The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season is over, already eliminated from the postseason after suffering a 42-21 loss at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. They just barely made the postseason with a 9-7-1 record and a little help from their friends.
This is an offseason of major change, with the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the possible retirement of general manager Kevin Colbert, and the decisions about the futures of many important players to be made, such as Joe Haden, Stephon Tuitt, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and others—some already decided, some not.
Aside from exploring their options at the quarterback position, the top global priority, once again, figures to be addressing the offensive line, which they did not do quite adequately enough a year ago. Dan Moore Jr. looks like he may have a future as a full-time starter, but Kendrick Green was clearly not ready. Chukwuma Okorafor was re-signed, but Trai Turner was not. James Daniels and Mason Cole were added in free agency.
These are the sorts of topics 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. There is rarely a concrete answer, but this is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all their uncertainty.
Question: Are the Steelers set at swing tackle with Joe Haeg?
It wasn’t really the plan going into the season, but as it happened, Joe Haeg acted as the Steelers’ swing tackle all of last year. Presumably, that was supposed to be rookie Dan Moore Jr., who was thrust into the starting lineup due to Zach Banner’s injury setback.
But with Banner never returning to his former role, it was Haeg who acted as the next man up at tackle on both sides of the field. He even started a game both at left tackle and a right tackle. There were parts of the season where fans were talking about just leaving him in the lineup over one of the starters.
But they’re looking at the same setup this year, at least for the time being. Moore at left tackle, Chukwuma Okorafor at right tackle, and Haeg as the top backup. There really isn’t even a viable fourth option at the moment.
Obviously they may want to try to improve the position as a whole, maybe even draft a tackle in the first round to be a starter. But if things don’t pan out that way, are the Steelers comfortable going into the 2022 season with Haeg as their number three tackle? My impression is that they are.
