Steelers: Will the Off Season Changes Add Up To A Winning Season?

The Steelers have made significant changes on the defense during the off season and the draft is the next step. Will the defense be improved over last year?

Every football team goes through cycles. When they get a section of the team that clicks, as the Defense initially did under Dick LeBeau, you hope to ride that as long as you can.

But, Father Time always wins and that group can’t play forever. Change is inevitable and disruptive.

The change has come. Dick LeBeau has moved on and many of that defense are no longer with the team.

Steeler Nation should look back on that era as one that was exciting to watch. I am grateful that the Steelers had some of the most Hall of Fame worthy players. However, time has to move on.

Now, the Steelers have a new Defensive Coordinator and some of the last of the veteran defensive players have moved on. It will be strange to no longer see Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, or Brett Keisel on the field.

There is some exciting new talent when you consider the potential of Jarvis Jones, Ryan Shazier, Stephen Tuitt, Steve McClendon, and Daniel McCullers, to name a few.

The secondary is going to need some attention and all the mock drafts and discussions about who the Steelers can get point toward addressing that need. Ray Fittipaldo of the Post Gazette notes the class of cornerbacks in the draft is particularly promising.

Will the additional changes be what is needed for the Steelers defense to be dominant again? Will the secondary be able to stop the long gains?

Well, I hope so. I know that Keith Butler was hired from within, but the defensive game plan is supposed to be changing and it could take some time for everything to come together.

The changes have the potential to add up to a winning season, but this may not be the year the Steelers go all the way to the championship.

I hope it does. Every year, I back my team.

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