The Steelers are set to begin a new chapter this offseason, and here are four New Years’ resolutions the team must make.
The Steelers have had a disappointing season to date. Despite turning their record around, the team is still lacking in a lot of aspects and will need a new direction in 2023. People worldwide construct New Year resolutions to help prompt change, and the Steelers should be no different heading into a critical offseason.
The front office is now headed up by Omar Khan and Andy Weidl, and this will be their first full offseason at the helm of this team. They have already shown some changes from the previous regime, but 2023 will be their chance to really make this team their own. Here are four New Years’ resolutions the Steelers must make in 2023.
Steelers must shift their roster focus
The Steelers entered a really weird stretch late in the tenure of Kevin Colbert where their roster focus was wrong. Gone were the days of a dominant front on either side and instead, the team was focused on adding players at more luxury positions as opposed to keeping their trenches secured. This was fine when the team had a top-tier offense and defensive line, but that hasn’t been the case for the past couple of seasons.
Once a dominant and consistent group, the offensive line was never retooled as the group aged and thus fell off in a major way. This led to a poor rushing and passing offense as the line struggled to hold its ground. Instead of investing in the line, the team has opted to add pieces that are dependent on a good line early instead of actual linemen. The Steelers were tasked with fixing the run game in 2021 and chose to draft a running back in the first as opposed to fixing the line.
The defensive line is a similar story. The group lost key players (albeit the Stephon Tuitt loss was hard to predict last year), and the group hasn’t been added to. The last time either line was drafted in the first two rounds was when Tuitt was selected in the second round of the 2014 draft. The focus has to shift to building up the lines first and then finding complementary pieces to play behind them afterward.