Steelers among teams in a rush for more sacks

INDIANAPOLIS – The Pittsburgh Steelers headed into the offseason looking to improve a pass rush that managed just 33 sacks last season.
Considering two of their sack leaders, linebackers Jason Worilds and James Harrison, will be unrestricted free agents March 10, there’s a good chance they will look to the draft to do so.
Finding those players who can generate a pass rush, however, has changed in recent years. With so many college teams running spread offenses that rely on quick passes and plenty of misdirection runs, defenses have adjusted by using lighter, faster defensive ends.
Some of those players bulk up before the NFL Draft Combine, which is taking place this week at Lucas Oil Stadium, to show they can be 4-3 defensive ends, while others lose weight in an effort to improve their speed and agility.
“The college game has changed so much with the pass rush,” said Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, a Fort Cherry High School graduate. “(There are) a lot of the tweener kind of hybrid guys that don’t fit.”
That could be changing in the NFL.
In 2012, for example, Seattle, which runs a 4-3 defense, selected undersized defensive end Bruce Irvin out of West Virginia with the 15th pick in the first round with the plan to make him only a situational pass rusher.
With more NFL teams willing to take chances on players who don’t necessarily fit their scheme, the Steelers have found more competition for athletes they would have typically selected in later rounds and converted to linebackers.
The Steelers will be keeping a close eye on those pass rushers when they arrive today to begin meeting with teams.
“Everybody looks at the size. Everybody wants bigger, faster,” said Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert. “I look at James Harrison, who’s just 6-0 today, 5-11 tomorrow, and he’s been a great player. Elvis Dumervil with the Ravens is another guy that doesn’t fit the 6-foot-3, 263-pound mold but he had 16 or 17 sacks. So I don’t think you can lock it in. I never like to lock it in to any specific size requirements.”
Productivity will matter the most.
This year’s draft boasts a number of solid undersized pass rushers, which is good news for teams such as the Steelers or Bengals. Cincinnati, like Pittsburgh, is looking to add to its pass rush after registering an NFL-low 20 sacks last season.
“I don’t know that you have to take them (early),” said Lewis. “I think they’re plentiful.”
Only one of the Steelers’ top four outside linebackers in 2014, Jarvis Jones, is under contract for next season. And Jones, a 2013 first-round draft pick, spent much of last season dealing with a hand injury.
Worilds, Harrison and Arthur Moats are scheduled to become free agents.
Despite that, the Steelers appear ready to allow Worilds, who matched defensive end Cam Heyward for the team lead in sacks with 7.5 last season, to become a free agent.
The Steelers placed the transition tag on Worilds for last season, paying him $9.75 million. To tag him again this year would cost more than $11 million.
“We have talked,” said Colbert of Worilds. “He understands that if he doesn’t get tagged, which we could still do, that he will explore the market and see what is out there. We will stay in communication. Maybe he comes back. Maybe he moves on. But he’s been a good player for us, and we would love to have him back if it all fits.”
In the meantime, the Steelers will look at a number of young potential pass rushers this weekend, trying to figure which ones best fit their defensive style.
“There’s more guess work on our part, but you just look for certain size, certain athleticism and you try to make really a guess-timation of whether they can transform to what you’re going to need,” Colbert said, “especially the outside linebacker position because over time most of our linebackers have been defensive ends.”
Odds and end zones
Arizona head coach and former Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said former Steelers linebacker Larry Foote will work with the Cardinals this offseason as an assistant coach before deciding if he wishes to retire as a player. Foote, a fourth-round pick of the Steelers in 2002, played 11 of his 13 seasons with Pittsburgh. … Top quarterback prospects Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota each measured in at 6-4 Thursday. Winston weighed 231 pounds, while Mariota was 222. … Canon-McMillan High School graduate and Penn State linebacker Mike Hull arrived in Indianapolis around noon Thursday. He will begin meeting with teams today, with on-field workouts set for Saturday. … The Steelers and Buffalo Bills will not hold joint practices during training camp as they did last season. The Steelers had been scheduled to go to Buffalo’s training camp this summer in an agreement between Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and Buffalo’s Doug Marrone. But Marrone resigned at the conclusion of the season and was replaced by Rex Ryan.