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.
