It isn’t often the Pittsburgh Steelers offer up much information about their free-agent plans. But on Wednesday, general manager Kevin Colbert told Rich Walsh of KDKA the team does hope to re-sign inside linebacker L.J. Fort.
Fort became the team’s primary sub package inside linebacker last season due to his speed. He appeared in 15 games and earned two starts. He finished with 48 total tackles and spent much of his time chasing skill players on all those underneath crossing routes.
Getting Ford back under contract could change the dynamic of the 2019 NFL draft. Fort, along with Vince Williams, Jon Bostic and Tyler Matakevich form a solid group. Keeping Fort around should at least push inside linebacker down in terms of draft priority and allow Pittsburgh to focus on rebuilding the secondary and maybe even finding Antonio Brown’s replacement.
