Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: RB Anthony McFarland Jr.
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: The veteran running back has not been practicing this week, which is not a great sign for his availability for Monday’s game against the Cleveland Browns. In addition to that, with Diontae Johnson being out, that will mean WR Gunner Olszewski should dress anyway. Now that the Steelers have a reason to dress Olszewski, they could put him back on kick return duties. If McFarland sits, he will play there, and if he performs well, perhaps he could regain his job there on a more regular basis.
I already wrote about RB Anthony McFarland Jr. in this column earlier this week, in a positive fashion. After spending nearly all of the 2022 season on the practice squad, the veteran resurfaced on the 53-man roster and debuted well this past Sunday. He recorded three kick returns, all positive net plays, and also caught two passes, including a difficult grab to convert on fourth down.
But now it’s not clear if he is going to get the opportunity to follow that up on Monday. He has missed the first two practices of the week due to a knee injury, making today’s practice a crucial one to determine his availability for the next contest.
While the Steelers named McFarland their starting kick returner, and to his credit, he did a fine job in his first attempt at it, that decision may have been driven largely by the fact that they otherwise didn’t have a reason to dress WR Gunner Olszewski, a former All-Pro returner.
With Diontae Johnson set to miss a few weeks with a hamstring injury, Olszewski should be a safe bet to dress, and as a result will be an option for returns. He will have to do it if McFarland doesn’t play. And if that does happen and he performs well, then there will be questions to ask the following week.
Let’s say Olszewski plays well as the kick returner. He’s going to dress for the next few games anyway with Johnson sidelined. Do you let him keep doing it? After all, that’s what you originally signed him to do a year ago.
The risk, of course, is when Johnson comes back. How do you still find a way to dress him once he is healthy? Do you dress only five defensive linemen with Cameron Heyward out? It’s been rare for the team to dress six anyway, yet they did in the season opener. Was that their plan to dress six, or was it only because of the depth, Heyward’s unavailability making it pointless to dress that many?
