Departures: Eve of Free Agency Period

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are sad to see the departure of Larry Foote from the Steelers. Foote may have some football left in him, but he missed pretty much all of last season with a torn triceps. He turns 34 in June, and after 12 steady, rock-solid NFL seasons, mostly with the Steelers, it was not much of a surprise the Steelers were ready to move on. He will be missed, though, especially for his leadership on the field, in the locker room and off the field. We'll miss his highly entertaining appearances on local radio shows, too. Good luck to you, Larry.

More moves are likely to happen before the start of the NFL free agency period on Tuesday. Longtime safety Ryan Clark is likely to be released, and he will be missed, too, although the quality of his play appeared to dip considerably last season. It was as if he suddenly got slow, and he was never the fastest guy to begin with. Big shoes to fill, though. And he's been one of the most entertaining, candid and insightful personalities in the media. He should have success in whatever he chooses to do next. Good luck to you, too.

Speculation has been rampant that Brett Keisel also could be released. To a layman, it appeared he played at a high level last year, and that he still has a lot of good football left in him. We will not be happy if he is let go.

Predictably, the Steelers have made no moves to sign players who came on the open market the past couple weeks. No Red Bryant (Jaguars); no D'Quell Jackson (Colts). Nothing like that was going to happen, and we're used to it.

Typically, the Steelers make no big early splash in free agency. If they can find another Ryan Clark, however, a relatively low-profile free agent who makes an impact, well, there would be be nothing wrong with that.

We shall wait and see.

Lots of Moving Parts

Say this for Jason Worilds: He made the most of the opportunity he got during the final eight games of the 2013 season.

Based on the flashes he displayed throughout that stretch, the Steelers offered the 26-year-old linebacker nearly $10 million to stay in Pittsburgh this year. Because it's a transition tag, there's a chance another team will offer a better deal. Multiple teams with plenty of salary cap space could do that, and we'll learn by this time next week whether that will happen.

Meanwhile, the Steelers' braintrust juggles other roster/salary issues. It's an equation with lots of moving pieces. The big question marks are Lamarr Woodley and Ike Taylor.  And it will be no surprise when some others will be released to pursue other opportunities. Ryan Clark, we'll miss you. Levi Brown, not at all.

It would be fun for us fans if the Steelers would suddenly announce the signing of new free agents such as defensive lineman Red Bryant and linebacker D'Quell Jackson, but that would be a surprise. It would be a nice surprise, but not likely to happen. Darn.

It's easy enough for us to say what the Steelers should do; not so easy to predict what they will do.

NFL Salary Cap Casualty Dominoes Start to Fall

Forget all the talk about it being a thin year for free agents. The salary cap casualties are about to fall.

Just as they are every year, the Steelers are right up against the cap, so they may not have much wiggle room to sign quality free agents. So what? They've been 8-8 the past two years and have to jettison some of their own players -- for many reasons, including sucky performance, age and salary-cap implications.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are not cap experts -- we only play one on TV -- but if the Seattle Seahawks cut Red Bryant, we say, sign him! Don't even let him talk to another team. We've liked Bryant ever since he came out of Texas A&M (as a nose tackle) in 2008 and advocated drafting him. He would have been perfect on the Steelers' defenseive line and, better yet, her has a classic Steeler mentaltiy: tough, tenacious, fierce -- just what the defense needs right now.

Same with Cleveland Browns linebacker D'Quell Jackson. He is a quality inside thumper who's been stuck in Cleveland for too long. After leading Cleveland with 123 tackles last year, the Browns cut him. Unceremoniously. He's a good player, and well-respected around the NFL. 

The kicker: Jackson says he "wants to go some place with stability." Ding-ding-ding! Bingo!!! Welcome to Pittsburgh, D'Quell.

Atlanta just cut their Pro Bowl safety, again for salary cap reasons. sign him.  

Three new quality starters, one at each level on the defense. That would be a good start. Bring in a couple of draft choices, and the defense is on its way to being rebuilt.