The Steelers are well into 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 answered, 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: Who has a better chance of making the team right now: Gunner Olszewski or Kendrick Green?
Steelers fans are reluctant to acknowledge the possibility that one or both of Gunner Olszewski and Kendrick Green could actually wind up on the team’s 53-man roster later this year. Indeed, one could make the argument that if the season were to begin today, Green would be the backup center and Olszewski the return man.
There is lots of football in shorts before that has to be decided, however, and the circumstances can and will change. But sitting here right now, today, who has a better chance of making the team: the third-year offensive lineman or the fifth-year return specialist who has aspirations of being a slot receiver?
One thing that the two have in common is that they are both erroneously listed as being taller than they actually are. Green is certainly not 6’4” and Olszewski is not 6’0”. It’s good to have things in common, I suppose. Both also lost starting jobs last year, Green in competition at left guard and Olszewski after having entered the year as return man.
But for the latter, the man who replaced him, Steven Sims, is now gone. For the former, the prior backup center, J.C. Hassenauer, is gone as well. Green started at center for most of his rookie season, and Olszewski has made the All-Pro list as a returner before, albeit not in Pittsburgh.
It is entirely possible that, as most fans are hoping for, neither will end up on the 53-man roster. But we can’t discount the possibility that they make it. Like it or not, they are in the running for jobs, and it might take adding talent from the outside to knock them out.
