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 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: Will (or should) the Steelers bring running back Benny Snell Jr. back for training camp?
Thus far, the Steelers have only made two additions to the offseason roster at the running back position, signing a pair of rookie college free agents out of HBCUs in Alfonzo Graham from Morgan State and Darius Hagans from Virginia State.
They also allowed Benny Snell Jr. to leave unsigned after four seasons in Pittsburgh, and they waived Master Teague III, a 2022 rookie free agent who created some buzz in training camp and spent time on the practice squad.
Only two backs—Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren—remain from the 53-man roster last season, though both Anthony McFarland Jr. and Jason Huntley return from the practice squad. McFarland, a former fourth-round pick who spent two seasons on the 53-man roster in 2020-21, is the favorite for the third running back spot, but should there be more robust competition?
Snell never exactly set the world on fire, but he did have a better year in 2022, doing his job on special teams—which is a not insignificant consideration—and taking advantage of the very few opportunities he did get to touch the ball on offense.
With the team’s designs on running the ball more this year with Harris and Warren, many feel it would very much be in their best interests to shore up the depth behind them. You lose a lot of your offense, at least in theory, if one of your top two backs goes down.
Then you either have to wear the tires off the other one or rely more heavily on the passing game than you intended if you don’t believe in the ability of your third running back to step up. For the past few years, Snell has been that guy, if not the second-string guy. But he’s currently looking for a job. Will he find his old job back in Pittsburgh waiting for him? Or should he?
