It’s been a little over two weeks since the Pittsburgh Steelers placed the transition tag on outside linebacker Jason Worilds and by the looks of things, he will ride on that $9.754 million number throughout the summer.
If you look back over the last several years, history tells you that the Steelers never rush to get long-term deals done with the players they tag.
In 2008, tackle Max Starks received a $6.895 million transition tender and ultimately played the entire season on it. The following offseason, Starks was given the $8.451 million franchise tag, but the Steelers did not get a long-term deal done with him until late that June.
In 2010, kicker Jeff Reed was given the franchise tag and he rode that $2.418 million number until he was released later that season as the Steelers were never able to work out a long-term deal with him.
Prior to the start of free agency in 2011, outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley was given the $10.091 million franchise tag and once again, a long-term deal took a while to get done. While the lockout didn’t help things, Woodley ultimately signed a long-term deal in early August.
While the Steelers currently have just over $2 million in salary cap space to work with until June, it’s enough to take care of the rest of the business they have at hand. Regardless, they’re not going to let a lack of space force them to do a new deal with Worilds that won’t be good for them.
When they Steelers placed the transition tender on Worilds, they did so knowing that it could possibly take a while to get him extended and they planned around that accordingly.
