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: How low would the price tag have to do in order to keep Matt Feiler?
By all estimates, Steelers veteran offensive lineman Matt Feiler, set to hit free agency, is not about to break anybody’s bank. With that said, Pittsburgh may be operating with a bank in the shape of a small ceramic pig, so their standards figure to be lower than most.
A former undrafted free agent, the team has molded Feiler into a three-year starter capable of playing multiple positions, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at, and they also just so happen to be very much in need of some linemen.
The closer we get to the start of the new league year, however, it doesn’t seem as though we are really approaching a greater sense of clarity. It feels like everybody is just in a holding pattern until something happens, barring the teams negotiating trades, which almost surely isn’t in the cards here.
With Maurkice Pouncey retired and Alejandro Villanueva leaving in free agency, Feiler could provide a bit of consistency, as well as depth, regardless of where he might end up being stationed. There’s no doubt that the team would be better off with him. But what will the price be, and could they afford it?
