Now that the season is over and the NFL has moved full-on into the offseason, I felt it was a good time to revisit some content from just before the season, specifically my Ranking The Steelers’ Starters series, ranking the starters from No. 24 down to No. 1, including kicker and punter.
Of course, my projected starters didn’t exactly pan out, like Braden Mann at punter and ultimately Chukwuma Okorafor at right tackle, but ever else seemed to settle into positions.
Throughout the season, play was up and own for the Steelers, but overall it was good enough to get to 10-7 and make the playoffs.
Still, I wanted to see how things stacked up from the end of the season compared to the rankings entering the season.
So, let’s jump right into it.
As a reminder, here’s the list from No. 24-1 ahead of training camp.
No. 24 — Braden Mann, P
No. 23 — Dan Moore Jr., LT
No. 22 — Levi Wallace, CB
No. 21 — Joey Porter Jr., CB
No. 20 — Elandon Roberts, LB
No. 19 — Allen Robinson II, WR
No. 18 — Damontae Kazee, S
No. 17 — Chukwuma Okorafor, RTÂ
No. 16 — Mason Cole, CÂ
No. 15 — Patrick Peterson, CB
No. 14 — Cole Holcomb, LB
No. 13 — Kenny Pickett, QB
No. 12 — Chris Boswell, K
No. 11 — Larry Ogunjobi, DE
No. 10 — George Pickens, WR
No. 9 — Najee Harris, RB
No. 8 — Pat Freiermuth, TE
No. 7 — Isaac Seumalo, LG
No. 6 — Diontae Johnson, WR
No. 5 — James Daniels, RG
No. 4 — Alex Highsmith, OLB
No. 3 — Cameron Heyward, DE
No. 2 — T.J. Watt, OLB
No. 1 — Minkah Fitzpatrick, S
Swap out Pressley Harvin III at punter for Mann and Broderick Jones in for Chukwuma Okorafor as those were really the only changes. I’ll still include Cole Holcomb in the rankings as he was a starter for most of the season before getting hurt, and the Steelers didn’t exactly have another linebacker that played starter-level snaps after his injury in replacing him.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the post-season Ranking the Steelers’ Starters, looking at No. 24-22 today.
No. 24 — Pressley Harvin III, P
Entering Year 3, Pressley Harvin III was expected to turn a corner in his career, especially after winning the punter battle against Mann. But once again, inconsistency was a major issue for the former seventh-round pick. Harvin struggled to find consistency and was seemingly always came up with a bad punt or two in big spots for the Steelers. He failed to flip the field in key spots and put the Steelers in a disadvantageous position time and time again.
It was maddening to watch.
Harvin averaged 43.8 yards on 78 punts on the season, finishing with 39.1 net yards per punt. While those net yards per punt was one of the better marks in Steelers’ history, he simply wasn’t good enough, or consistent enough for the Steelers’ liking. His longest punt of the year traveled 63 yards, but he had six touchbacks on the season, failing to pin teams deep consistently.
Ultimately, that inconsistency cost him his job in Pittsburgh as Harvin was released on Feb. 12.Â
No. 23 — Dan Moore Jr., LT
Moore sticks in the same spot as last summer, due in large part to his major struggles in pass protection. Moore graded out as the worst pass blocker in the NFL from Pro Football Focus on the season. He allowed 55 pressures and eight sacks and took a significant step backward in pass protection overall.
That’s simply not good enough, and it showed up time and time again on film.
Even with the issues in pass protection, Moore remained a strong run blocker, giving the Steelers a dependable, physical run blocker on the left side of the line next to left guard Isaac Seumalo. Still, that wasn’t enough to overcome the pass blocking issues.
No. 22 — Mason Cole, C
After checking in at No. 16 in the pre-training camp rankings, Cole takes a precipitous drop in the post-season rankings due to some very poor play overall during the 2023 season.
Cole struggled to snap the football cleanly all season long. He was low, rolled the ball back at times on the ground, fired high and wide as well. He really affected the way the Steelers could play offensively at times. Though he was incredibly durable for the second straight season, playing every single snap offensively for the Steelers after missing just 46 snaps the season prior, Cole regressed.
He allowed 31 pressures and two sacks on the season, grading out at an ugly 39.6 as a pass blocker from Pro Football Focus. He was the second-worst graded pass blocking center in the NFL last season, barely behind rookie John Michael Schmitz of the New York Giants, and he was the second-worst on the Steelers behind Dan Moore Jr.
Now, the Steelers are looking for a clear upgrade at center after two twos of the Mason Cole experiment.
