The Pittsburgh Steelers had a busy offseason as general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin looked to fill up holes on the team in free agency and address the future in the 2023 NFL Draft. Pittsburgh’s offseason has been lauded by the media and NFL fans, and today CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell came out in support of it.
Podell ranked the top 16 offseasons and Pittsburgh’s came in at eighth, as he cited the commitment to improving the offensive line as a big reason for the ranking.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers patched up their largest roster hole of the last few years — their offensive line — in a major way,” Podell wrote. “First, Pittsburgh signed former Philadelphia Eagles offensive guard Isaac Seumalo to a three-year, $24 million deal…Then, they tossed the New England Patriots a fourth-round pick to move up three spots in the 2023 NFL Draft, jumping from 17th overall to 14th overall in order to select Georgia’s All-SEC offensive tackle Broderick Jones.”
The Steelers’ plan this season is to run the ball and bully teams. Adding Isaac Seumalo will help them achieve their goal. Right guard James Daniels and center Mason Cole were two of the best offensive linemen last season, and adding Seumalo to start at left guard over Kevin Dotson should lead to an improved running game and one of the better interior offensive lines in the NFL. Seumalo is also a very good pass protector which will help quarterback Kenny Pickett be more comfortable in the pocket and hopefully improve his overall play.
While it seems that Podell believes rookie left tackle Broderick Jones will be starting come Week One, that may not be the case. Incumbent tackle Dan Moore Jr. is putting up one helluva fight and Jones is a raw product with under 20 college starts at left tackle. Even if Jones doesn’t begin his rookie year as a starter, he projects to be a great left tackle and his athleticism should help Pittsburgh’s rushing attack even more.
Podell believes Seumalo and Jones will help the team find out if Pickett and running back Najee Harris are capable of being players Pittsburgh can build around.
“Those two additions will allow the Steelers to find out if running back Najee Harris, their first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, can average at least 4 yards a carry and if quarterback Kenny Pickett, their first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, can level up in an ultra-competitive AFC North,” Podell wrote. “The team had a top 10 defense a year ago, 20.4 points per game (10th in the NFL), but with a better offensive line, the Steelers front office can get a much more clear picture if the on-field leaders of their offense have the ability to be franchise pillars moving forward.”
Pittsburgh clearly believes in Harris and will lean on him this season, as its offseason moves show. Although many people in the Steelers organization believe in Pickett, they don’t want to make him be Superman early in his career. He still has to learn and continue to grow as a player. The best way for that to happen is for him to be second fiddle to the rushing attack. The Steelers are going to use the run to set up the pass just like they did when Ben Roethlisberger was a young quarterback, and that worked out pretty well. But for this strategy to work the offensive line needed to be bolstered, and this offseason Khan and Tomlin went out and did that. That is a big reason why the Steelers had a top ten offseason.
