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: Where are the Steelers weaker this year than they were last year?
With the Steelers getting training camp underway shortly, it’s that time for some final speculative pieces. We all have our thoughts about how things are going to play out, but pretty soon we’ll actually be watching things play out and what we thought will become irrelevant.
So before this roster takes the field for the first time, let’s ask this question: Where are the Steelers worse now than they were last year? At least based on how you feel things will go, since there are still so many things that we can’t know. And there doesn’t have to be any area in which they’re worse.
There are two areas at which they spent a lot of time this offseason: inside linebacker and cornerback. Both of these position groups look a lot different than they were a year ago, but will that be for the better in 2023, or worse?
Given how down the offense was last year generally, it’s kind of hard to pick any spots where it could conceivably be worse, so I’m not going to, but perhaps one surprise area might actually be the defensive line, when all is said and done.
After all, Cameron Heyward isn’t getting any younger, and yes, the Steelers invested in Larry Ogunjobi, but just what are they going to get out of him? At least in terms of run defense, the defensive line actually held up well last year, ranking in the top 10, but I’m not sure we can count on them doing that two years in a row, and many of the young players are very fresh or just don’t have a real position.
