As the roster continues to take shape ahead of the 2023 season, one thing appears clear for the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially along the offensive line: the depth at guard is rather strong.
The signing of veterans Isaac Seumalo as a free agent in the offseason to be the starting left guard and Nate Herbig to provide depth at all three interior offensive line spots pushed fourth-year left guard Kevin Dotson into a reserve role.
Sitting as the second reserve option and the No. 4 guard on the roster for the time being, Dotson could be a trade possibility for GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl, especially as rookie seventh-round draft pick Spencer Anderson continues to emerge and show great versatility.
While it feels unlikely that the Steelers would willingly trade away that kind of depth along the offensive line, were it to happen Steelers.com longtime reporter Bob Labriola ventured a guess Tuesday morning that Dotson could fetch a “conditional third-day draft pick.”
Asked by a reader in the Aug. 15 Asked and Answered about a potential Dotson trade to add some draft capital and take advantage of the strong depth on the interior, Labriola cautioned that he was just taking a guess and pointed out a potential return for the former fourth-round pick out of Louisiana.
“This is a guess, and I emphasize ‘guess:’ a conditional third-day draft pick, and since Dotson entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick, I would speculate the round to be the sixth or seventh,” Labriola writes in his Asked and Answered segment Tuesday, according to Steelers.com. “But it only takes one team willing to overpay, as the Bears did for Chase Claypool.”
With 30 starts in 39 career games, Dotson does have experience and could be somewhat coveted in the NFL where offensive line experience and steady play is sparse. He missed eight games in 2021 due to injury but did not miss a snap last season. Over three seasons with the Steelers, Dotson has played 2,085 snaps. Of those, 1,885 have come at left guard with another 190 coming at right guard. Five snaps in total have come at left tackle or as an extra tight end in kneel-down formations.
Due to that experience and workload from last season, Dotson is set to earn $2,743,000 in base salary in 2023 due to the Proven Performance Escalator based on his playing time over the past two seasons, Dotson would be a pricey backup, especially for an interior lineman who has no center experience. The Steelers already added a pricey backup earlier this offseason in Herbig, who can play more positions, including center.
If he is not a starter in Pittsburgh at that salary and is limited in terms of position flexibility, the Steelers may well decide to move on from him, one way or another. Ideally, they would in that situation trade him and get some draft compensation back in return.
It might be just a “guess” from Labriola, but it feels like a strong one. Should the Steelers put Dotson on the block, maybe they can create a bit of a bidding war for the experienced left guard, pushing that compensation return up into the fifth-round conversation, even with Dotson being a rental at this point.
Trading Dotson away would be a blow to the overall depth and the experience of the offensive line, but the Steelers have seemingly done everything possible to shore up that unit and could find themselves in a position to take advantage of that strong depth created.
