While power rankings for next season aren’t really a good indicator of future success as so much can change from now until September, they do give a solid baseline for where each team stands heading into the offseason. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, ESPN’s way-too-early 2024 power rankings has them in the middle of the pack, sliding in at No. 18 in the league.
They fall one spot below the New York Jets, who finished 7-10 in 2023 but will see QB Aaron Rodgers return from a torn Achilles he suffered in Week One to lead their offense next season. The Seattle Seahawks are one spot below the Steelers at No. 19 while the Baltimore Ravens beat out both the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs for the No. 1 spot on the list.
With the Chiefs winning their third Super Bowl in the Patrick Mahomes/Andy Reid era, not having them at No. 1 is a little bit ridiculous. Especially when you consider that the Ravens could lose DL Justin Madibuike or LB Patrick Queen to free agency and have had a whole host of defensive staffers leave for other jobs, putting them ahead of Kansas City at this point for next season is not a move I agree with.
But the Steelers’ placement at No. 18 seems fair. They have to figure out their quarterback situation before you can really be high on them, and while their defense is one of the best in the league, it won’t mean much if the offense can’t put points on the board. The Steelers were the worst team in the AFC North, with the Cleveland Browns at No. 11 and Cincinnati Bengals at No. 13.
Cleveland has the potential to be a playoff team again next season, but it’s going to depend on Deshaun Watson’s recovery from a shoulder injury and if he can be better than he was for much of 2022 and 2023 when he was actually on the field. The Bengals will have Joe Burrow back, but question marks on defense and along their offensive line keep them out of the top 10.
The Steelers could stand to improve their offensive line and cornerback rooms while adding depth elsewhere in free agency and the draft, and they could easily bump up a few spots. But if they roll with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph as their two main quarterbacks next season, there’s only so high you can feel comfortable ranking the Steelers, even acknowledging that Rudolph played well to end last season. ESPN’s Brooke Pryor wrote that the Steelers need to find who their quarterback is.
“Maybe that quarterback is Kenny Pickett. Maybe it’s Mason Rudolph. Maybe it’s a player who isn’t in the building yet. Figuring that out is the key to the Steelers’ success in 2024.”
Arthur Smith’s hiring as offensive coordinator does make me feel comfortable that whoever starts at quarterback in 2024 will at least be slightly improved over what Pickett gave the Steelers in 2023, and I think the run game will be more consistent from the beginning of the season to the end. So I do think the offense will improve and the Steelers should once again be a playoff team, but it makes sense why they’re ranked No. 18.
