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: The Steelers will carry more outside linebackers than inside linebackers.
Explanation: While not uncommon, carrying nine linebackers in total does require that the ninth player bring something different to the table, like core special teams value. More often than not, this tends to come from the inside linebacker group rather than outside linebacker, but this year, it could go the other way.
Buy:
Disregarding Nick Herbig’s rookie status, the Steelers have at least five players at both outside linebacker and inside linebacker who either have legitimate NFL experience (everybody in the conversation but Herbig) or NFL-level pedigree that should safely land him on the roster (Herbig).
But the outside linebacker position has the stronger case to make. You have the top three as unquestioned locks in T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Markus Golden. Then Herbig’s rookie status as a fourth-round pick should allow him to make the team with relative ease.
The last spot goes to Quincy Roche, who has both defensive and special teams experience, and on top of that, it’s always helpful to have an extra body at a position where you have a rookie. Couple that with the fact that Herbig might actually end up working inside some eventually due to his positional flexibility, and you lean toward keeping Roche.
Sell:
This could go three ways. Either they keep four of each, five inside and four outside, or they could actually keep 10 in total, which they’ve done before. With roster spots at a premium on a deeper-than-usual roster, 10 linebackers is unlikely.
But with expanded practice squads, there’s a very good chance the Steelers actually only keep eight on the 53-man roster. Roche would be a prime candidate for the practice squad, and I could see Nick Kwiatkoski on the inside there as well. Tanner Muse has somewhat minimal defensive experience but would make more sense for the roster spot due to his use on special teams.
Then there’s the Herbig positional flexibility factor. What if, during training camp, the Steelers decide that he fits better inside? Then it’s pretty much a given that they would carry five inside and four outside. Given the number of ways this could play out, it’s more likely that there won’t be more outside linebackers on the 53 than inside linebackers.
