When you know you have a weakness, you do everything in your power to improve that weakness in attempt to make it a strength.
That is what every NFL team tries to do when it comes to roster construction, using the draft, free agency, and trades to improve their roster in areas where they are weak to field the best team possible to compete for a championship. The last couple of seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had a notable weakness along their offensive line and have aggressively attempted to overhaul that unit from where it was two years ago, signing Mason Cole, James Daniels, Isaac Seumalo, and Nate Herbig while drafting Broderick Jones in the first round in the 2023 NFL Draft.
However, if you look at the team as currently constructed, the position group that gives you the most unease for the 2023 Steelers is inside linebacker. Sure, the team added veterans Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, and Nick Kwiatkoski via free agency this offseason, but we have been down this path before with Pittsburgh adding average players via free agent or trade in attempt to fix the problem.
It’s time that Pittsburgh made a splash at ILB.
It’s not for a lack of trying that Pittsburgh has been unable to solve its ILB woes since losing Ryan Shazier to a career-ending injury in 2017. They traded up to draft Devin Bush out of Michigan in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, taking a bite at the apple in hopes of adding a long-term solution to the team. They have traded for Avery Williamson and Joe Schobert as well as signed guys like Jon Bostic, Myles Jack, and Mark Barron in attempt to help fill the void left by Shazier after his untimely exit from the game of football.
However, Pittsburgh’s acquisitions via free agency and trade often were on average starters at best or players who were past their primes or dealing with long-term injury issues, failing to produce at the level of productive starters at their position. They did take a shot with Bush but an untimely ACL tear in his second season along with his mentality of playing the game with a physical aggressiveness — or lack thereof — held him back from ever realizing that potential he flashed as a college prospect.
The Steelers need to add a difference maker to the group as they have done at all the other levels of their defense, having Cameron Heyward holding down the DL, T.J. Watt leading the edge rush and Minkah Fitzpatrick leading the secondary. They should look toward the draft next offseason and decide if one of the top prospects matches what they are looking for at the position. Guys like Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Barrett Carter out of Clemson, Cedric Gray out of North Carolina, and Tommy Eichenberg out of Ohio State all have notable college experience and have flashed on tape as NFL-caliber off-ball linebackers.
While Pittsburgh may not want to pay top dollar for a free agent acquisition, going out and getting a proven veteran with youth and experience could be the splash that the Steelers need to stabilize the position for the future. Big names like Devin White and Lavonte David from Tampa Bay, Patrick Queen from Baltimore, Bobby Wagner from Seattle, and Willie Gay Jr. from Kansas City are all slated to hit free agency next offseason and could be that established veteran Pittsburgh needs to solidify the ILB room.
Ultimately, it appears as if the Steelers are going to roll into 2023 with Holcomb and Roberts as their starting ILBs with Kwiatkoski and Mark Robinson factoring in as well. Hopefully the results are better than what we have seen from the position the last couple of seasons, but it remains more of the same for the ILB position in 2023, Pittsburgh should head into the offseason on a mission to make a big splash and address the issue once and for all.
