Pittsburgh Steelers cut tight end Ladarius Green
By John Buhler
After one season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, tight end Ladarius Green has been cut by the team that gave him a four-year deal back in 2016 free agency.
After spending big on the tight end in 2016 NFL free agency, it seems that Ladarius Green’s stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers has come to an end after only one season. The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that Pittsburgh released their starting tight end on Thursday afternoon.
Green was initially a fourth-round pick out of Louisiana-Lafayette back in 2012 by the then San Diego Chargers. He had spent his first four NFL seasons with San Diego, garnering 77 receptions for 1,087 yards and seven touchdowns.
San Diego opted to go in another direction at tight ending 2016, drafting Arkansas Razorbacks standout Hunter Henry in the second round. Green would leave Southern California to sign a four-year deal with the Steelers worth $20 million.
Rapoport tweeted out that Green did make $6 million in 2016, one for each game he played for the 2016 Steelers. The idea was that Green would be able to replace the much beloved former Steelers tight end Heath Miller when the club signed him in 2016 NFL free agency.
The #Steelers have released TE Ladarius Green, who signed a 4-year, $20M contract in 2016. He earned $6M of it. Played in 6 games for PIT.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 18, 2017
While with the Steelers, Green managed only 18 catches for 384 yards and a touchdown. Even though the Steelers may have the worst tight end situation in football, cutting Green this early in the 2017 NFL offseason is a telling sign that Pittsburgh made a massive mistake in free agency only a year ago.
Pittsburgh may have Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback, Le’Veon Bell at running back and Antonio Brown at wide receiver, but this football team is very much in win-now mode. Roethlisberger maybe has two years left. Bell may only have two or three years left in his prime. Brown is an elite wideout, but Pittsburgh has shown an innate ability to recreate in the aggregate at that position group.
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Cutting Green in the middle of May gives the Steelers ample time to find a replacement. However, it will have to be on the cheap as that Green contract is still a brutal one. Not having a reliable tight end as a safety valve will only make things more difficult for Roethlisberger to lead his team to a Super Bowl in the twilight of his illustrious NFL career.