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: Who is going to wear the green dot for the Steelers’ defense this season?
The Steelers drafted Devin Bush, indeed, made a dramatic trade up for him, back in 2019 because they saw in him a complete linebacker, both from a physical and mental perspective. They figured that by year two, he would be on the field for every snap, calling the defense, and looking like the next Ryan Shazier.
He wasn’t perhaps too far off of that trajectory, or at least parts of it, leading up to his knee injury—he did play every single snap of the season right up to his last of the year in game five—but they shied away from handing him the green dot last year when he came back from injury.
Now that he has had a full offseason without needing to rehab, is he back in the proverbial driver’s seat? Will they give it to Myles Jack instead, who is also an every-down linebacker who has experience wearing the green dot?
Terrell Edmunds was asked about who would wear the green dot during spring workouts, and he said that he doesn’t know. I do believe him, at least in terms of who will be wearing it in September. I think they’ll have to figure that out as they go along.
Perhaps it will come down to whom they feel is more likely to still be here in 2023—which would be the one whom they feel is more talented. Jack is under contract for 2023 and Bush is not, but they could easily cut Jack and re-sign Bush to a modest contract. They have a history of signing veteran linebackers to two-year contracts and cutting them after one, like Jon Bostic and Mark Barron.
