Steelers Likely To Cut Troy Polamalu

Troy Polamalu, the Pittsburgh Steelers legend and one of the greatest safeties of all-time, will likely not be in the much coveted gold and black uniform next season. According to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, the longtime safety is not currently part of Pittsburgh’s 2015 game plan, and they are hoping he retires before they have to take action and release him.

Troy has two more seasons on his contract, with him set to make $6 million in 2015: resulting in a cap hit of $8.25 million. And though he has been a staple of the Steelers defense for over a decade — they drafted him in the first round in 2003 — his play has deteriorated over the last two seasons: especially with his lingering knee injury in 2014.

So it was only a matter of time before this talk of releasing/retiring was bound to happen. Longtime Pittsburgh writer Ed Bouchette claimed, “That is the elephant in the room. I expect him not to be here by some means. The Steelers are hoping he would retire,  but I don’t know if he is going to.”

At the same time, Ike Taylor explained that Polamalu is training as if he is coming back. Still his agent, Marvin Demoff, released a statement, “Troy is still determining whether he wants to retire or try and play in 2015. We will make a decision fairly soon, but [it is] not imminent.”

Could there be a chance that Troy will be in a different uniform: the NFL has been filled with all types of hall of fame players refusing to give up the game as their teams move on — Brett Favre, Peyton Manning and Joe Montana to name a few.

Who knows, but if he retires before the 2015 season, he will end his career with 771 combined tackles, 12 sacks, 14 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and 32 interceptions — which is tied for seventh on the all-time Steelers list.