4 bold moves the Steelers could make during the 2023 offseason

2. The Steelers could cut Gunner Olszewski

The Steelers had one hope in the 2022 offseason, and that was to invigorate their special teams. They thought they had found the man to do it and signed Gunner Olszewski. When that happened somewhere, Bill Belichek may have laughed his backside off.

There was a reason why the Patriots let Gunner go, and that was that Belichick knew he could find someone just as good and perhaps for less money. Yet somehow, either Mike Tomlin or Kevin Colbert or both felt they had found the perfect solution to their kick return game.

In the preseason, Gunner looked somewhat impressive, and the Steelers thought they might be able to utilize him in various ways in Matt Canada’s offense. Then he had two fumbles in three weeks, and Pittsburgh replaced him with Steve Sims. Once the Steelers demoted him from the kick return game, they used him sparsely after that, primarily in the jet sweeps, handing off to the wide receiver.

There are a lot of potential bright spots for the receiving game and headed into 2023, Pittsburgh will get back Calvin Austin, who should hopefully provide a much-needed spark. George Pickens should continue evolving into the number-one receiver. In a worst-case scenario, even if Diontae johnson does not return in 2023 for some reason, the Steelers should still be able to find a few gems in the draft.

There is no reason Pittsburgh needs to keep him in 2023. Except he could bring a dead cap hit of $617,500. However, according to Sportrac.com, the Steelers have a potential out in his contract without taking a cap hit. If so, there is no reason he should stay.