In a Tuesday post on CBS Sports, Senior NFL Columnist Pete Prisco showed once again that he has zero credibility when it comes writing about the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In his post, Prisco listed eight under-the-radar free agents to watch this offseason and that list included Steelers linebackers Jason Worilds and Stevenson Sylvester.
With Worilds, Prisco writes:
The Steelers would love to have him back, but they have cap issues. It will be tough to re-sign him unless they make some tough decisions, like restructuring high-cap deals for players like corner Ike Taylor. In a league starved for pass rushers, Worilds is coming off his best season with 8 1/2 sacks and he turns 26 March 3.
Hello, Captain Obvious. First, Worilds is no way an under-the-radar free agent as many consider him to potentially be the second-best 3-4 outside linebacker on the market this offseason behind only Brian Orakpo of the Washington Redskins. With recent reports suggesting Orakpo will be re-signed prior to the start of the new league year, that would make Worilds the top 3-4 outside linebacker prize in free agency.
As far as the Steelers having salary cap issues, Prisco should probably pay more attention to the recent news about the 2014 cap number potentially coming in north of $132 million. As far as their tough decisions go, the biggest one will be deciding whether or not Worilds is worth more than $7 million a season.
OK, perhaps I was a little too harsh on Prisco when it comes to his thoughts on Worilds, but I can’t let him off the hook with Sylvester.
With Sylvester, Prisco writes:
He has started only two games in four seasons, but he’s been really good on special teams. I think he might be ready to step in and start for a team on a full-time basis — and might not cost that much.
Now this is really under-the-radar and a mail-in job on Prisco’s part. Sure, Sylvester won’t cost much at all, Pete, because if any team signs him for more than the minimum per his accrued years, that general manager deserves to be fired. In fact, that number in 2014 will be $730,000. He might not even be worth that amount.
As far as Sylvester potentially being a starter, he’s played all of 175 snaps on defense since being drafted in 2010. 87 of those snaps came in the final two games of the 2013 season and that’s because the aforementioned Worilds was sidelined with an abdomen injury. Sylvester did have eight total tackles in those final two games, but he offered nothing as a pass rusher from either of the outside linebacker spots. That’s not even his natural position as he was forced to learn it because he couldn’t beat out Vince Williams and Kion Wilson for an inside backup spot due to the fact that he couldn’t make through the preseason without getting injured once again.
Sylvester was released by the Steelers prior to the start of last season and he stayed unemployed until October. In fact, they didn’t even restricted tender him last offseason. Teams could have had him for the minimum in both instances. If the Steelers thought that Sylvester had any upside whatsoever at this point, they would re-sign him once again for the minimum right away. At best, Sylvester is player that can contribute on special teams and that’s only if he can stay healthy.
