With the Steelers’ 2023 offseason well underway following a disappointing season that came up just short of reaching the playoffs, it’s time to begin reloading, through the free agency process, through the draft, and perhaps even through trade.
This is now a young team on the offensive side of the ball, though one getting older on defense. Both sides could stand to be supplemented robustly, including in the trenches—either one. Changes have been made to the coaching staff, even if not all of the desired ones, as the roster continues to renew with the weeks ticking by.
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: Communication is a primary concern with all the new pieces on defense.
Explanation: The Steelers have parted with a number of starters and other prominent players on defense since last season, including Terrell Edmunds, Cameron Sutton, Devin Bush, Myles Jack, Robert Spillane, and Arthur Maulet. Most are being replaced by players who are new to the team.
Buy:
Nothing kills a play, whether on offense or defense, faster than when a unit is not on the same page. If you have one side of the defense running one play and the other side running another, the offense is going to carve it up. As they say, whether it’s the right play or the wrong play, it’s more important that everyone is running the same play.
And it’s not as though this defense doesn’t have a history with communication breakdowns. On top of that, they’ve lost some major links in the communication chain this offseason, most notably the linebackers—the green dots—and Sutton and Edmunds.
The Steelers have a pair of starting inside linebackers who, yes, are veterans, but who are not just new to the team but new to each other. You have all of these pieces trying to figure out how to work together in ways the Steelers very rarely have to deal with.
Sell:
Communication issues have gotten more infrequent over the years and seemed to be rooted primarily in the transition from Dick LeBeau to Keith Butler as defensive coordinator—and to Mike Tomlin taking over more authorship of the unit. A bumpy road, sure, but they’ve been on smoother ground for a while.
And understand this: while the Steelers have lost a number of players, they were replaced with guys who have a history of knowing what they’re doing and knowing how to communicate. Elandon Roberts and Cole Holcomb have both worn the green dot before. Patrick Peterson, Damontae Kazee (who was here last year and started games), and Keanu Neal, these are seasoned veterans.
There might be some minor transitional communication issues during the early portion of the season, but there’s no grounds to fear that they will be anything but a minor problem in 2023. Chances are the Steelers will have more than one bigger problem on their hands, which is just as bad, if not worse.
