The Pittsburgh Steelers are out of Latrobe and back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, also referred to as the South Side Facility. We are already into the regular season, where everything is magnified and, you know, actually counts. The team is working through the highs and lows and dramas that go through a typical Steelers season.
How are the rookies performing? What about the players that the team signed in free agency? Who is missing time with injuries, and when are they going to be back? What are the coaches saying about what they are going to do this season that might be different from how it was a year ago?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: If the Steelers were to make a realistic trade before the deadline, what would you want them to do?
The Steelers are incredibly rarely active on the trade market during the deadline. In spite of reports that the team has an interest in moving running back Le’Veon Bell, it’s unlikely that he will even be with the team by the time the deadline expires.
And it’s almost unfathomable to imagine them acquiring cornerback Patrick Peterson, for not the least of which reason being that the Arizona Cardinals appear to be motivated not to trade him. After all, you don’t often trade arguably the best cornerback in football.
Outside of a starting-quality cornerback, there are actually not a lot of opportunities available on the Steelers’ roster when you really break it down. Several weeks ago, Pro Football Focus floated out the idea of acquiring pass rusher Shaquil Barrett, and that is probably one of the more realistic acquisitions that I can come up with.
Otherwise, what move is there to make? They are certainly not going to touch a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, or offensive lineman. likewise, the safety position and defensive line is secure, as are, likely, the specialists. Inside linebacker is the only other faint possibility, but frankly, the position is not nearly as bad as many believe.
Of course most of us have been through this time and time again. As Steelers fans, we have learned to sit patiently and watch the rest of the league make their moves, which almost always ultimately lead to nowhere. The overwhelming odds are that Pittsburgh makes no trades—Kevin Colbert has done it just once—but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun to think about.
