With the new league year upon us, the Steelers are in a critical spot as a team that is rebuilding. They seemingly have their guy in Kenny Pickett on a rookie deal, so now is the time to build a competitive roster around him to get this franchise back on track. That starts once free agency opens and runs through the time the next season actually begins in the Fall.
This is an offseason the Steelers can’t mess up. Assuming Pickett is the guy long-term, the window to build a competitive roster ends once Pickett gets his next deal. The salary cap will be shallow once again, so aggressive moves won’t be realistic. If the team wants to get back on the right track though, here are five vital steps they need to follow to avoid an offseason disaster.
Steelers shouldn’t be moving up in the draft
The Steelers have a shockingly large supply of draft picks in the early rounds of the upcoming draft. Due to the Chase Claypool trade, this team has essentially two first-round picks and their original second and third-rounders to boot. While that kind of capital could make a move up viable, this team shouldn’t really be that interested.
There are so many needs on this roster that having more picks will be far more beneficial than one specific player. Sure, moving up a few spots and giving up a second-round pick is feasible, but this roster is so void of talent that having as many cracks at players in the draft is needed.
If the team does decide to move around, moving back is the more logical option. This draft is viewed as a deeper one but is lacking star power outside of the top few picks. Getting a few extra picks in a move-down could be beneficial for this roster. That said, trading up in the draft really needs to be avoided this year given the number of roster needs.
Steelers need to avoid the preseason trades
It had become an almost regular occurrence in recent years that the Steelers would part way with day three picks in exchange for some depth players as the season got close. The team felt like their roster was lacking somewhere, so they flipped picks for a backup they felt could help stabilize the position.
While these moves rarely cost much, they also haven’t yielded anything in recent years. Malik Reed, Ahkello Witherspoon, and Jesse Davis were all added on trades like this, and none of these players ultimately contributed much, nor are they expected to be around for the long term. The cost wasn’t great to bring them in, but it has still been a relative waste of resources.
The Steelers should be more willing to utilize the free-agent market as opposed to the trade market. This won’t yield better game results more than likely, but it will lead to the team having more of their mid-round picks. These trades haven’t been very fruitful, and it makes sense for the team to fill out their depth needs in other ways instead.
Steelers need to invest in the offensive line
Despite two years of poor play, there is a real chance that the Steelers opt to ignore the offensive line in 2022. The reasoning seems simple: they have some parts in place, and a full offseason with the entire group together as well as an entire season having learned Pat Myers system could naturally make this unit better.
That is no excuse not to add to this group though. Sure, you don’t need to overhaul this group, but there are still quite a few deficiencies along the line. I don’t expect any big free agents to make their way to this squad (unless Chukwuma Okorafor is let go), but there needs to be some draft-day investment in this group.
Even if there is a natural progression from the consistency of this group, opting to not add some better talent is silly. If you want Pickett to last, he needs protection, and this run game would certainly get a boost with some better blocking. Again, not every position needs to be overhauled, but there needs to be some investment in this group.
Steelers need to invest in more important positions overall
Building off the last point, the Steelers need to stop prioritizing non-premium positions in the draft, and more specifically, they need to reinvest in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Using top picks on running backs and off-ball linebackers can be justified when the core of your team is strong, but the Steelers have focused on these non-premium positions while letting their trenches fall apart.
It has cost them, as both the defensive and offensive lines have been poor over the past two seasons. Meanwhile, investments like Najee Harris and Devin Bush have looked lackluster because their positions don’t move the needle as much. Getting strong from the inside out will help makes those players look better and give the Steelers a better base to build off of moving forward.
There isn’t a problem with investing in these less important positions, but it shouldn’t have come at the cost of a poor core. Look at the past Super Bowl, both teams had capable trenches, and it was a huge reason for their success. The Steelers need to get back to the days of dominating from the point of control and not just investing in these less important positions.
Steelers need to avoid their usual free-agency targets
The Steelers have shifted their free agency stance as their cap situation opened up. No longer did they just dumpster dive for veteran minimum contracts, but instead they would target a lot of these mid-range players on smaller deals. This allowed them to fill out their holes with potential starters, but it also yielded some lackluster starters and short stints with the team.
While the occasional bigger contract has surfaced, this team was far more focused on filling every hole so they could focus on just a few core players in the draft. Names like Levi Wallace and Ahkello Witherspoon last season were proof of this. Even Wallace, the far better of the two, still has left this team needing a cornerback this season. Adding players close to the minimum is fine, as it doesn’t alter the cap much, but these mid-level deals eat away any space quickly.
Instead, this team should target fewer free agents by making them higher-quality signings. Yes, that means there will be some holes on the roster, but this is a team that isn’t ready to compete. Fill that hole with a young player or rookie. That may not yield great results instantly, but it won’t hamper their cap space like all of these middle-of-the-road contracts do. In return, the free agents you add will have a higher likelihood of sticking around and being impact players for this team.
This offseason is a critical one for the Steelers. This roster has a slew of issues that need to be addressed. That said, the team needs to avoid falling for some of the traps that they have in the past, as it will be detrimental to the growth of this roster.