The Steelers are now in their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answered, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: Is Larry Ogunjobi set up for a career year?
The Steelers were in a bind when they signed Larry Ogunjobi last year—and so was he. It wasn’t the ideal situation for either party. Stephon Tuitt just confirmed his retirement on the 1st of June. Ogunjobi failed a physical in March after agreeing to terms on a three-year, $40.5 million contract with the Chicago Bears, which nullified the offer. He remained unsigned until Pittsburgh offered him a one-year, $8 million contract.
While his new three-year deal signed with Pittsburgh this offseason didn’t recoup everything he’d lost last March, it got him enough of the way there to be comfortable. And the Steelers offered him that deal in spite of a somewhat lackluster season because they expect him to be at a different level in 2023 and moving forward.
So is he set up for a career year? He wouldn’t have gotten either of these March offers the past two years if he wasn’t a talented player. In his one year in Cincinnati in 2021, he had seven sacks, 12 tackles for loss, and 16 quarterback hits.
Though he was playing in a different system in Pittsburgh than that which produced his 2021 numbers, the Steelers are banking on his drop in production—just one sack, seven tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits—being attributable to his injury concerns. Not only did he spend time recovering from offseason foot surgery, he had other minor ailments slowing him down during the year, some of which kept him out of practices.
Now a full year into the Steelers’ system, fully healthy, with a full complement of support and playmakers around him, is he primed for a career year? We saw flashes of what he can do last season. If he can make that the norm in his play, then they’ll have hardly missed a beat from the height of the Cameron Heyward-Stephon Tuitt combination.
