The Pittsburgh Steelers needed some help in the form of a Jacksonville Jaguars collapse, but they made the 2023 NFL playoffs. Since then, the Steelers have completely retooled their quarterback situation by cutting Mitch Trubisky, trading Kenny Pickett, and letting Mason Rudolph walk in free agency. In their stead are Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen. That’s an improved quarterback room by any stretch of the imagination.
However, Cody Benjamin of CBSSports.com thinks that the quarterback upgrades aren’t enough for the Steelers to make the playoffs two years in a row. He wrote an article about six teams that made the playoffs in 2023 that he predicts will not in 2024. The Steelers made the list.
“Didn’t this team just acquire not one but two big-name quarterbacks?” Benjamin wrote. “Yes. And both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields have the tools to be upgrades on the jettisoned Kenny Pickett. But this is still an old-school program married to conservative strategy in a tough division, with holes at premium spots like wideout and cornerback.”
Benjamin seems to think that the talent upgrade at quarterback won’t be sufficient to overcome team-wide philosophical issues and talent issues at other spots. There is no denying that the Steelers currently are deficient at wide receiver and cornerback, but the philosophical issue might be a bit overblown.
As for the talent issue at wide receiver, the Steelers traded Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers this offseason. That left the team with a wide receiver room that Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger suggested is “maybe bottom five” in the league.
While the Steelers have signed multiple wide receivers since that move, neither Van Jefferson nor Quez Watkins has come close to Johnson’s talent level and productivity in the NFL. Johnson has 391 receptions for 4,363 yards and 25 touchdowns in five seasons. Jefferson has 113 receptions for 1,600 yards and 10 touchdowns while Watkins has 98 catches for 1,249 yards and six touchdowns.
However, this is April and not September. The Steelers are aware they have an issue. That’s why they’ve been linked to wide receivers in free agency like Tyler Boyd and even a fantastical trade for Brandon Aiyuk. It’s also why they’ve had five wide receivers in for official pre-draft visits at the time of writing.
As for cornerback, the Steelers did cut Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace remains a free agent. However, as part of that Johnson trade, they did acquire CB Donte Jackson. Steelers Depot’s Clayton Eckert did a dive into his coverage statistics, and while Jackson has certainly not been stellar, the data does show him as an upgrade over Wallace. The Steelers are also doing their homework on corners in the draft with three coming in for visits as well as reported dinners with two more at Pro Days, per the tracker linked above.
Now for the philosophical issues that Benjamin stated above. The Steelers had an abysmal offense under former offensive coordinator Matt Canada. The run game was the strong suit, which plays into the old-school and conservative points raised.
So the Steelers went out and hired former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith as their new coordinator. At face value, Smith seems more of the same: a run-first guy. That’s true. However, once you start digging into his actual scheme, you’ll see that he utilizes play-action at a rate that hasn’t been seen in Pittsburgh in years. He also schemes up more downfield throws for the quarterback than Canada did.
Now we have no idea how any of this will play out until the season starts. So it’s easy to sit here and say the Steelers have issues that could keep them out of the playoffs. Thankfully, the roster is nowhere near finalized. General manager Omar Khan still has time to address the talent issues. The team also has plenty of time for Smith to work on the offense.
