New York Jets News: Steve McLendon Signed Away From Pittsburgh Steelers
New York Jets News: The Jets continued to add to their defensive line to replace Damon Harrison, signing Steve McLendon away from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The New York Jets were delivered a tough blow early in free agency when defensive tackle Damon Harrison signed with their MetLife Stadium tenants, the New York Giants. It will be a tall task to replace the production of Harrison, as one player will not be able to fill that role; it will take a team effort.
One of the players that will be tasked with replacing the run stuffing Harrison will be Steve McLendon, whom the Jets signed away from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com first reported the signing.
Jets finalizing deal with Steve McClendon after already landing Jarvis Jenkins. Nice value plays to fill the void left by Snacks
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 15, 2016
Details of the deal were first reported by Dom Cosentino of NJ.com and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The deal is worth $12 million over three years, with $4 million guaranteed.
#Jets reached a deal with DT Steve McLendon on a 3-yr deal worth up to $12M, according to Richard Kopelman of @KLASS_Sports. $4M guaranteed
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 16, 2016
McLendon will be joining Jarvis Jenkins, who signed with the Jets earlier in the week, in an effort to replace Harrison. With the contract that Harrison landed from the Giants, the Jets have done a solid job in replacing him, signing two players for a fraction of the price that Harrison got with the Giants.
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McLendon spent the first six years of his NFL career with the Steelers, but will be moving on to the Jets this season in part because the Steelers were not comfortable investing in a player that is on the field as little as McLendon is. Despite appearing in all 16 of the Steelers regular season games, making 10 starts as well, McLendon only tallied 14 tackles and one sack. He was also on the field for only 25-30 percent of the Steelers snaps, so they were skeptical of giving him much money as a free agent.
The Jets have to hope that McLendon improves upon his rankings from Pro Football Focus last season. While Harrison was the top ranked run defender in 2015, McLendon received a grade of 74.8, which places him in the 50’s of the rankings. His overall ranking for interior linemen was not any better, as he finished with a rank of 91 out of 123 qualified players.
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While McLendon is not the player that Harrison is on his own, he could combine with the other players that the Jets have to come close to repeating that production that they lost.