With the recent announcement of the signing of Desmond King II, the Steelers '53' is pretty much set at this point, barring any last-minute moves Omar Khan may 'have up his sleeve', so to speak. As of right now, it appears we still have some room on the practice squad, but, for all intents and purposes, things are set for now, as I stated earlier.
So, to answer the question posed in the title of this discussion, which is this: Does the 2023 Steelers roster have the look of a championship team, I think we first need to look at what we will be working with on both sides of the ball, what are special teams will entail and what the front office may be thinking as we head into the start of the regular season.
With the aforementioned in mind, let's begin our discussion by looking at what we should expect to see from the offense.
The Steelers offense should be much improved from the 2022 iteration
To say that the Steelers offense should be much improved from the 2022 iteration is like saying if you're on the bottom of the pile, your only option is to move up. While the 2022 offense wasn't quite the worst offense in the NFL, it was pretty close, finishing with the twenty-third ranking in average yards per game and the twenty-sixth ranking in average points per game.
Fortunately for us, the scoring trend did not carry over to the 2023 preseason as we scored an average of twenty-six points in three games. I realize that preseason performance is not necessarily indicative of regular season performance but it is encouraging nonetheless.
With players like Kenny Pickett, Pat Freiermuth, George Pickens, Diontae Johnson, Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, and Calvin Austin III, who is a flat-out 'speed demon, the offense has enough weapons to hang in any game, however, hanging in a game is a far cry from dominating a game.
That's where the offensive line comes into play. The Steelers invested in the offensive line both in the draft with the selection of Broderick Jones and in free agency with the signings of Isaac Seumalo and Nate Herbig. From what we saw in preseason, the 'O-line' played pretty well.
Will the scoring trend continue in the regular season? Will the 'O-line' hold up? Will the offense become an offense that is both balanced and explosive? We will find out the answers to these questions soon enough.
I expect the offense to be improved for various reasons, but if a player like Darnell Washington can stay healthy, we will have a 'one-two-punch' at tight end that we have not had in a while. Another reason I expect the offense to improve is the presence of Glenn Thomas. I firmly believe that Thomas was hired to 'light a fire' under Matt Canada.
Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but, again, from what we saw in preseason, the offense just looked better than it did in 2022. Let's discuss what we can expect to see on defense.