Welcome to the L. Timmons, K. Fox and Donovan Woods era at inside linebacker in Pittsburgh. Tomlin has what he wants now — including Farrior, 4 ILBs that can play all 3 downs on the field and rush the passer. Consider K. Fox the “third starter” at ILB and Woods as the special teams player who will bust a few heads on his way to waiting his turn for a spot in the rotation.

This should also open up a spot or two for LBs on the practice squad. And also, with the team redoing Ward’s numbers ($7.8M cap hit this year with a $5.8M base salary before the extension) coupled with freeing up another $2.9M with Foote’s release, how do you think the team should prioritize extension talks and who should back up their truck first?

Here are the cap hits and base salaries for important Steeler vets in the last year of their deal:

LT Max Starks – $8.451M cap hit, $8.451 base salary
NT Casey Hampton – $6.652M cap hit, $3.075M base salary
DE Brett Kiesel – $4.998M cap hit, $3.25M base salary
TE Heath Miller – $2.41M cap hit, $800,000 base salary
FS Ryan Clark – $2.413M cap hit, $1.7M base salary
K Jeff Reed – $1.958M cap hit, $1.375M base salary

I didn’t include Willie Colon because, ugh, I don’t think he is worth including. Unless he is a whole lot better guard than he is RT, then I’m not hoping he is long for the Burgh.

Thoughts?

..to fill the spot for less money. McFadden was replaced by Ratliff, Washington by McDonald, there isn’t a huge difference talent wise one way or the other. It won’t be that difficult to find someone similar to Foote in free agency if they are so inclined.

..and Keisel is probably asking “why the **** is Starks making so much money?”.

Let’s hope that Lawrence can stay healthy! He’s a stud in the making but if he gets hurt…Wonder if we even discussed an inside backer (Malauga, Laurenitis and a few more good ones in Rnd 3 & 4)) during the draft knowing that Foote was gone?

The Steelers didn’t draft an ILB because they already have K. Fox, D. Woods, and A. Harrison competing for two spots. They signed a couple of rookie free agents, but they obviously feel that they have enough talent to go fwd without Foote. Besides, I don’t know if there is a veteran out there that I would want. Remember, whoever it is would have to be a good special teams player, and I doubt if that person is better than D. Woods right now or has his upside and price tag — very cheap.

One of the great things about this organization is they usually have players in the pipeline ready to step up as well as bringing in a veteran to compete for the spot. For this 4th spot at ILB, they have Donovan Woods competing with a veteran who was on injured reserve this past year, Arnold Harrison. I don’t know if they will bring in another veteran, but the team must feel pretty good about the LB position as a whole to not spend any draft picks on it.

Where most teams are worried about filling starter positions, we here worry about the 8th or 9th LB on the team. Got to love such a great organization and scouting department.

 I don’t begrudge Foote for wanting to go somewhere else, put up big numbers while being a 3 down player, and then cashing in next year. He might only have one big contract left before he hangs it up. He just wouldn’t have been a 3-down LB under Tomlin, so both sides get to move on.

He is honestly an idiot. I liked the guy a lot and I’m glad he helped out how he did.

But he is going to play for Detroit. That is not only career suicide but a waste of time and energy and its only going to make him sad.

Imagine telling your grand kids you left the best team in NFL history for the worst all because you wanted to play more.

Lame.

But hey good luck