Bobby Wagner could immediately help turn Steelers defense around

The Seattle Seahawks are apparently cleaning house. Here’s why the Pittsburgh Steelers must be in contact with All-Pro linebacker, Bobby Wagner. 

Pittsburgh’s offense was a mess in 2021. Ben Roethlisberger took another big step back, while a young offensive line — that included four new starters — struggled mightily to clear paths in the running game and keep their quarterback upright.

Despite their clear struggles on the offensive side of the ball, the defense also needs to be criticized for their performance last season. In just one year, this unit took a major step back from the top-five defenses we saw in 2018-2020.

With a new era dawning in Pittsburgh and more spending money than Kevin Colbert has ever had to work with before, the Steelers will look for ways to make this unit elite once more. Signing a top-flight cornerback like J.C. Jackson or Carlton Davis is an option, but one move they can make that would greatly improve Pittsburgh’s front seven is signing six-time All-Pro linebacker, Bobby Wagner.

In what appears to be a cleaning of house, Wagner was recently released by the Seatle Seahawks. There will no be plenty of teams bidding on his services. The Steelers should be one of them.

Steelers should sign Wagner

One of the biggest issues with Pittsburgh’s defense in 2021 was the subpar linebacker play. Devin Bush struggled mightily in his third NFL season, while Joe Schobert was very inconsistent from game to game. Meanwhile, Robert Spillane could help against the run somewhat when he saw the field but was a major liability in pass protection.

Obviously, much of the disappointing play could be attributed to the loss of defensive linemen Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu last season. Alualu missed all but 15 games with an ankle injury and Tuitt never suited up for as much as a preseason game.

While these two will be tough to count on in 2022, if they both decide to come back (and they have expressed interest in doing so) this defense could get really good really fast — especially if they had a player like Bobby Wagner in the middle.

With an improved defensive line, Wagner would be able to feast in the middle of Pittsburgh’s defense. Even in a down year (by his standards) last season, Wagner still notched 170 tackles and earned a Pro Bowl appearance.

What’s perhaps most intriguing is Wagner’s nearly spotless track record when it comes to health, and he has seen the field for 93-100 percent of defensive snaps in each season since his rookie year back in 2012.

Wagner is now 31 years old, but he still graded out as a top-15 linebacker last year, according to Pro Football Focus, and he would immediately give Pittsburgh a great player at one of the weakest positional groups on their entire team.

Acquiring Wagner won’t be easy, as he instantly becomes one of the most sought-after free agents on the market — and for good reason. Wagner will have his choice of teams to sign with, but I’m confident that his services could immediately help turn Pittsburgh’s defense around.