James Harrison had a knee scope last week, but the procedure was minor and both he and the Steelers expect him to be out there week 1, even though he’s missed all of Training Camp. Harrison is obviously a huge part of the Steelers’ defense, with 9 sacks, 11 quarterback hits, and 26 quarterback pressures on 276 pass rush snaps last year, a rate of 16.7%.
As tremendous as that rate is, it’s nothing new for Harrison, who had 38 sacks, 35 quarterback hits, and 99 quarterback pressures from 2008-2010 on 1208 pass rush snaps, a rate of 14.2%. One of the league most well rounded players, Harrison also drops into coverage and stops the run well. However, he’s heading into his age 34 season and he missed 5 games with injury last year so it’s fair to wonder if his body is starting to break down.
His injury would not be nearly as big of a deal if Jason Worilds were healthy, but the 2010 2nd round pick has missed since June with a wrist injury and has no timetable to return. Filling in when guys went down with injury last year, Worilds did his best Harrison impression, at least as a pass rusher, with 3 sacks, 7 quarterback hit, and 20 quarterback pressures on 204 pass rush snaps, a rate of 14.7%. In the absence of both Worilds and Harrison, Chris Carter is playing with the first team in practice and in preseason games. The 2011 5th round pick played just 46 snaps as a rookie last year.
The Steelers also don’t want to move Lawrence Timmons back outside, which they did last year. Timmons, ProFootballFocus’ highest rated middle linebacker in 2010, struggled mightily on the outside last year, especially as a pass rusher with just 2 quarterback hits and 1 quarterback pressure on 114 pass rush snaps in 4 starts, a pathetic 2.6% rate.
He’s not a natural pass rusher at all and the Steelers would just be weakening two positions at once by moving him out there since he’s so good at middle linebacker. The Steelers would obviously be best off if Harrison could play week 1 or early in the season at the latest. It sounds like there’s a good chance he does that, but he’s no guarantee to remain healthy after he returns. Hopefully Worilds will be back by then.
If you’re interested in doing a fantasy football league with me, here’s the link (no draft date set yet, currently standard, with the option to become PPR with group vote). http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/football/commissioner/Registration/Private.aspx?league=55086&password=FanSpot2
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