The Pittsburgh Steelers chose Stephon Tuitt over Javon Hargrave, but I’m willing to bet they would have made a different choice knowing what they know now.
I was the biggest Stephon Tuitt supporter, and while I really wish he could have rejoined his teammates on the field during the 2021 season, I respect his decision to permanently walk away from the game of football.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers dished out a 5-year, $60 million extension to Tuitt during the 2017 offseason, I was completely on board with this. Just three years into his NFL career, it was very easy to see the raw talent and unique skillset Tuitt had to go with his nearly 6’6” frame and 34 3/4” arms.
Unfortunately, the Steelers didn’t get their money’s worth out of his lofty extension. In 2017, Tuitt earned just 3.0 sacks and played in only 12 games, as injuries yet again were an issue. The big defensive lineman flashed the following year in 2018 with 5.5 sacks, 7 tackles for a loss, and 20 QB hits, but missed another two games with injuries.
In 2019, Tuitt was off to the best start to a season in his career, as he looked utterly dominant at the point of attack. Sadly a pectoral tear stole his breakout campaign just 6 games into the year. The following year in 2020, Tuitt finally stayed healthy and lived up to lofty expectations — earning 11.0 sacks, 10 tackles for a loss, and 25 QB hits despite taking the final game of the season off to rest before the playoffs, via Pro Football Reference.
Unfortunately, Tuitt’s best season at the age of 27 years old would be the final team he would be seen on the NFL football field.
Following the 2022 NFL Draft and after much deliberation, Tuitt announced his retirement from the NFL. Recently, I couldn’t help but wonder about the different choices Pittsburgh would have made if given the chance. One of the biggest that I’m sure they would like to do over is extending Stephon Tuitt instead of Javon Hargrave.
Steelers would extend Hargrave if they could go back in time
I’ve heard it said a thousand times: the best ability is availability. This is certainly true to an extent. While Javon Hargrave wasn’t a full-time defensive lineman for the Steelers (he played between 44-63 percent of defensive snaps each year), he didn’t have an extensive injury history.
In fact, Hargrave played in 64 of a possible 65 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers during his rookie contract — his only absence coming during his rookie season in 2016.
Hargrave wasn’t a bad player either. The quick-footed defensive tackle earned 10.5 sacks and 13 tackles for a loss over his final two seasons on the Steelers despite his part-time role lining up as the team’s nose tackle.
Unfortunately, the Steelers simply couldn’t justify keeping a third interior defender on a huge contract with Stephon Tuitt and Cameron Heyward already having two of the biggest contracts on the team.
As a result, Pittsburgh’s former third-round steal signed with the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2020 offseason on a 3-year, $39 million deal, via Over the Cap. This is $13 million per season that would have been well spent.
Last year, Tuitt watched from home as he dealt with the tragic loss of his younger brother in a hit-and-run incident while also nursing a knee injury. Meanwhile, Hargrave earned Pro Bowl honors for a very respectable season with the Eagles in 2021.
At the time, I was all in favor of signing Tuitt over Hargrave, but years later, we can definitively say that the Pittsburgh Steelers made the wrong choice. If they could go back and do things differently, they would.