For the second consecutive offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers underwent significant changes on the roster, coaching staff and in the front office. It’s a time of transition for the Black and Gold, who are a model of stability.
On paper, it looks like those changes are for the good, especially on the field, as Pittsburgh’s new-look roster landed inside the top half of the NFL Thursday morning in ESPN’s roster rankings.
Pittsburgh landed at No. 14 overall, just ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings in the top half of the league. Pittsburgh is 10th in the AFC in the rankings behind the Kansas City Chiefs (No. 1), Buffalo Bills (No. 3), Miami Dolphins (No. 4), Cincinnati Bengals (No. 5), Los Angeles Chargers (No. 7), Cleveland Browns (No. 9), New York Jets (No. 10), Baltimore Ravens (No. 11) and Denver Broncos (No. 13) in the roster rankings in a loaded AFC.
Within the roster rankings from ESPN, the Worldwide Leader looked at the strongest and weakest unit for the Steelers, highlighted and X-factor for the 2023 season and a nonstarter player to know.
Unsurprisingly, the strongest and weakest unit for the Steelers landed on the defensive side of the football. ESPN’s Mike Clay named the EDGE position Pittsburgh’s strongest unit and the off-ball linebacker position as its weakest unit.
“T.J. Watt missed a chunk of last season, but the 28-year-old remained an impact player when healthy (22.1% pass rush win rate) and led the NFL with 70.5 sacks over the last five seasons. Running mate Alex Highsmith finished sixth in the league with 14.5 sacks last season,” Clay writes highlighting the EDGE group as the Steelers’ strength. “Underrated veteran Markus Golden (who has three 10-plus sack seasons) and youngsters DeMarvin Leal and Nick Herbig provide solid depth.”
The duo of Watt and Highsmith are outstanding overall. Combined, the two have recorded 65.5 sacks in three seasons from 2020 when Highsmith was drafted, until now. Watt had a historic year in 2021, recording 22.5 sacks to tie the single-season sacks record with Michael Strahan, while Highsmith put up 6.0 sacks opposite him and really developed into a key run defender that season before becoming a standout in 2022 with a career-high 14.5 sacks.
Having that duo leading the way at the position group is superb. Depth is now strong too, after the signing of veteran Markus Golden and the drafting of Nick Herbig. Golden has 47.0 career sacks and will be able to rotate in on either side of the defensive front to keep Watt and Highsmith healthy, while Herbig might be brought along slowly overall. That said, he had 11.0 sacks at Wisconsin last season.
Inside linebacker is a real concern though.
“The Steelers made a full-on line change at inside linebacker during free agency, replacing Myles Jack, Devin Bush and Robert Spillane with Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts and Tanner Muse. Holcomb has been solid as an every-down player in Washington the last two seasons, but Roberts and Muse have primarily been rotational players,” Clay writes regarding the off-ball linebacker group.
The Steelers needed to make significant changes at the position, cleaning out the likes of Jack, Bush and Spillane and bringing in Holcomb, Roberts, Muse and recently veteran Nick Kwiatkoski. Even with the changes, it might not be good enough. Health is a concern with Holcomb, while Roberts projects primarily as a two-down thumper seemingly playing in the wrong era.
Muse hasn’t seen many snaps defensively and projects as more of a special teams piece, as does Kwiatkoski, who didn’t see many defensive snaps the last two seasons after being a starter of the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders early in his career.
ESPN’s X-factor for the Steelers in 2023 is unsurprisingly second-year wide receiver George Pickens, who appears to be on the cusp of stardom, but the surprise name that ESPN’s Seth Walder highlighted as the nonstarter to know was Nick Herbig.
“At Wisconsin last season, Herbig had 11 sacks along with strong pressure rates. That production gave him the 10th-highest sack projection in the entire 2023 draft class, according to my model, despite being a fourth-round pick,” Walder writes.
While I do have my concerns about Herbig at the EDGE position due to his size and lack of length, there’s something to be said about the production he put together at Wisconsin in his final season, becoming a game-wrecker off the edge. He might not get that type of opportunity in Pittsburgh behind Watt, Highsmith and Golden, but he will be a special teams ace for Pittsburgh and certainly has the right mentality to be a Steeler.
He’ll be a name to watch throughout training camp and the preseason to see what type of impact he can have.
Overall, it’s not all that surprising to see the Steelers’ roster land inside the top half of the league. Former GM Kevin Colbert and current GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl did a great job in free agency and the draft the last two seasons addressing major holes and getting high-character guys into the building, changing the culture and creating that foundation for the future.
Now, it’s up to Mike Tomlin’s reshaped coaching staff to get the most out of the team and have the success the Steelers have been starving for on the field.
