Buy Or Sell: The Steelers need to upgrade strong safety from Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal.
Explanation: The Steelers failed to re-sign Terrell Edmunds last year and instead moved forward with Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal. The two safeties, when healthy, rotated at the position, though Minkah Fitzpatrick’s health also complicated matters. Both are under contract for 2024 for $3 million or less in compensation.
Buy:
Let’s put it this way. The Steelers need to upgrade every spot in the secondary unoccupied by Minkah Fitzpatrick or Joey Porter Jr. There are perhaps worse fallback possibilities than Kazee and Neal, but they are not your first option.
Instead of spending $5.25 million on two players to man one position, the Steelers should find one $5 million starter. That seems a more economical solution. Quite frankly, I don’t know how robust the mid-tier safety market is this year, however.
Even if the Steelers released one and drafted a rookie to groom for the future, that might be a more palatable option. They have depth in Trenton Thompson, and they could re-sign Eric Rowe. Patrick Peterson is further safety depth if they retain him.
Sell:
Sure, you can argue that the Steelers could stand to upgrade at strong safety. But they have a lot of areas in which they can upgrade. The problem is you can’t upgrade all of them—certainly not in a single offseason.
And we need to include Thompson in this discussion as well. Between Kazee, Neal, and Thompson, you have safety (no pun intended) in numbers. Money used on a theoretical safety upgrade is better spent on a starting center or third receiver or defensive lineman.
You don’t need to have stars all throughout a unit. Fitzpatrick, Porter, and an upgrade at cornerback is sufficient to support safety play the likes Kazee and Neal provide. That is, as long as Kazee isn’t missing plays by trying to jump routes he can’t get to.
With the Steelers’ 2023 season in the rearview mirror following a disappointing year that came up short in the playoffs once again, it’s time to start asking more questions. Questions about the team’s future in 2024 and beyond. Questions about The Standard.
The rookie class of a year ago was on the whole impressive, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2024. And they likely need a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in the 2024 NFL draft yet again. In addition to a revisitation of the coaching staff.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
