The 2016 season is unfortunately over, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are now embarking upon their latest offseason journey, heading back to the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, formerly known and still referred to as the ‘South Side’ facility of Heinz Field. While the postseason is now behind us, there is plenty left to discuss.
And there are plenty of questions left unanswered as well. The offseason is just really the beginning phase of the answer-seeking process, which is lasts all the way through the Super Bowl for teams fortunate enough to reach that far.
You can rest assured that we have the questions, and we will be monitoring the developments in the offseason as they develop, and beyond, looking for the answers as we look to evaluate the makeup of the Steelers as they try to navigate their way back to the Super Bowl, after reaching the AFC Championship game last season for the first time in more than half a decade.
Question: With the brain trust likely out at Pro Days today, will there be any free agency news to come by following a busy couple of days?
Over the course of the first few days of free agency, there was no formal activity by the Steelers. There were merely a variety of reports about the team actively pursuing some of the top cornerbacks on the market and coming away emptyhanded.
Come Monday, however, the start of the new wee, the Steelers were playing host to two potential free agents with reports of another two coming in the following day, all of which amounts to a blizzard of activity in comparison to what had come before.
The Steelers didn’t manage to come away from any of those meetings with free agents having gotten a contract signed, however, and two of them ended up signing deals with other teams. The other two remain unsigned, and there has been no word yet from the Dont’a Hightower camp, who was reportedly told that the offer would be pulled if he leaves Pittsburgh without signing.
We could hear word on that front later today even with many of the key members of the team’s brain trust out attending Pro Day’s, in particular that of T.J. Watt, the brother of the very similarly named three-time defensive player of the year.
The Steelers have a tendency to move on fairly quickly when things go their way, however, so it’s not impossible that there is an agreement reached with a free agent. At the very least, I would hope for reports of another visit or two being scheduled with potential free agents.
It has been nearly a week since free agency has opened and Pittsburgh is one of just a couple of teams left to have brought in no free agents from outside of their organization. That is not necessarily a terrible thing, but it is surprising given the available cap space and the room for improvement on the roster.
