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: ILB Mykal Walker
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: For the second game in a row—in the same week—the veteran linebacker was exploited in coverage for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Though much has been put on his plate in a short amount of time, his struggles have greatly hurt the team and have been a contributing factor to their two-game skid.
The Steelers spent about six minutes out of the past 120 playing with a lead. That came off a Chris Boswell field goal in the opening minutes against the Arizona Cardinals, who responded with a matching field goal six minutes later. And then a touchdown. And then another touchdown. And then another touchdown.
In fact, they have played the majority of the past two games from a trailing position, with the New England Patriots netting a touchdown on their opening drive. It’s hard for this offense to play that way, especially with a backup quarterback in the mix.
And they know this very well. Yet they struggle to find ways to mitigate their defensive limitations, or so it has been this past week. There has been no bigger weakness than Mykal Walker’s pass coverage at the linebacker position.
The problem is, this has been readily identified on tape and teams are taking advantage. The Cardinals and Patriots abused him with their tight ends this past week, Walker working against Trey McBride and Hunter Henry. At a certain point, it’s on the coaches for letting it continue to happen.
I suspect we will see a change by the time they take the field again. The Steelers are continuing to get Blake Martinez and Myles Jack up and running. Martinez did make his Steelers debut Thursday night against the New England Patriots, logging 21 snaps and finishing the game with four tackles.
Walker did record an interception during the game, which was key, and credit to him for making the play. But it was Elandon Roberts who caused the deflection that floated the ball up and put it in position for Walker to pick it off rather easily.
Now, Walker only played 25 snaps in this past game, so it’s clear that the Steelers are already starting to move away from him. Even with a bad groin, Roberts still gutted out 46 snaps. However, if and when they use Walker in the future, they can’t just let him continue to get exploited in coverage.
