With the Steelers season wrapped up, here is a regrading of the team’s ten free agent signings from last season.
The Steelers couldn’t find a way to sneak into the playoffs after changing directions during the midseason mark. While Mike Tomlin’s impressive, albeit overhyped, never had a losing season record lives on, a Dolphins win cost this team a playoff spot. The team has a lot of work to do this offseason to get this team back on track.
Before delving too far into this offseason, I wanted to grade the major free agents that came to the team last year. Some signings were great, while others now look worse than I thought they would. Before the next crop of free agents makes their way to town, here is a final list of grades for the Steelers 2022 free-agent signings.
Steelers re-signed Okorafor
Contract: 3 years, 29.25 million
Initial Grade: D+
Final Grade: D-
Chukwuma Okorafor was a steady player before this season. Never an elite blocker, the former third-round pick took consistent steps every season until he became a very average starter. I wasn’t optimistic that he would return, but the Steelers inked him to a healthy-sized deal last offseason. The structure makes it easy to get out of in 2023, but he was still getting paid close to a 10-million-dollar average.
That is a lot for an average right tackle, and while his early season play looked a little better than I thought it would, he faded down the stretch. He was never a complete liability, but both tackle spots were a weakness on a bad offense. Okorafor was being paid a lot this season, and he didn’t even live up to the average billing I had him labeled as. He should be an easy cut to make this offseason.
Steelers signed Olszewski
Contract: 2 years, 4.2 million
Initial Grade: B-
Final Grade: F
I wasn’t against the Steelers landing Gunner Olszewski last offseason. The team needed a returner and Olszewski could also serve on coverage units for kick and punt coverages. Paying two million a season for a versatile special teams player is money well spent, so the Olszewski deal looked like a low-cost but smart signing.
That was all contingent on Olszewski being a competent special teams player, which he wasn’t. His early season stint as the return man was a disaster. Muffed punts and bad returns led to Steven Sims being given the nod to work as the returner. Olszewski was still on coverage units, but he didn’t make much of an impact.
While I never expected him to offer much on offense, he was still a poor option there as well. Had this been a minimum salary deal, the Olszewski wouldn’t look nearly as bad. That said, his play was a disappointment, and he was earning a respectable deal given what his role was supposed to be. This was a bad signing for the team.
Steelers signed Wallace and Witherspoon
Contract: 2 years, 8 million
Initial Grade: A-
Final Grade: Wallace- A; Witherspoon- F
I handed out identical grades for identical contracts, but the final grades are quite a bit different. Levi Wallace was a safe and dependable option for the Bills who would be a fine starter even if he lacked the potential to be a top coverage option. Ahkello Witherspoon was arguably the team’s best cover corner in 2021, so bringing him back could have been huge.
Witherspoon’s deal fell flat. While a starter early in the season, inconsistencies and eventually just poor play led to him taking a spot on the bench. While far from an elite player, James Pierre looked like a far better fit as his replacement.
Wallace was a little bit better than I thought he would be. He is a great second cornerback but lacks the traits to be a true top-cover guy on a team. For a cheap contract though, I think he more than earned it. Despite receiving identical deals, Wallace was the only one to earn the money while Witherspoon fell flat on his face.
Steelers signed Cole
Contract: 3 years, 15.75 million
Initial Grade: F+
Final Grade: B-
A contract I initially despised, Mason Cole was one of the most pleasant surprises on this team this season. The former draft bust was looking like a journeyman, and I thought the deal he received was well over market value. I figured he would be a more consistent center than Kendrick Green but still would be a lackluster option overall.
Early in the season, Cole looked like this team’s best lineman. He was more than just a stable face, was making an impact as a blocker and was defending the interior of the line well. As the season progressed, his play got worse, but he was never the below-average starter I thought he would be when he was signed.
While Cole shouldn’t be a fixture on this line long-term, his deal is cheap enough to allow him to stick around for at least another season. The Steelers can look to find either a guard or center this year, as Cole can switch to either spot. He isn’t an elite player, but for the money and given how he played, Cole was an above-average addition to this team.
Steelers signed Trubisky
Contract: 2 years, 14.285 million
Initial Grade: A-
Final Grade: D+
While I was never aboard the Mitch Trubisky hype train that some fans were on, I did think that his free agency deal was a fair one. He had a lot to prove during his second stint as a starter, and despite being given the starting role upon his signing, his contract amount wasn’t egregious. For a potential starting quarterback, Trubisky’s contract looked cheap.
Even after Pickett was signed this deal still made sense. I expected Trubisky to hold down the fort, make some players, and even if this team wasn’t consistently winning, he could move the offense a reasonable amount. Boy was I wrong, ad Trubisky’s play was far worse than that. He never amounted to much during the season, and he was quickly benched in favor of Pickett.
That said, this deal isn’t all bad. There was far worse quarterback play in the league than Trubisky, and he was a decent backup to have on hand during the season. The reason for the below-average grade is his cost. Seven million dollars for a backup quarterback on a non-competitive roster is too much. Trubisky didn’t live up to expectations and his grading should be adjusted accordingly.
Steelers signed Ogunjobi
Contract: 1 year, 8 million
Final Grade: C
I never had an initial grade for the Larry Ogunjobi deal, as he was added later in the offseason. That said, it likely would have been in the B+ range given his track record in the league. What I was really hoping for was a steady pass-rush presence along a line that lost a key figure after Stephon Tuitt announced his retirement.
We didn’t quite get that, as Ogunjobi was never the consistent interior threat that I thought he would be. Early in the season, this grade was hovering towards a failure, but he seemed to get healthier down the stretch and his play improved along with that. Ogunjobi wasn’t the impact player I thought he was going to be.
I do think he flashed some solid traits in run defense, and he could shed blocks occasionally to make a play, but this wasn’t the huge win I thought the Steelers had got. The long-term ramifications are almost nothing, but the eight-million-dollar cap charge was a big one to swallow. It turned out to be an average player coming in at an inflated rate.
Steelers resigned Edmunds
Contract: 1 year, 2.5 million
Initial Grade: C
Final Grade: A-
I personally think this deal goes down as the Steelers best from this past offseason. I wasn’t sure if Terrell Edmunds was going to come back to this team once he became a free agent, but I was happy to see him return. I expected his same level of play, but he came in on a really reasonable deal for this defense.
In actuality, Edmunds played the best season of his career. Was he perfect? No, but he was a great compliment to Minkah Fitzpatrick and I think he had the best year in coverage, something that has always been his weak spot. He wasn’t flashy and still wasn’t making huge plays, but he was a consistent player on a defense that lacked that trait for much of the year.
The Steelers got all of that on a deal with a cap hit of only just over a million dollars. He outperformed what I expected him to do and he did all of it on an extremely cheap deal. It is hard to not like this contract, and now the only question is what happens to Edmunds this season.
Steelers signed Daniels
Contract: 3 years, 26.5 million
Grade: A+
Final Grade: B+
James Daniels was a player I was banging the table for all of last season. He fits the mold of an interior player, was consistently a top blocker with the Bears, and was extremely young entering free agency. Pittsburgh scooped him up on a big deal, and I was expecting him to be the cornerstone of this line.
While Daniels wasn’t bad, he didn’t live up to the lofty expectations I had for him entering the season. While his play was good, and he quickly developed into the team’s best blocker down the stretch, his overall play was a tad below what I was expecting. While I would argue that he was clearly the Steelers best offensive lineman, he wasn’t as dominant as I thought he would be.
This doesn’t mean he is a bust of a signing. Daniels had to transition to a new team and learn a new system, so some struggling makes sense. I expect the line to be built around him this offseason as well given the dependable player he turned into. While not the home run I had pegged him as Daniels was a great contract and looks like a quality lineman for this team.
Steelers signed Jack
Contract: 2 years, 16 million
Initial Grade: C
Final Grade: D-
I never bought into the hype that so many seemed to have when Myles Jack was signed by the Steelers. Fans knew his name from a strong stretch of seasons with the Jaguars, but his play had begun to decline when the rest of Jacksonville’s defense lost the talent that made them so good for a while. I didn’t think Jack would be horrible, but I wasn’t expecting the former top linebacker to return completely to form.
The early results weren’t bad for Jack, as he was a dependable tackler and a solid defender. As the season progressed, his play got worse. Missed assignments and poor play recognition took him out of a lot of plays. This culminated in him losing snaps to both Robert Spillane and Mark Robinson, neither of which are proven or elite players.
It got so bad that I no longer view Jack as a safe roster bet for next season. His cap hit increases in year two and seeing him essentially benched late in the season wasn’t a sign this team views him as an elite player. I never expected elite results from this deal, but Jack found a way to disappoint me still. He is arguably the biggest disappointment of the offseason given what so many thought his impact would be.
The Steelers added a lot of new faces last offseason, but the overall results were less than stellar. While some of these players should be fixtures next season, quite a few others are potential release candidates heading into the 2023 offseason.