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: DB Eric Rowe
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: After recording an interception in his debut with the Steelers, it appears as though Eric Rowe is in line to continue to play a featured role for another week. With Minkah Fitzpatrick and Trenton Thompson out once again, and Keanu Neal and Damontae Kazee injured and suspended, respectively, the team will continue to have to rely on an all-hands-on-deck approach, and Rowe may have the best hands.
Eric Rowe started and played all but one or two snaps for the Pittsburgh Steelers last week against the Cincinnati Bengals. Given that it is near the end of the season and those were the first snaps that he had played all year, the effort and endurance are certainly commendable.
That he managed to get an interception out of the ordeal is even better, perhaps especially since he didn’t have a ton of those in his career. He recorded just five in his first 100 games, including 56 previous starts with the Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and Philadelphia Eagles.
Signed to the practice squad on November 20, he was elevated to play last week following a game in which Minkah Fitzpatrick went down with a knee injury, Trenton Thompson suffered a neck injury, and Damontae Kazee committed a foul that resulted in him being suspended for the rest of the regular season.
The situation is no better this week, I’m afraid. Kazee is just as suspended today as he was for the last game. Fitzpatrick and Thompson were both ruled out for a second game in a row. The former never practiced, the latter seemingly having a setback. He practiced in full on Thursday before not practicing at all on Friday.
One would imagine that the plan remains the same for this outing, with Rowe and Patrick Peterson manning the safety positions. It worked out well enough against the Cincinnati Bengals, but was that just lightning in a bottle? Rowe could do himself quite a favor by playing well down the stretch if he continues to get opportunities and looks to extend his career.
