittsburgh options.

And where the outside linebacker spot is concerned, the Steelers can use all of those they can get.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPManor.