4 takeaways from Steelers signing Vince Williams and Josh Dobbs

The Steelers just added depth to a couple of key positions. Here’s what it means for Pittsburgh as we approach the NFL Draft. 

Typically, we don’t see a lot of free-agent signings this close to the NFL Draft. Outside of re-signing JuJu Smith-Schuster and Cameron Sutton, the Steelers were quiet for much of the past few months. However, that changed on Wednesday when Pittsburgh (somewhat surprisingly) brought back two of their own players.

Early Wednesday afternoon, it was reported that quarterback Joshua Dobbs would be returning to the team on a one-year deal. Just hours later, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN said that the Steelers have re-signed inside linebacker Vince Williams. While these aren’t quite earth-shattering moves, it certainly throws a curveball in some of the decisions Pittsburgh could make for the remainder of the offseason and the 2021 NFL Draft. Here are four takeaways from the Steelers recent signings of Williams and Dobbs:

Linebacker is no longer an option early

Whether you were on board with it or not, linebacker seemed to be an option for the Steelers as early as the first round in the upcoming NFL Draft. Pittsburgh met with some of the top prospects this year, including Penn State’s Micah Parsons, Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, and Missouri’s Nick Bolton.

However, the addition of Vince Williams makes this much less of a possibility than it was prior to this move. With Devin Bush set to return from a season-ending knee injury, Pittsburgh looks to have a pretty solid core at inside linebacker with Bush, Williams, and Robert Spillane. Behind them, Marcus Allen and Ulysees Gilbert are expected to round out their depth. This doesn’t mean that the Steelers won’t draft an inside linebacker at all this year, but it will probably be moved down on their list of priorities this April.