Kirkland certainly wasnt undersized. He was a mammoth. Still, he was another in a long line of ProBowl Steelers LBs who disappeared after leaving the team.

Porter will be another. They lose one and plug in another. Rinse / repeat.

The main reason they can do this is that they purposley go after guys who played DE in college but other teams overlook them because they are too small to play DE in the NFL. Then the Steelers move them to LB.

They end up with a star who was drafted well below where a pro bowl LB should be drafted which leaves them with higher draft picks to use at other positions.

Then when the guys got 5-8 years in the league and is well established, they let him go when he wants some huge contract and they plug in the next guy. Some other team pays him big money and he plays a 4-3 defense and hes never the same.