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: Tre Norwood should be more worried about his roster spot than Miles Killebrew.
Explanation: The Steelers have a lot to settle in the back half of the secondary, including how many players to keep at each position. At safety, you have Minkah Fitzpatrick, Damontae Kazee, and Keanu Neal as locks. Miles Killebrew and Tre Norwood both return from last season. Norwood is more position-flexible and does see time on defense, but that could be less prominent this year, while Killebrew’s roster spot is 95% rooted in his special teams value.
Buy:
For the first two years of his career, Norwood’s greatest asset was his versatility, but that’s a station that’s getting crowded. Both Kazee and Neal are safeties who are capable of moving around and sliding into the slot, or at least into the box, for example, making Norwood’s novelty value much less novel, and much less valuable.
Meanwhile, you also have players like Elijah Riley in particular but also Duke Dawson who can potentially compete for the identical role Norwood occupies. Coaches have even named them specifically as candidates to play in the slot.
On the flip side, Killebrew is arguably less replaceable, especially in light of the number of special teamers the team lost this offseason, from Derek Watt and Benny Snell Jr. to Marcus Allen and Arthur Maulet. He’s logged over 600 snaps on special teams the past two seasons since arriving in Pittsburgh.
Sell:
Killebrew’s special teams reputation in Pittsburgh was elevated pretty substantially by the fact that he managed to get his hand on two punts in 2021. But that’s not an easily repeatable action, and he didn’t really come close last year.
Outside of the couple of splash plays, there hasn’t been anything too remarkable, certainly not irreplaceable, about what he’s brought to the table. And the fact that the Steelers have lost so many special teams snaps since last season also shows, for one thing, how willing they are to lose them, and for another, perhaps that they were dissatisfied with their results.
As for Norwood, while he arguably has more competition for his role, he is the top candidate for the job. Riley and Dawson are guys looking for jobs for a reason. The Steelers are already hurting enough for guys who can play in the slot, and he’s a better option than most of their alternatives, so he should have a little less to worry about than Killebrew, who is more one-dimensional. And Norwood plays on special teams as well, even if not as much. He still logged 156 special teams snaps in 2022, with 243 defensive snaps. That’s 399 total snaps lost between two units.
