Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Harrison a cap casualty?
By Tim Kavanagh
In recent memory, the Pittsburgh Steelers have always danced around the NFL's salary cap limit, asking certain players to re-structure their deals (or take a straight pay cut) in order for them to get under that line. It's a similar situation this offseason, and some believe that the club will let most (if not all) of their impending free agents walk as they attempt to finagle themselves out of the situation. As they do so, they may need to make some cuts to their veteran roster.
One of the players that could be under consideration is OLB James Harrison. In a column this week for ESPN Insider, Khaled Elsayed of Pro Football Focus identified five potential cap casualties around the league, players whose contracted value for 2013 does not match the production they've put forth recently. Here's what Elsayed had to say about Harrison in particular:
Khaled Elsayed
Five Potential Cap Casualties"There haven't been many outside linebackers like Harrison in recent memory: a dominant pass-rusher who could make plays in the run game and handle himself in coverage. He was the complete package. But injuries have slowed him down, sapping some of the explosiveness that defined him as a player. He's still making plays in the run game, but his pass-rushing productivity rating dropped to 7.7 in 2012 from 13.6 the year before. With a huge cap hit and the Steelers up against it, they need to make the right business decision and see what they really have in Jason Worilds."
