Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season is over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason and everything that means. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: ILB Nick Kwiatkoski
Stock Value: Purchased
Reasoning: The Steelers made the signing of seventh-year inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski official yesterday, marking the fourth veteran the team has signed at the position this offseason. His addition comes after a successful tryout during mandatory minicamp, in which another veteran linebacker, Jermaine Carter Jr., was also a participant on a tryout basis.
You don’t see too many dramatic turnovers like we did this year in the Steelers’ inside linebacker room. Of the six players at the position who were under contract on the 53-man roster or Reserve/Injured List at the end of last season, five are gone, with only 2022 seventh-round pick Mark Robinson remaining.
The team brought in Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts as starters while also adding Tanner Muse to replace some of the special teams needs that were lost. Nick Kwiatkoski continues to add to the list. Like Muse, he is special-teams capable, but he also has an experienced defensive background.
A former fourth-round pick out of West Virginia, Kwiatkoski brings to the table over 2,000 defensive and over 1,000 special teams snaps after spending four years in Chicago, two in Las Vegas, and finally a year in 2022 with the Falcons.
His role has grown increasingly focused on special teams in the past two seasons, logging zero defensive snaps in 12 games last year in Atlanta but with 228 special teams snaps. The year before that, in eight games, he also played 66 defensive snaps to 150 on special teams.
While that figures to be his primary role should he make the team, the coaching staff will know that he has plenty of experience in his back pocket. In many ways he has similarities to Robert Spillane, whom the Steelers allowed to leave in free agency this offseason.
Given that he was not only still available in June but was in a position to accept no more than a tryout invitation to participate in rookie minicamp, nobody should be rushing out to buy a Kwiatkoski jersey just yet. At the same time, don’t be surprised if the Bethel Park-born Steelers fan is donning the colors he grew up wearing on Sundays this fall. They did lose a lot of special teams snaps last year, including at the inside linebacker position. He could make the team outright or possibly compete with Muse for the special teams role. It all depends on how many roster spots are available, and how much the Steelers believe either of them might be able to contribute defensively.
