The Pittsburgh Steelers have 22 unrestricted free agents and are facing another year of tough salary cap choices. Any number of players, veteran and youth alike, can cause Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and Art Rooney II to lose some sleep at night.
- And then there is the question of what to do with Levi Brown, Eric Olsen, and Jamaal Westerman.
The Steelers decision making troika will sleep soundly over this one.
Capsule Profile of Brown, Olsen, and Westerman’s Career’s as Steelers
Levi Brown got injured in pre-game warm ups prior to the Jets game the week after the Steelers essentially traded nothing to Arizona for Brown. Olsen was signed after losing Fernando Velacsco vs. Baltimore only to decide a day later he’d rather not. Westerman was signed for depth late in the year after Terence Garvin’s injury and then never played a down.
Case for Resigning Brown, Olsen, and Westerman
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…OK, let’s wait to see if someone from the audience chimes in….
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Case for Letting Brown, Olsen, and Westerman Walk
Levi Brown is 30 and got injured without even playing a down. He’s also got 6 million and change on his 2014 salary. You do the math. Olsen and Westerman are free agents neither of whom has done anything to indicate the Steelers should invest precious salary cap dollars with them.
Curtain’s Call
Rarely do things in life ever get this simple. Cutting Brown will be perhaps the easiest personnel decision that Tomlin, Colbert, Rooney II or even Dan Rooney ever makes.
As for Olsen and Westerman, these guys were late season injury replacements. In Olsen’s case he was the injury replacement for the injury replacement. Certainly the Steelers saw something in both men to bring them to the South Side, but its hard to believe that should roster needs ring again, they won’t look elsewhere.
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