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.
Steelers need to update their free agency goals
The Steelers have never been heavy spenders in free agency. This used to be a good thing, as the team would spend most of its cap space on retaining talent, would fill the occasional hole with a free agent, and would build out the rest of the roster through the draft. The NFL has changed though and finding key free agents has become more of a staple for top teams.
The Steelers have been more outgoing with their free agents in recent years, but they are still one of the cheaper teams when handing out contracts. Guaranteed money is the focus of a lot of top talent, but the team only reserves that for their top players. Instead, they seek out band-aids and mid-tier players that aren’t great solutions to the problems on the roster.
The Bengals, a team that used to operate in a similar manner, has flipped that script and added key free agents at positions of need while not settling for middling options. This helped lead them to a Super Bowl last year and they have maintained their competitiveness this year. No, the Steelers shouldn’t try to lure in every big-name free agent on the market, but bringing in a few top names would be a huge help to a roster devoid of talent.
Steelers must build around their quarterback
Anyone that has followed along with my writing knows that I am not the biggest Kenny Pickett fan. While I hope I’m wrong, I see a very limited quarterback who is close to his ceiling as a professional. While I was open to the team potentially exploring a top quarterback next year when they were set to pick early in the draft, that scenario is no longer realistic.
Instead, this team has to be aggressive in surrounding Pickett with as much talent as they can. That means getting him more targets to throw to and constructing a much better offensive line. As well, this also means filling in the defense to help them combat some of the high-flying offenses in the NFL.
The Steelers have a gift right now, as their quarterback is on a cheap rookie deal. That number will jump after year four, meaning they need to maximize their cap situation now. Aggressively filling holes is a must, as Pickett will need as much help as he can get to win. His cap hit won’t be this low forever, so maximizing this time is essential for the team in the new year.
Steelers need to update their draft policy
The way the Steelers draft is outdated and has begun to fail them down the stretch. While they have hit on quite a few players, the draft has become a game of chess with general managers moving pieces in various ways. The Steelers, meanwhile, have seemingly been playing checkers all this time and sticking to the same strategy every year.
While their process of choosing targets is fine, they could do with focusing a little less on athletics and more on the college production and film of players. As well, they need to be more willing to move around in the draft. Colbert was keen on taking the top-rated player on their board no matter if they could have moved to get him. Because of this, the Steelers rarely traded back and quired more draft picks.
Even after the draft, the team has a very outdated policy with undrafted players. The Steelers are so frugal with contracts it has severely limited the quality of undrafted free agents that they have brought in. More aggressive signing bonuses and even some portions of contracts guaranteed would allow them to bring in better-undrafted options to the roster. The draft process needs a major update from Khan in 2023.
The Steelers are facing another critical offseason and this year that is accompanied by a new regime at the helm. With the new year upon us, these four resolutions will be critical for the team to get back to their competitive ways past this disappointing 2022 campaign.