FanHouse JamesFarrior

According to Pro Football Talk, citing a league source, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be cutting inside linebacker Larry Foote in a move that will reportedly save them nearly $3 million against the salary cap. Foote has been a regular starter since the 2003 season after being selected by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 2002 draft, and has been the definition of "solid." There's nothing flashy about his game, but he always manages to get the job done.

His exit will open the door for 2007 first-round draft pick Lawrence Timmons to start next to James Farrior, in a switch that will manage to make the best defense in the NFL more athletic and explosive.

A decade ago, a Steelers inside linebacker opted to leave Pittsburgh, and a year later ended up in Detroit -- Earl Holmes was never heard from again. Could history be about to repeat itself?

Larry Foote, a starter with the Steelers for three seasons, supposedly would happily leave Pittsburgh to come back home to play for the Lions. A friend of Foote's told the Detroit Free Press that Foote is hoping to come back to Detroit before too long, even if that means playing for the worst franchise in pro sports.

Want to get a cheat sheet for the Super Bowl, here are a couple of plays to watch for on Sunday.

Blocking Steelers outside linebackers James Harrison or LaMarr Woodley is a tough job for any offensive tackle, but thanks to a new blitz that Dick LeBeau has dreamed up, sometimes a tackle has to worry about both of them at the same time.

LeBeau is a defensive genius who is always drawing up new looks in an attempt to spread confusion among offensive linemen. And nothing is more confusing than trying to figure out the Steelers outside linebacker overload as the play clock runs down.

Every time you rewatch the Steelers-Ravens games from earlier this year, it's hard to not get even more excited about Act III.

You have the league's two best defenses facing off, and two offenses that will be trying to prove that they aren't over their head. You'll watch James Harrison try to terrorize Joe Flacco again, while Ed Reed will try to once again turn a game around with an interception.

And after charting every Ravens' offensive play from both games, it's clear that Baltimore is facing an uphill battle. For all the talk about Flacco's amazing success as a rookie, the Ravens finished 28th in the NFL in passing yardage this season, and while most teams have two or three significant receiving threats, Baltimore had only one receiver with more than 700 yards receiving.

But in rewatching the first two Steelers-Ravens games, there are some things Baltimore can take advantage of.

The AFC and NFC Pro Bowlers were announced a short while ago, and why make some pointless comment you are sure not to laugh at when we can just give you the rosters instead? Here goes.

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.

The new salary cap management technique sweeping the NFL is locking up your players before they reach free agency. It explains why so few elite players reach the free agent market, and it also explains (with a little help from some hefty salary cap bumps) why so few teams battle to stay under the cap.

But as the Steelers get ready to head to training camp, it's pretty clear that they aren't going to be able to re-sign everyone who is heading into the final years of their deals.

Pittsburgh has three offensive tackles (Marvel Smith, Max Starks and Trai Essex) heading to free agency after the season, along with one guard (Chris Kemoeatu), one wide receiver (Nate Washington), a cornerback (Bryant McFadden) and a linebacker (James Farrior).

Smith, Kemoeatu and Farrior are all starters, while Starks and McFadden could earn starting roles this year, and Washington is a valued No. 3 receiver who has started as an injury fill-in in the past. So these are some pretty significant decisions facing the Steelers.

It happens, but you don't hear about it very often, what with so many teams overpaying for mediocre players. But Steelers linebacker James Farrior doesn't mind taking less dough to stay with the team he's had so much success with.

Farrior was the Jets first-round pick back in 1997, and the 11-year veteran has been in Pittsburgh since 2002. And even though the Steelers have a history of cutting ties with older players -- Alan Faneca, Joey Porter and Kimo von Oelfhoffen, for example -- they've also been known to re-sign those guys they felt still had something left in the tank (Aaron Smith and Farrior).

Simply put, Farrior wanted to stay with the Steelers. So he made his contract more attractive to the team. Farrior led the Steelers in tackles last season, but how many other talented players are willing to accept less money to stay?

"That was one of the reasons why James made the decision when he was in the last year of his contract," [Farrior's agent Ralph] Cindrich said. "It's very difficult to find in the NFL a home where you're getting paid well, you wake up in the morning and you want to go to work and want to be with your teammates. In the long run, the dollars amount to more when you're with that type of organization versus playing five years and taking a hit in free agency trying to get the big bucks, but not playing through the contract."

The New England Patriots are accused of taping the Pittsburgh Steelers in violation of NFL rules on four different occasions. But while that may anger Pittsburgh fans, and it clearly angers one of Pennsylvania's senators, it doesn't seem to bother the folks associated with the franchise.

Steelers owner Dan Rooney has given NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell cover by saying Goodell handled Patriotgate appropriately, and now Steelers linebacker James Farrior is saying that he doesn't have a problem with anything -- other than the fact that his own coaches weren't as devious as Patriots coach Bill Belichick. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports:

"They're probably not the only team that ever did that," Farrior said. "If they did tape it, I'm mad that we didn't do it first.

"Everybody's trying to gain that little bit of a competitive edge. I wish our coaches would have thought of that first, so that we might have (more) championship rings."

Although he said he thinks "it definitely can be beneficial," overall Farrior doesn't seem to think this story is a big deal. James Farrior is no Willie Gary.