Early Look at Some Potential Salary Cap Casualties

Well, with the Steelers being 6-8 and looking at their second-straight non-winning season under "coach" Mike Tomlin, the Steelers will have to see some significant changes moving forward to get this franchise back on the path to success. The team also might not have any choice in seeing significant changes as this is the upcoming free-agent list (abbreviated) as well as a look at some of the top, potential salary-cap casualties:
2014 Unrestricted Free Agents:
FS Ryan Clark
DE Ziggy Hood
DE Brett Keisel
LB Jason Worilds
WR Emmanuel Sanders
WR Jericho Cotchery
DT Al Woods
2014 Potential Cap Casualties/Restructures (total cap-hit indicated by $):
QB Ben Roethlisberger (restructure/extension) $18.895M
LB LaMarr Woodley (cap casualty) $13.59M
CB Ike Taylor (cap casualty) $11.942M
LB Lawrence Timmons (restructure) $11.816M
SS Troy Polamalu (cap casualty/restructure) $10.887M
The Pittsburgh Steelers are an estimated $14M OVER the projected 2014 salary cap and have some big free agent decisions with no real money to work with. Coming off a terribly disappointing year the Steelers have their offseason work cut-out for them and a front office and head coach who have not been successful in the off-season process in the recent past.
Remember, too, that this is a team that has always been built-from-within by using the draft; a strategy that has paid huge dividends for the team in its storied past, but has failed them through draft-ineptitude in recent years. This team will also not have its 3rd round pick this season because they trade that 3rd round pick to move up in the 4th round in the 2013 draft. Yes, you heard me, the Steelers traded their 2014 3rd round pick to Cleveland so they could move up in the 4th round of the 2013 draft. In fairness the Steelers should receive compensation picks for the loss of free agents last season: Rashard Mendenhall, Keenan Lewis, and Mike Wallace should bring back compensation selections (selections which start after the 3rd round and run all the way to the 7th). My estimation, at present, is that the Steelers should get a 3rd round compensation pick and two 4th round compensation picks. However, the Steelers have not been lucky with the compensation pick selection process by the NFL in the past so while the Steelers seem likely to benefit from the compensation process this offseason, they could end up not receiving the aforementioned selections in the estimated rounds. The Steelers are also likely to be hurting from the Mike Tomlin salsa-dance-the-sidelines issues and project to lose a late-round selection as well. For a team that is, always has been, and desperately needs an infusion of talent built through the draft the trade blunder and Mike Tomlin's embarrassment certainly weigh hard on the Steelers this offseason.
Suggestions? Make the hard choices, and start at the top (and, yes I mean firing the GM and coaching staff). I would keep Will Allen and let Shamarko Thomas, who we traded the 3rd round pick in 2014 to be able to select in the 4th round of 2013, co-play Ryan Clark's FS position. I would attempt to resign Worilds and Hood, only because Worilds finally showed some life and because Hood is really the only option, sadly. Emmanuel Sanders can be gone and good riddance. Sad to say, but good bye Brett Keisel. Al Woods has been a big help actually to the interior of the line as of late. He might be worth keeping on the cheap. Jericho Cotchery should be retained on a smaller team-friendly deal. I would attempt to trade LaMarr Woodley, yes I think there still could be a market where you could get a 3rd/4th round pick out of him and cut that pay off the books. I would extend Ben Roethlisberger another 3 seasons and attempt to get a reduced rate. The days of Face-Me-Ike are over if I am GM and, thus, I would cut his huge contract off the books. I also look at Troy Polamalu and ask him to take a pay-cut or possibly be released as well. This team is old, and overpaid. If the Steelers want to get back to prominence they need to cut the fat, not push salary cap problems back another year and, instead, actually fix the salary cap issues. That, for me, starts by making the tough calls this offseason and not bringing back some players: Clark, Sanders, and Keisel and releasing/trading some others: Ike Taylor, LaMarr Woodley, and potentially Troy Polamalu. Steelers fans might not like it, and the Steelers might be missing some "faces" from the franchise in the process, but if they don't make these choices now, the Steelers quickly slip down the slope of mediocrity as a franchise and that, truly, would be much more of a loss to a fabled franchise, ripe with history, tradition, and pride than the loss of a couple key-franchise-faces.