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: The Steelers’ best option for the backup center role is James Daniels.
Explanation: With J.C. Hassenauer no longer available, Pittsburgh is looking to figure out who its next backup center will be. Only two players on the roster have significant NFL experience playing the position, one of them being James Daniels, the starting right guard, who was named as an option by offensive line coach Pat Meyer. The other is Kendrick Green. For the purposes of this exercise, the only options are the ones currently on the roster.
Buy:
Let’s face it: there are only two decent centers on the 53-man roster right now. One is already starting at center, that being Mason Cole. The other is already starting at right guard. James Daniels has to be the Steelers’ number two center just because of the lack of desirable alternatives, even if it means playing musical chairs.
While making multiple moves to accommodate one position is never the goal, the only way the Steelers could get their best line on the field if Cole were to be injured would be for Daniels to move over to center. Nate Herbig and Kevin Dotson would be much better backup guards than a Kendrick Green or Spencer Anderson, or Herbig would be a backup center.
Sell:
Making Daniels your number two center necessitates that you take practice time away from him working at right guard. Generally speaking, when a lineman ascends into a full-time starting role, his position flexibility goes out the window as he settles into one role. And while Daniels was an experienced college center, his best tape in the NFL has been at guard, anyway. He hasn’t played center in a few years.
While Herbig would make a better backup guard than center, he will probably be both. He is one of those players who learned the position after coming up to the NFL, but he has spent a lot of time in the offseasons, training camp, and preseason working there, even if he hasn’t gotten to do that much in the regular season.
And we’re too quick to dismiss Green as a potential contributor. He is two years removed from his last playing time, so we really haven’t seen him much in awhile. He has benefited from the instruction of Meyer and the influence of Cole since then and has been working at center on a full-time basis now. As long as he’s comfortable there, it’s a better position for him in the NFL than is his more natural position of guard due to his size.
