Steelers look to regain their edge
Outside LB a need as draft nears
Tyson Alualu’s decision to reject a return to the Jacksonville Jaguars, coupled with the re-signing of Chris Wormley, has eased the Steelers’ immediate need to take a defensive lineman in the draft.
More important, it allows the Steelers to focus their attention on drafting players for the two defensive positions that need the most help — inside and outside linebacker.
The need for an inside linebacker would appear to be a higher priority after the release of starter Vince Williams. It leaves Robert Spillane, who started seven games in place of injured Devin Bush in 2020, as the lone viable candidate to replace Williams. That’s not exactly a favorable option.
However, with the free agent losses of Bud Dupree and backup Ola Adeniyi to the Tennessee Titans, the Steelers are left perilously thin at the position coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Kevin Colbert consider the most important on the defense — outside edge rusher. There is no proven depth behind starters T. J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, only Cassius Marsh, who was signed late in the 2020 season after spending time with six other teams.
That’s why it would not be surprising to see the Steelers use their first defensive pick in the draft on outside linebacker. Would it be in the first-round? Despite some mock drafts predicting the Steelers would take Tulsa’s Zaven Collins with their top pick, no. They will focus their 24th pick in the draft on offense, either a running back or an offensive lineman, including a center.
But that doesn’t mean the Steelers won’t consider an outside linebacker on the second day of the draft, maybe in the third round. While it might make more sense to draft an inside linebacker who has a chance to come in and be an immediate starter — someone, perhaps, like Alabama’s Dylan Moses — the Steelers might be more inclined to bolster the depth on the outside.
How odd?
There is something odd about the NFL’s new 17-game schedule. Specifically, the number.
The NFL has always been an even-number league, everything from the amount of teams to regular season games to playoff participants. (Brief math lesson: Any number that can be exactly divided by 2 is known as an even number.)
But, after the league owners approved an extra game to the schedule, 43 years after they went from a 14-game to 16-game schedule, everything has become, well, odd. Now there are 17 games instead of 16. There are three preseason games instead of four.
Already they went from six playoff teams in each conference to seven.
Those are numbers not divisible by 2.
It is the first time since 1942, when the regular season consisted of 11 games, the NFL will play an odd number of games. Sports, in general, are basically comprised of even numbers.
Baseball plays 162 games in a season. The NHL and NBA typically have an 82game seasons, COVID-19 adjustments notwithstanding.
The NCAA tournament is comprised of 64 teams, playing 16 games in four different brackets.
The PGA Tour plays 72-hole events. The Kentucky Derby is 1¼ miles.
The Boston Marathon is 26.2 miles. The Indy 500.
Tennis is an exception. They play best-ofthree sets for women, best-of-five for men.
It is an odd turn of events for the NFL.
In the void
The latest wave of salary-cap maneuvering has introduced a new catchphrase in contract negotiating — voidable years.
The Steelers have already signed three players to new contracts that include voidable years beyond the 2021 season — quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight end Eric Ebron.
That means none of those players have a contract that pays them beyond next season. But they have what amounts to a “fake contract” that allows the money they receive in 2021 to be spread over four additional years, known as voidable years, or through the 2025 season.
The purpose of those contracts is to spread the money the players receive in 2021, specifically their signing (and possibly roster) bonus, over an extended number of years to reduce the team’s salary cap hit in 2021.
But, if the Steelers elected to void those contracts after next season, the additional cap hit in 2022 would be $19.84 million for Roethlisberger ($10.34 million), Smith-Schuster ($5.6 million) and Ebron ($3.9 million).
Of course, the Steelers can elect to keep defraying costs by pushing that money into an additional voided year of the contract. Because the salary cap hit reduces with each voidable year, the Steelers cap amount would lessen by $4,961,000 each year through 2025.
Confusing? Of course it is.