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 tight end room is the Steelers’ most talented among the skill positions.
Explanation: At least for the purposes of this topic, the ‘skill positions’ are defined as running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. The team has invested draft picks, including two on day two, into the position over the past three drafts and has assembled a nice diversity of skillsets.
Buy:
The addition of Darnell Washington was really the cherry on top of this group. While he may not be used extensively in the passing game, he will have a transformative role in the box in general. The focus will be on the running game, but he will help on the perimeter of short passing plays as well, and will help turn two-yard gains into six-yard gains and six-yard games into 16.
Pat Freiermuth is set to break out as a top-five receiving tight end at the position. The only missing ingredient has been that touch and chemistry with Kenny Pickett, and they’ll have that this year. Pickett already began to trust and rely on him in the clutch moments down the stretch in 2022. He has the potential to put up Mark Andrews-like numbers.
That’s not even getting into Zach Gentry’s capable contributions as a second blocker and the many hats Connor Heyward is likely to wear. Not to mention the opportunity that this position group will have to make the offense much less predictable. We’re going to see a lot of two-tight end sets this year for a reason: it’s where the talent is and what’s best for the offense.
Sell:
The obvious answer is wide receiver. The Steelers’ two best and most talented skill position players—George Pickens and Diontae Johnson—reside there. As long as there are enough balls to go around, both of them should top 1,000 receiving yards this year. No matter all the talk, this is still going to be a receiver-driven offense the way it has been for the past decade.
Which makes it all the remarkable that we haven’t even talked about the fabulous one-two punch in the backfield of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Some people are not as high on the backfield right now as they should be because they’re reading last season’s notes, but these two are going to be hammer and nail to defenses in 2023.
But the fact that we can even have this debate is the real winner here.
