3 bad Steelers contracts that have us shaking our heads
By Tommy Jaggi
Steelers OT Zach Banner
Contract: 2-years, $9.5 million
The Steelers thought they were adding security to the position when they signed Zach Banner to a 2-year, $9.5 million deal over the offseason. Unfortunately, injuries have been the story of Banner’s career and he’s going to be hard to count on.
In 2020, Banner missed all but one game with a torn ACL – something that he clearly hasn’t fully recovered from yet. To begin the season, Pittsburgh had Banner placed on injured reserve and he is eligible to come back after three games this year.
However, when Banner does come back, it’s hard to tell what kind of shape he will be in and whether or not he will earn his old role back as the starting right tackle.
With just two NFL starts under his belt by the age of 27, it was a gutsy call giving so much money to a wildly unproven player, and the Steelers are starting to feel the ramifications of this. Let’s hope he proves to be worth it.
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If the Steelers hadn’t handed out these three contracts, they could have saved a significant amount of money in 2021. None of these three players have come close to earning their keep. All we can do is hope that this changes soon.