With the regular season quickly rearing its head, we are finally beginning to piece together some concrete data to attempt to draw conclusions about the Pittsburgh Steelers and who they will be during the 2022 season.
With new quarterbacks, new coaches in new roles, even a new stadium name, there is plenty of change, creating an environment of even less predictability. That includes the new general manager, which could potentially introduce new variables we will have to learn to adjust to over the years when making our own projections of what decisions the team will make.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
Topic Statement: The Steelers should kick the tires on Joe Schobert.
Explanation: The Steelers made a trade to bring in Joe Schobert last August after Vince Williams suddenly retired. They released him back in March after signing his former teammate, Myles Jack, who had just been released himself.
Buy:
While the Steelers are still sorting out their inside linebacker depth chart, there is still some question as to how much talent they actually have. The biggest reason that the team released Joe Schobert back in March was because he came with a huge salary. But his recent week-long stint with the Denver Broncos indicates that his market has tanked. He signed only a veteran-minimum contract that had no signing bonus.
Why wouldn’t you want to bring in a player of Schobert’s caliber for the veteran minimum? He’s basically the Damontae Kazee of the linebacker room. Are we really contending that Robert Spillane is that much better? Or even better at all? Wouldn’t he make more sense than Marcus Allen? He does have a special teams background from early in his career and probably would be amenable to resuming it if it meant keeping a job.
Sell:
While his high salary was a major reason that the Steelers released Schobert, it wasn’t the only one. There was also the simple fact that he wasn’t very good. There is a reason that the Jaguars were willing to trade him one year into a huge contract. There is a reason he went unsigned until August. There is a reason he signed without even a signing bonus. And there is a reason he is available again.
Signing him and bringing him back now would only stifle the development process of a guy like Mark Robinson, who is showing potential. It would all but guarantee that Buddy Johnson has minimal opportunity to make the roster as well. And what would he contribute? He’s not going to start. He can be on the rolodex if an injury comes up, but there’s no need to add to that room right now otherwise. They could have been kicking the crap out of his tires for months, but they didn’t.
