Steelers Re-Up Farrior, Now Have Five Backers for Four Spots

After a very quiet August on the signing front, the Steelers surprised most everyone by announcing that James Farrior will be sticking around Pittsburgh through 2012 or his retirement speech (which will more likely come before 2012).

Keeping Farrior in black and gold keeps everyone happy. Farrior clearly wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, the Steelers keep one of the defense's leaders, and the rest of the team gets to see an example of the team taking care of one of its own. And the new deal isn't that expensive--five years, $18.2 million with a $5 million signing bonus. His cap hit will be $2.8 million this year, bumping up to a little under $4 million in each of the next two years. Since he was already slated to have a $4.5 million hit for this year, the Steelers will actually get nearly $2 million in cap savings this year.

But there is one problem--Pittsburgh now has more linebackers than it has spots. James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley are set at outside linebacker (Harrison's signed at a bargain rate through 2009 with Woodley signed through 2010). At inside linebacker, the Steelers now have Farrior (at roughly $3.75 million per year), Larry Foote (through 2010 at roughly $2.75 million per year) and Lawrence Timmons (signed through 2011 at roughly $3 million per year if he hits his incentives). That's $9.5 million per year set aside to what is traditionally the less important roles in the Steelers 3-4 defense.

Why is it less important? Well for one thing, only one of the inside linebackers stays on the field on third down when the Steelers go to their dime defense--while both outside linebackers are on the field for all three downs. And for another, the Steelers only need one athletic inside linebacker--the other position has traditionally been a run-plugging job where a less athletic backer can survive.

If you're going to speculate, Farrior's signing looks like bad news for Foote. Timmons has shown this preseason that he's a difference maker, the same way that Kendrell Bell was at one point, and that Farrior was when he first came to Pittsburgh. Foote has developed into a very solid linebacker, and he may continue to be a better run stuffer than Timmons (who sometimes seems to struggle shedding blockers), but if you have a choice between a run-plugger and a difference maker, you go with the guy who can cover wide receivers, frighten quarterbacks and run down running backs. Eventually Timmons will hopefully take on Farrior's job as the three-down linebacker, while Farrior will slide into the run-plugging role as his range diminishes with age.

Speaking of diminishing with age, that's the one worrisome aspect about this deal. Like Jerome Bettis' last contract, you have to assume that Farrior won't actually play this one out to its completion (and like Bettis, he will likely be asked to renegotiate down the road). But how many more years of elite level linebacking can the Steelers expect out of him?

If you go by past history, not many. The argument for Farrior is that he didn't take many hits during the early part of his career--he wasn't a full-time starter until his fifth season. But if you look back, it's hard to find many Steelers inside linebackers who have been productive into their mid-30s.

Jack Lambert was an all-time great, but a turf toe injury ended his career at the age of 32. Robin Cole was done as a 33-year-old. David Little also ended his career at 33, as did Levon Kirkland. Chad Brown has had a long career--playing last year as a 37-year-old, but he last stayed healthy for a full season when he was 31, he's had two sacks in the past four years and has had 50 tackles in a season only once in the past five years. Earl Holmes was done at 32, and Kendrell Bell's on his last legs as he hits 30 this year. Of the significant Steelers inside linebackers since swapping to the 3-4 in the early 80s, the only example I can find of a backer who stayed productive past his 34th birthday was Hardy Nickerson. He left Pittsburgh in free agency in 1993, but Nickerson was still a solid linebacker when he retired as a 37-year-old 10 seasons later.

If Farrior can give Pittsburgh two more great years, and one or two more decent years after that, he'll earn what the Steelers are giving him, and the deal gives the Steelers the ability to keep him around without blowing up their cap, but don't expect Farrior to play out the final years of this deal.