3 mistakes the Steelers cannot afford to make in the 2023 offseason

2. Steelers need to balance need and want in the 2023 free agent market

As I stated earlier in the discussion, we have both needs and wants.  You could argue that we have more needs than wants or vice versa, but I think both arguments are meritorious.  With twenty-two players slated to become free agents in one form or another, we have to be smart about what we do and how we do it.

Considering what we do in free agency may directly impact how we approach the draft, we cannot afford to overpay for any player.  Conversely, we cannot afford to let a player walk, either our own pending free agent or another team’s free agent, because we are not willing to ‘pony up’ the cash.

Take Larry Ogunjobi, for instance.  We signed him to a one-year deal.  He played very well.  Now, the Steelers may not be able to re-sign him depending on how the market values his position.  If we re-sign him, maybe we would wait until the later rounds to address DL.

If we can’t re-sign him, that may force us to draft a D-lineman higher than we would have otherwise drafted a D-lineman.  It all works hand-in-hand, but we should not and cannot let a player walk who played well for us simply because the market may value his position at ‘X’, but we would only be willing to pay ‘Y’.

Let’s talk about the third mistake we cannot afford to make.