The Steelers are now in their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead, they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answering, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: What is the biggest weakness on the Steelers’ roster keeping them from competing for a Super Bowl?
I’d like to get one thing out of the way right off the bat, which is to narrow the scope of this question because we’re going to be dealing with other aspects on another day. Today’s question is about the 53-man roster and the 53-man roster only.
One way or another, the Steelers had a 53-man roster in 2022 that produced a 9-8 record. You can dissect it any way you want and it comes out looking the same at the end of the day. In terms of personnel issues, what is the biggest reason that they didn’t put down a better result this past season?
It doesn’t have to be a specific starter, a specific position, or anything like that. Anything that pertains to which players are on the team and in what order is the name of the game. It can be depth, it can be not starting or playing the right players. Or it can just be ‘Devin Bush sucks’.
The biggest question mark on the roster last season was inevitably the quarterback position in the wake of Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement. They believe that they have their next franchise guy in Kenny Pickett, but any reasonable long-term assessment has to tread cautiously here. The jury is still out on exactly how good he will be, or if they can win a Super Bowl with him.
If it’s not the quarterback position, then or not any one specific position, then what part of the roster do you believe is the biggest issue right now? There is inevitably more than one—you generally don’t go 9-8 if your roster is that strong—but if you were to pick only one, what is your answer?
