The Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line has been abysmal to start the season, but nobody should be surprised by this.
There’s an old saying that can be used for just about everything in life: you get what you pay for. You shouldn’t expect to get a luxurious Lexus when you buy a Dodge Neon with 180,000 miles on it any more than you should expect a drive-through burger to taste like a Porterhouse steak.
When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line woes early in the 2021 season, nobody should be surprised by the results. Kevin Colbert made a few half-hearted attempts to fix an ailing offensive line with a pair of mid-round picks and an underperforming former Pro Bowl guard this offseason, but unsurprisingly, they haven’t yielded the results the team was hoping for.
Obviously, the Steelers didn’t have the salary cap on their side this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the moves that Pittsburgh made clearly haven’t been enough so far, and it really shows.
Through the first two games of the season, Pittsburgh’s offensive line has gotten minimal push in the run game have been one of the worst units in the league in pass protection. In fact, when it comes to running the ball, Benny Snell and James Conner managed to find significantly more success early in the 2020 season than what Najee Harris has been able to so far.
During the 2021 offseason, Pittsburgh was hit with a lot at once. Not only did Maurkice Pouncey announce his retirement with one year remaining on his contract, but Alejandro Villanueva and Matt Feiler both departed in free agency.
Steelers must invest in their offensive line
Outside of grabbing a stop-gap veteran who is still on the market, there’s not a lot the Steelers can do to try to improve their offensive line in 2021, and they are no doubt hoping that this young unit shows significant improvement moving forward.
I think it’s fair to expect improvement from the beginning to the end of the season. Rookies Dan Moore and Kendrick Green are brand new to the NFL and more repetitions should certainly help, while getting Zach Banner back from IR could give them a boost in the run game.
However, I’m sure the Steelers are well aware that the offensive line is a serious issue and one that needs to be addressed next offseason.
The best-case scenario I can see is that Dan Moore, Kevin Dotson, and Kendrick Green all become long-term starters for this team. Even if this happens, the Steelers still need to find another guard to upgrade Trai Turner and another tackle.
Selecting these players in the mid-rounds of the NFL Draft or scooping them up from free agency simply hasn’t been working. In order to make a real change, Pittsburgh is going to need to start investing high draft choices into the offensive line.
Steelers fans are no doubt starting to realize the value of a quality offensive line, and we have Mike Munchak and our previous OL unit for granted. I am hopeful that the offensive line will improve as the season goes on, but nobody should be surprised at the way this group is playing in 2021. Pittsburgh’s is getting the production they paid for.