The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2020 season is now in the books, and it ended in spectacular fashion—though the wrong kind of spectacular—in a dismal postseason defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, sending them into an early offseason mode after going 12-4 in the regular season and winning the AFC North for the first time in three years.
After setting a franchise record by opening the year on an 11-game winning streak, they followed that up by losing three games in a row, going 1-4 in the final five games, with only a 17-point comeback staving off a five-game slide. But all the issues they had in the regular season showed up in the postseason that resulted in their early exit.
The only thing facing them now as they head into 2021 is more questions, and right now, they lack answers. What will Ben Roethlisberger do, and what will they do with him? What will the salary cap look like? How many free agents are they going to lose? Who could they possibly afford to retain? Who might they part ways with—not just on the roster, but also on the coaching staff?
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: Should the Steelers target Kelvin Beachum to return to Pittsburgh?
Given the significant unlikelihood that Alejandro Villanueva is going to be back with the Steelers in 2021, as he rightfully seeks his payday, the team is probably going to be exploring the market for a new left tackle.
It’s not impossible that they could cobble one from within, between Chukwuma Okorafor and perhaps whoever they re-sign between Zach Banner and Matt Feiler, and perhaps a rookie as well, but the team’s preferred method of operations is always to bring in a modest free agent option.
Beachum, who has been their starting left tackle in the past, would certainly fall under that category, and as a bonus, he played for the team’s new offensive line coach, Adrian Klemm, when they were at SMU together, and the two still hold a lot of mutual respect for one another.
While he hasn’t blossomed into a Pro Bowler since leaving Pittsburgh, Beachum remains a serviceable starter who I’m sure would welcome the opportunity not only to come back to Pittsburgh but to play for Klemm again.
As a bonus, anybody who has followed him at all since departing in free agency has likely seen that he has continued to be the wonderful and charitable person that he always was all along, and that certainly fits right into what the Steelers would be looking for. The price just might be right on this one.
