This season may boast the most stacked AFC North since its inception in 2002. All four teams have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs and almost anyway you order the division would be reasonable. Today, Dalton Miller was tasked with coming up with AFC North power rankings for Pro Football Network and put the Pittsburgh Steelers third in the division.
“Once again, it appears the Cleveland Browns have a better roster on paper than the Pittsburgh Steelers,” wrote Miller. “But one franchise is habitual overachievers, and the other nearly always finds a way to rip out the hearts of the Dawg Pound….Pittsburgh has improved the roster, and getting a fully-healthy T.J. Watt will be a huge boost for the team defensively. Cameron Heyward is one of the best in the game, and the addition of Keeanu Benton should help what’s been an underwhelming LB corps for them. But Pittsburgh also has some firepower on the back end, boasting decent starting talent and depth pieces like Tre Norwood, who can wear multiple hats in a pinch.”
While you can certainly argue that the Cleveland Browns not only have a better roster than the Steelers but also a better quarterback in Deshaun Watson, they have never shown the ability to put it together. Watson played bad last season as a Brown and while he can bounce back you can’t guarantee that. Throw in that Pittsburgh has always managed to finish above the Browns it is hard to say this is the year Cleveland finishes above the Steelers given the hype surrounding the Black and Gold.
After rattling off seven out of nine wins to end the 2022 season, the Steelers pushed to improve. Early in free agency they signed cornerback Patrick Peterson and guard Isaac Seumalo who should provide a big impact on each side of the ball. Then, Pittsburgh had one of the best drafts in the NFL. The team could legitimately have three instant impact players in left tackle Broderick Jones, cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and nose tackle Keeanu Benton if all three win the starting job.
The biggest reason why I agree with Miller in that the Steelers should be ranked ahead of Cleveland is their defense. With EDGE rusher T.J. Watt healthy Pittsburgh’s defense is dominant, allowing only 16.9 points per game. That would be good for second-best in the NFL last year over a full season. If Pittsburgh’s defense is healthy they are dominant. Throw in some of the rookies with high potential like Porter and Benton, if they play well this defense could be scary good.
In addition to the obvious hype surrounding the defense, Pittsburgh’s much-maligned offense also started to find its way last year. The run game became a real threat, as running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren were able to bully and grind teams down in the final nine weeks of 2022. Rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett struggled early on but by the end of the season, he started to look like he belonged in the NFL and was able to pull out a few wins for the Steelers. A second-year jump from him would go a long way for the Steelers to go from playoff hopefuls to AFC North title contenders. While the offense isn’t expected to be a top-10 unit, a middle-of-the-road offense with the defense the Steelers have would be more than enough for Pittsburgh to be contenders.
Given some of the uncertainties about how good Pickett will be and a Matt Canada-led offense it would be hard to rank the Steelers above the Baltimore Ravens (ranked second by Miller) or Cincinnati Bengals (ranked first), but if things break right they certainly could. The AFC North is super stacked and a slip-up or hot streak by any one team can totally flip the expected division results upside down. I think Miller’s ranking of Pittsburgh as third in the division is fair given what we know right now, but after training camp things could look very different.
