5 biggest positional needs for Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022 offseason
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers have no shortage of needs this offseason and money to spend for the first time in years. Here are their five biggest needs heading into the 2022 offseason.
Despite having a winning record and making the playoffs in 2021, it still feels like the Pittsburgh Steelers had a rather disappointing season. Their defense took a big step back this year, and their offensive ceiling was remarkably low thanks to bad offensive line play and an aging quarterback who couldn’t make plays down the field.
Sadly, Pittsburgh’s current roster is really lacking talent at a number of big positions. Despite their efforts to fill voids in recent years, the Steelers are still searching for long-term answers to some of their biggest problems. Fortunately, Kevin Colbert has more money to spend in his final offseason this year than he ever has. Here are their five biggest positional needs in the 2022 offseason:
5. Steelers need a linebacker
The Steelers linebackers were a huge issue in 2021. While the defensive line was missing some quality players in Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu, the linebackers couldn’t have played much worse. What’s most disheartening about this situation in the capital is that the Steelers have invested in this unit.
Pittsburgh spent a first and second-round pick to move up and acquire Devin Bush in the 2019 NFL Draft. So far, this has been a terrible use of elite draft capital. During the preseason this past year, the team traded a sixth-round pick for Joe Schobert and his massive contract.
The Steelers are expected to cut Schobert to save over $7.8 million this offseason, but they really don’t have any answers on the team at the moment and the other young linebackers have failed to impress. I expect Pittsburgh to look to sign a veteran linebacker in free agency as well as use a mid-round pick to improve the position via the 2022 NFL Draft.