With the Steelers’ 2023 offseason 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, and 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: Levi Wallace will start every game (for which he’s healthy) this season.
Explanation: For our purposes, we’re not defining a start as being on the field for the first snap of the game. If he is one of the top three cornerbacks and consistently plays in whatever nickel package they use which most of the time should command north of 50 percent of the snaps in a game, that will be a start.
Buy:
The Steelers like Joey Porter Jr. just fine, I’m sure, but they’re not going to rush his development. He will play as a rookie, and he might even start, but that would more likely be a result of Patrick Peterson successfully shifting into the slot.
Levi Wallace is an experienced, veteran player who showed real growth in his first season with the team last year. That included a career-high four interceptions, which was second-most on the team behind only Minkah Fitzpatrick (and is more than anyone other than Fitzpatrick or Joe Haden has had in some time). In fact, I think Troy Polamalu was the last player to have more than three for the Steelers other than the aforementioned two.
Pittsburgh’s defense thrives on ballhawks, and Porter, for everything that he is, has not shown himself to be a ballhawk. Wallace’s ball skills will keep him on the field, as will his football intelligence and strong communication skills. It doesn’t hurt that, as a former Alabama teammate of Fitzpatrick’s, they have natural chemistry.
Sell:
We talk a lot about Peterson’s moving into the slot as though it’s a foregone conclusion not only that it will happen, but that it will be so successful that it will be their base nickel package. More likely it will be a situational role, with Chandon Sullivan being the primary slot defender, which is why they went out and signed him in the first place.
And the Steelers had a clear vision of what they were looking for from the outside cornerback position this offseason. It wasn’t just Porter but also Peterson himself, and Cory Trice Jr. Even some of the other names you won’t know as well. Luc Barcoo, Madre Harper. Long guys, most of them with size.
Wallace isn’t short, but he isn’t big, either. Porter is going to get into the lineup as soon as possible, maybe even the season opener, and with the myriad different sub-package options, including three-safety looks, the veteran’s lack of versatility is going to harm his playing time.
