Buy Or Sell: The Steelers must come away from free agency with a veteran starting safety.
Explanation: NFL teams are cutting experienced starters in advance of free agency, the safety position particularly hit hard. Even the Steelers released Keanu Neal. While they still have Damontae Kazee next to Minkah Fitzpatrick, they have a host of alternatives available to them now.
Buy:
Let’s just take a look at the list of some of the names, shall we? Not all of them fit with the Steelers in terms of price or scheme, but the point is the bounty. You have Jamal Adams and Justin Simmons, Eddie Jackson and Quandre Diggs, Kevin Byard and Michah Hyde. You also have Jordan Poyer and Jordan Whitehead. Even former Steelers starter Terrell Edmunds is back on the market. We can talk about Chuck Clark and Geno Stone and plenty of other names too.
If the Steelers don’t come out of this group with somebody better than Damontae Kazee, they haven’t done their due diligence. To begin with, the Steelers prefer to have three capable safeties because they use them all. You need somebody else after releasing Keanu Neal. And Kazee better fits for that third role than the second.
Sell:
Sure, there are a lot of names out there in free agency, but in most cases, there’s a reason they’re free. A lot of salary cap casualties will still price themselves out of the Steelers’ range. They can better spend a bigger chunk of free agency money on an inside linebacker instead of a safety.
The Steelers got good work out of Eric Rowe at the end of last season, and yet he did not re-sign. I’m guessing the Steelers did not offer him a contract, but why? Between him and Trenton Thompson, paired with Minkah Fitzpatrick, they have an intriguing safety group. Throw in the versatility of Patrick Peterson to play on the back end and you have what you need.
And I didn’t even mention Kazee, who is still a worthy contributor as a role player. You can let Rowe and Kazee battle for the starting job or have them split snaps. Rowe can take over Neal’s duties. Throw Thompson into that competition, too. Spend elsewhere rather than wasting money on past-their-prime “name” starters.
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).
