Linebacker Paul Worrilow Came To Detroit On A One-Year Deal, Will He Return In 2018?
The linebacker position for Detroit in 2016 had some issues and when it was the off-season to get ready for the 2017 season, Detroit made some big changes. The first being that star linebacker DeAndre Levy was cut from the team. After dealing with big injuries, new GM Bob Quinn didn’t see him as a part of the future of the organization and let him go.
Then when free agency was open, Detroit was in the market for a linebacker but nobody starter caliber. They took a look and found former Atlanta Falcon Paul Worrilow to come to the team on a one-year deal worth $3 million. The team would finish off their linebacker rebuild with Jarrad Davis from Florida and Jalen Reeves-Maybin from Tennessee.
Paul Worrilow’s Time In Detroit Was Flat
Worrilow was asked to do a good amount of work coming in off a flat 2016 season. He was the starting outside linebacker and started in eight games for Detroit and missed three games with a sprained MCL, finishing the season with only 13 game appearances.
During his 13 games, Worrilow had 30 total tackles, one pass deflection, and one fumble recovery. His performance wasn’t noteworthy and his skills weren’t impressive to the team. He struggled with pass coverage and tackling.
Detroit asked too much out of Worrilow during his time with the team and it ended up costing them in the end. Detroit won’t want to ruin their chance at helping the defense again in 2018 with new head coach Matt Patricia.
Re-Sign Or Rebuild Paul Worrilow?
Rebuild. Worrilow isn’t expensive but even he isn’t worth the $3 million he got in 2017. Detroit will easily be able to find better help than Worrilow in 2018, whether they go through the draft or free agency. Some other options that I listed were in the article where I go over Tahir Whitehead.
If Detroit wants some better depth at linebacker, they can go get linebackers Josh Bynes from the Arizona Cardinals, Akeem Ayers from the New York Giants, or Gerald Hodges from the New Orleans Saints.
The draft has some options as well for the team and three choices for depth linebackers who could just stay as a backup, or over time could turn into a starter are Uchenna Nwosu from USC, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo from Oklahoma, or Mike McCray from Michigan.
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