Trade Larry Foote?

Sorry, but this season Larry Foote was superior to Lawrence Timmons. Foote is worlds ahead of Timmons in his ability to shed blocks in the running game. Sure, Timmons is better in pass packages, but we wouldn’t trade Hampton who never plays on obvious passing downs.

Point is, don’t trade a sure thing when you have a guy who hasn’t started a game yet. Especially when that guy was injured his first year and your other ILB is around 34 years old. Even if LT3 wrests the job from Foote, he’s one hell of an insurance policy.

Besides, the best you would get in a trade is a 3rd round. 30 year old ILBs don’t translate into high draft picks.

Finally, cutting him makes zero sense. We have plenty of cap room this year and he will be off the books next year.

Timmons actually had two more tackles then Foote this past season.

As Kevin Colbert said very recently, it would be difficult to cut or trade someone who is under contract and has made solid contributions to the team this year. Let’s face it, he held off Timmons this year. He clearly told the media this year that he was going to get the job done ,and that he would not be the weak link of the defense. He backed it up. Foote is no slouch. Remember this guy led the Big Ten in tackles his senior year at Michigan. He knows his assignments and is rarely out of position. If anybody thinks we can get an early round draft pick for him they are mistaken. I think the Steelers will retain his services this year ,and if Timmons continues to develope next year then they will not offer him another contract.

I believe those people who are suggesting the Steelers trade him for draft picks and then think they will get as high as a second round pick are sorely over-estimating his trade value.

As exciting as improving our draft chances are, I think keeping Foote may take priority for our Defense.

Two reasons:

Linebacker depth: I’m not convinced any of our back-up linebackers are ready to play. Sure they looked great on special teams, but what if we have a linebacker go on IR for a few weeks? With Foote on our team, we can shuffle Timmons over to OLB (godforbid LILB) and still feel pretty comfortable.

We’re not just rebuilding, we’re also playing to win: Remember those plays when Timmons got to the quarter back with incredible speed? We need to thank Larry “The Crisper” Foote for being there on running downs and keeping Timmons fresh. Timmons and Foote have different strengths as mentioned before. Our defensive unit that included this duo is dominating, so lets not weaken it prematurely.
Also, an extra year with Foote will allow the special team LBs to learn the system better so they can step up in 2010.

That said, I strongly expect Timmons to play a lot more next year.

Quite frankly, we could have played Timmons more this year because our run defense was so good we didn’t need Foote. But Foote provides LB depth and options in the event we have D line issues.

What if Hampton’s age and weight take a toll on his play or any of our starting D linemen go down? Foote’s ability to play the inside run will become more valuable than Timmons’ speed even if the LBs stay healthy.

Larry offers us depth and veteran skills there. I do agree that we will see more and more of Timmons, but just don’t see a trade with Foote in the cards. Besides…unless I was pissed as a newt (highly possible I’m afraid) I’m sure I saw pacjkages where both Foote and Timmons were on the field together. Keeping them both gives that versatility, as others have mentioned.

People say how he is so good and young that you can’t trade him but at the same time not good enough to get a high draft pick? This all started from a story on the post saying that detroit was interested in getting him and he was interested in going back to his home state to play. I understand we want depth at LB but don’t we already have depth at LB? Thats a position of strength for us, we are going to have to lose some people, thats a given as much as no one likes it but like tomlin said the days of everyone staying on the team is over, so we are going to lose some guys so if it came down to it if he had the choice of losing someone who would it be? Foote would be the only case in my mind, I wouldn’t want to lose BMac.

Farrior was just given a brand new contract extension prior to this season. The plan wasn’t for him to be rotated in and out. He has led the team in tackles for the past three seasons. Sorry, but Farrior’s fate with the Steelers(going down or retiring) isn’t directly tied to Foote holding a roster position on the team. He also was voted to the pro bowl this year. How can he be one of your fav players when your so quick to throw him on the trash heap?