With the Steelers season just around the corner, these three players could prove to be liabilities for the team.
The Steelers have wrapped up their offseason program, trimmed their roster, and are now preparing for week one against the Bengals. Despite numerous question marks on the roster, the team seems content with the current roster assembly. They have had the chance to bring in multiple players since cut downs but have opted not to.
While the team has quite a few stars and even more solid contributors, there are still some issues with the makeup of the roster. While making rapid changes to this group now right before the season begins is unlikely, there are still some questionable starters mixed into this group. Here are the Steelers biggest liabilities currently on the roster.
Arthur Maulet, CB
To be clear upfront, Arthur Maulet isn’t bad when you look at what he does well. A limited defender, he excels at playing the run and struggles just about anywhere else. Having a capable run defender in the secondary is valuable, and he is an average player in that role. The issue is that the team has him listed as the starting slot cornerback.
If Maulet is set to be playing the 60-70 percent of snaps that the slot cornerback typically plays, it would be a gross misuse of talent. Tre Norwood is a far better coverage player and could have been listed as the starter. Cameron Sutton also makes sense there, although he will see some time on the outside as well. Ideally, one of those two other options will fill that role, but if the team is expecting Maulet to be a starter in the slot, they are in trouble.
Devin Bush, ILB
It has been a tough turn of events for Devin Bush. The former top ten pick looked like he was on his way to becoming a decent NFL player in his second season, but an injury derailed him. Last season was a disaster, and this offseason hasn’t changed his narrative. He may be listed as a starter on the depth chart, but that is due to the competition he faced, not his actual talent.
If Bush plays like he did last year, he will once again be a liability for this defense. He was a primary reason the run defense was as bad as it was, as he failed to properly read plays, fill gaps, and shed blocks. The Steelers don’t have a lot of options besides Bush right now, but that doesn’t make him any less of an issue for this defense.
Kendrick Green, IOL
It may seem redundant to put a backup offensive lineman on the liability list, but here we are with Kendrick Green. Taken in the third-round last season, things didn’t go as planned. He was consistently beaten off the line and was eventually benched. This season was a different story, as he was brought into camp as a guard and is now a backup.
The problem is, Green is one injury away from being counted on as a significant contributor. This wouldn’t be a huge issue if he showed some development as a second-year player, but he didn’t. Instead, he looked worse this offseason than he did last year. The team had better options after camp, but they stuck with Green. This could be a huge mistake long term.
The Steelers feel confident in their current roster, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t issues on the team. In particular, these three players are huge question marks this season and could prove to be liabilities. If the team has to count on any of them for the long term, it could be disastrous for the team.