Steelers appease fans by signing quality OG James Daniels

The Pittsburgh Steelers needed to improve their offensive line in free agency this year, and James Daniels is exactly the right man for the job. 

On the first day of the NFL’s legal tampering period prior to the start of free agency, Pittsburgh didn’t go after any household names. While they were able to sign QB Mitchell Trubisky, forking up money for former Vikings offensive lineman Mason Cole and spending over $9 million per season to retain Chukwuma Okorafor weren’t moves to get excited about.

However, on Tuesday morning, Jeremy Fowler confirmed that the Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed on terms with former Bears offensive guard, James Daniels.

Daniels is a player I’ve been beating the drum for since the season ended. He was a very talented and consistent football player stuck on a bad team, and the traits were easy to see. Daniels entered the NFL as a former center prospect out of Iowa, and he tested as a remarkable athlete at the 2018 NFL Combine.

Despite already playing four seasons in the NFL, Daniels is remarkably still just 24 years old and has a chance to stick around as a cornerstone to this offensive line for a very long time.

It’s for this reason that I wanted Daniels to come to Pittsburgh even more than high-profile players like Brandon Scherff or Ryan Jensen. While there are players who would have been more established, Daniels was the offensive lineman with the best combination of youth, traits, and film.

Though Daniels might have been part of a dreadful Chicago Bears offensive line in 2021, he still managed to grade out as the 19th-best player at his position among 80 qualifying NFL offensive guards, according to Pro Football Focus. In fact, in his first four seasons, Daniels has never graded out worse than the 20th-best guard in the league.

Daniels should be Steelers best offensive lineman

In most cases, this would seem like recency bias, but I truly believe that James Daniels will be Pittsburgh’s best offensive lineman from the gate. This isn’t exactly a high bar to clear, but it’s a start.

After stringing together four good years of play, Daniels should have no trouble sliding in Pittsburgh’s starting lineup that consists entirely of young players and quality athletes.

The question is where does he play? Daniels was primarily a left guard for the Bears, and I think it’s possible that the Steelers deploy him as such. Meanwhile, Kevin Dotson was a right guard all through college and he could flip back over to the opposite side.

I’m also interested to see where the Steelers play free agent signing, Mason Cole. The former Vikings and Cardinals offensive lineman have a few years of experience at center, so it’s possible that he’s the man replacing Kendrick Green this year.

I’m interested to see what the initial depth chart looks like for Pittsburgh’s offensive line. I’m just glad this team is finally making moves to help rectify arguably the biggest weakness on their team in 2021.