Each member of the Steelers Depot staff is casting their ballots for the 2023 end-of-season Steelers awards. Alex Kozora and Joe Clark kicked things off. Here are my selections for the Steelers’ 2023 Awards.
OFFENSIVE MVP – RB NAJEE HARRIS
There were multiple points throughout the season where people were calling for Jaylen Warren to overtake Harris on the depth chart. The calls were understandable as the run game didn’t take off until the second half of the season after some changes along the offensive line and the firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada. In the end, Harris retained his job and showed his value as the season wore on. He finished with his third-straight 1,000-yard rushing season and became the first NFL player to start his career that way since RB Alfred Morris a decade ago.
Through the first eight games of the season, Harris was only rushing for 47.8 yards per game. Over the final nine games, he averaged 72.6 yards on the ground. He finished the season, in two must-win games, with back-to-back 100-plus yard performances to help get the team into the playoffs. It wasn’t a flashy season, but he was available and he got better as the year wore on. Harris finished the season with 1,035 rushing yards on 255 carries and a career-best 4.1 yards per carry with eight rushing touchdowns.
DEFENSIVE MVP – OLB T.J. WATT
In a year where almost all of the Steelers’ star defensive players ended up missing time with injury, Watt was back to his normal game-wrecking self following his injury issues in 2022. He led the league in sacks for the third time with 19.0 and changed the outcome of games with his big-play ability: another four forced fumbles, an interception, a fumble recovered for a touchdown. And the Steelers once again proved they cannot win without Watt, showing how important he is to the defense and the team overall.
He finished the season with 68 total tackles (48 solo), 19 tackles for loss, 19 sacks, eight passes defensed, four forced fumbles, one interception, and a defensive touchdown. All of that was good enough to have him finish the season with among the top odds to take home the AP Defensive Player of the Year award.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – CB JOEY PORTER JR.
DT Keeanu Benton gets an honorable mention here, but Porter gets the vote. Shortly after stepping into the starting lineup, he began shadowing opposing teams’ top wide receivers. They came in all shapes, sizes, and skill sets and Porter was able to hang in there with all of them. From DeAndre Hopkins and Ja’Marr Chase to Tee Higgins, and DK Metcalf, the rookie corner turned some heads with his coverage skills.
With the rash of injuries at safety that forced CB Patrick Peterson to play out of position there, Porter was one of the key players in making that switch possible. Without Porter emerging as a top corner, Peterson probably wouldn’t have been free to switch to safety and the Steelers would have been in a lot more trouble than they already were.
BIGGEST SURPRISE – QB MASON RUDOLPH
Rudolph is the obvious choice here. He was an afterthought in free agency, receiving little-to-no interest around the league before signing a one-year deal to return to the Steelers as their third quarterback on the depth chart. He endured a lot of criticism over the years after receiving the bulk of his starting opportunities in 2019 when he was benched in favor of Duck Hodges. Even Rudolph was surprised by his late-season emergence, as he was starting to line up his post-football career opportunities in commercial real estate.
He went from afterthought to the apple of Steelers fans’ eye in the final month of the season, including the Wild Card playoff game. He led the Steelers to their only two performances with 30 or more points of the season and finally unlocked the deep passing game that was missing most of the year. Things went so well that he forced an awkward decision by Mike Tomlin to leave QB Kenny Pickett, who is seemingly scheduled to be the starter again in 2024, on the bench once he returned from injury.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT – QB KENNY PICKETT
Not a good look for Rudolph to be the “Biggest Surprise” and Pickett to be the “Biggest Disappointment,” but there is really no other way to put it. Pickett finished his rookie season with the arrow pointing up. Following the Week Nine bye in 2022, the Steelers won seven of their last nine games and narrowly missed the playoffs, but Pickett showed improvement and a penchant for winning close games in the fourth quarter.
That success carried over into the preseason where he was the quarterback for five total drives and the offense scored touchdowns on all five of them. Other than a couple more game-winning drives and fourth-quarter comebacks, he underperformed throughout the season. Yeah, Canada’s inept offensive scheme didn’t help, and missing WR Diontae Johnson for the early portion of the season was probably a larger detriment to the offense than people realize, but his stat line for the season resembles that of a quarterback who started only a handful of games.
In 12 starts—a couple shortened by injury—he had 201 completions on 324 attempts for 2,070 passing yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions. Notably, Cleveland Browns QB Joe Flacco nearly surpassed his stat totals for the season in just five starts and more than doubled his scoring production.
MOST UNDERRATED – ILB ELANDON ROBERTS
Roberts entered the season as the third in a three-person rotation at inside linebacker. Once Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander went down with season-ending injuries in back-to-back weeks, things looked bleak up the middle of the defense. Roberts stepped in and showed he is more than just a downhill, run-down linebacker while taking over the communication green dot for the defense. He played hard all year despite having a pectoral injury that significantly limited him over the last couple games of the season. He finished the season with 16 games played and logged 101 combined tackles (68 solo), 10 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and two passes defensed.
PLAY OF THE YEAR – OLB NICK HERBIG’S STRIP-SACK ON GENO SMITH
There are a number of good candidates for this award, but Herbig’s strip-sack of Geno Smith to essentially secure victory in a must-win game for the Steelers gets my vote. He was doubled up by the left tackle and the running back, and he beat them both with a combination of moves before bending the corner, knocking the ball loose, and recovering the fumble all by himself. Herbig did not get that many opportunities this season, but he sure made the most of the ones he did.
COACH OF THE YEAR – ILB COACH AARON CURRY
With all of the injuries and all of the different names that cycled through the position, Curry was able to get the most out of whichever ILBs he had to work with. He started the year with a well-stocked room; Alexander and Holcomb were playing at a high level before getting injured. Then Roberts ascended to be the quarterback of the defense and arguably one of the most important players on the team over the back half of the season. Next to Roberts were Mykal Walker, Myles Jack, Blake Martinez, and Mark Robinson. Only one of those players entered the 2023 season on the roster, and two of them had previously been retired. It was just Curry’s first year with the team and he was dealt a tough hand, but he made the most of it and figures to be a key position coach for years to come in Pittsburgh.
2024 PLAYER TO WATCH – OLB NICK HERBIG
In limited snaps he made what I would call the play of the year. And it wasn’t just that one play where Herbig flashed. In just 74 pass-rush snaps he logged eight total pressures, three sacks and two forced fumbles. His impact way exceeded the number of snaps he received. It is unclear how to get him more involved in 2024 with two of the highest-paid edge rushers ahead of him on the depth chart, but he will be just one injury away from a major role and figures to firmly be the third in the rotation with Markus Golden set to enter free agency.
BEST ADDITION – OG ISAAC SEUMALO
Back when Seumalo was signed, his former Philadelphia Eagles teammate Jason Kelce said that Pittsburgh got a steal in signing one of the best guards in the NFL. It took the early portion of the season for him to adjust to a new offensive scheme and OL coach Pat Meyer’s teachings, but he really came on strong and had justified those lofty words by Kelce by the end of the season. Seumalo will turn 31 years old in the early portion of next season, but he figures to be a key cog in the offensive line for at least the duration of his current contract, which runs through the 2025 season.
MOST NOTABLE STORYLINE – FIRING OC MATT CANADA
The outcries to fire Canada reached comical levels as Black and Gold fans were heard at games unrelated to the Steelers around the football world starting “Fire Canada” chants. The Steelers had not made an in-season move like this in franchise history, but they pulled the plug after a Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns, who were being led by rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The effects of this storyline are carrying over into the offseason as head coach Mike Tomlin has stated he would be hiring outside the organization for the next offensive coordinator. Five of the last six have come from internal promotions, but things went poorly enough with Randy Fichtner and Canada to make a change.
MOST MISSED – CB CAMERON SUTTON
Sutton departed the Steelers in free agency, signing a three-year contract with the Detroit Lions. The Steelers ended up replacing him by drafting Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. as well as signing Patrick Peterson. Peterson is 33 years old, and his age caught up to him at certain points throughout the season. If it wasn’t for Porter’s quick rise, the Steelers would have been in big trouble in their secondary, especially with all the injuries at safety. Sutton was a do-everything type of player capable of playing outside or in the slot and he was a good tackler. Levi Wallace also struggled this season, so it would have been nice to have an option to keep him off the field as much as possible.
