Let’s all be honest, the Steelers had a weird 2021 offseason

No matter how you ultimately feel about the Steelers 2021 offseason, everyone should be able to agree it was a weird one.

The Steelers entered the 2021 offseason in a unique place. Gone were the days of a consistent roster with only a few new faces added, as a slew of starters were pending free agents and the team had little cap space to bring most of them back. Cap issues are not a unique thing to this team, but the way they went about building this roster and attacking the offseason just feels… weird.

The team entered the offseason over the cap, an all too familiar place for a team that tends to kick the proverbial cap can down the road. Typically, the Steelers will restructure contracts and make cuts to get cap compliant, and while they did both of those, they also started signing voidable year contracts. While new, this was a league-wide idea given the tough cap situations COVID put most teams in. Trust me, voidable year deals were the least weird thing about this offseason.

The amount of homegrown talent that got away was a surprise as well. This team is lauded for building through the draft and re-signing their developed players when their contracts are up. The Steelers let a surprising number of those players go though. Again though, the cap constraints were going to make this team be a bit leaner in terms of who was brought back.

Then the puzzling moves of releasing Steven Nelson and Vince Williams occurred. Both happened later in the offseason than usual, and neither seemed necessary. While both cleared cap space, the team’s moves later on would have helped clear some space and make either of those players affordable. In the case of Williams, it didn’t matter as he was ultimately re-signed and then retired right before camp (a weird scenario itself). As for Nelson, having another experienced outside cornerback in the prime of their career would be comforting.

The Steelers weird offseason doesn’t mean it was bad

Just because this offseason was weird doesn’t mean it was bad. It doesn’t mean it was good either though. Again, it just feels weird. Look at the free agents that were brought in. Most of them were typical minimum style signings, but the two largest signings came late in the offseason Trai Turner and Melvin Ingram both signed significant deals after the draft, and both are expected to be contributors and potentially even starters. Those moves almost seemed like Madden-style ones, adding a veteran after the draft because your roster still has holes.

That isn’t to say the deals were bad, but why did the team wait so long to make those moves. Sure, David DeCastro getting released prompted the Turner signing, but the Steelers had to have some idea that DeCastro was still ailing. As for Ingram, edge rusher was a need all offseason, yet they waited until seemingly the last minute to pick him up. All of these moves should have been addressed earlier. It was just weird to see them so active so late in the offseason process.

Even the draft was weird. Typically, the team shows their interest in who they draft, but they have options elsewhere that make each pick a bit of a mystery. Not the case this year, as the top two picks were pretty obvious. The team was all over Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth in the pre-draft process, and when both were on the board there was little surprise when the team opted to draft them. Again, the Steelers don’t hide their interests, but they seemed to focus on only the players they got atop the draft. It’s just not how the team normally does things. It was weird.

After playing in what was arguably the most unique NFL season, the Steelers followed it up by having a weird offseason. It wasn’t inherently bad or good but looking back on it just feels unnatural. Clear and obvious draft targets, starters getting cut, and late offseason additions that they expect to contribute heavily are all things this team doesn’t normally do. It wasn’t a good thing or a bad thing. It was just weird how the Steelers went about this offseason.