Dianna Marie Russini, citing league sources, reports that the Philadelphia Eagles are expected to target Steelers free agent OLB Jason Worilds in the coming days.
Pittsburgh passed on using their franchise tag on Worilds to prevent him from reaching the open market, which leaves him in position to meet with prospective teams this weekend.
The Eagles released veteran OLB Trent Cole on Tuesday, so they will clearly be in the market for an edge rusher and have plenty of cap space to work with.
Last week, Steelers GM Kevin Colbert told that Jason La Canfora that they’ve spoke to Worilds and told him that they would like to have him back next year.
However, Colbert added that Worilds may need to gauge the open market first to determine his value.
This probably isn’t a bad strategy for the Steelers.
In the event someone is willing to offer Worilds a huge contract, the Steelers can pass and likely collect a compensatory draft pick in 2016. But if the market for Worilds only produces reasonable offers, Pittsburgh can gauge their cap situation and either match the offer or possibly improve upon it.
Worilds recently came up as speculative option for the Titans, now that they’ve added Dick LeBeau to their defensive coaching staff.
Worilds, 26, appeared in all 16 games for the Steelers this past season and recorded 59 tackles, 7.5 sacks, one interception, a forced fumble and two recoveries.
Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 11 outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense out of 46 qualifying players. We have Worilds listed as the No. 19 player in our Top 100 Free Agents list.
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