The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most storied franchises in NFL history, with so many elite players donning the Black and Gold over many decades. This makes the idea of adding any former Steeler to this year’s team a daunting task. Former NFL defensive lineman Chris Long gave two choices for who he would add to the Steelers this year: G Alan Faneca or WR Antonio Brown.
Long joined Dave Dameshek’s podcast, Minus Three, where he was asked which former Steeler he would add to the team.
“Alan Faneca,” said Long without hesitation, to Dameshek’s shock. “I just thought about needs.”
The Steelers do have a need on the offensive line, and you can never complain about adding a Hall of Famer to the offensive line, but currently, as needs go, guard isn’t a position of need. After considering again, Long then said Antonio Brown.
“Antonio Brown, in his prime before he was all the way out there,” said Long. “I think AB might be the answer, honestly, because he’s gonna make any offense better. That dude was incredible.”
Brown is a polarizing figure for many reasons, and the way he left Pittsburgh left a very bad taste in the mouths of many Steelers fans, but there is no denying his greatness. Given the Steelers’ lack of receiver depth following the Diontae Johnson trade, adding Brown as a player makes a ton of sense. You can easily argue that Brown, in his prime, is a top-five receiver ever, and putting him in this offense would really help either quarterbacks Russell Wilson or Justin Fields.
However, the issue would be how he is in the locker room, as that caused plenty of problems towards the end of his time in Pittsburgh and his time in the NFL. But if talking strictly about on-field playing ability, Brown may be one of the best answers.
Personally, I would go with either C Mike Webster or C Dermontti Dawson, but given how good Brown was, I really cannot hate that pick. It makes a ton of sense and his presence would draw so much attention from opposing defenses it would open up WR George Pickens and likely help the running game as well.
Both Faneca and Brown are good picks from Long, but I definitely think Brown, in his prime, would help this year’s Steelers team more than prime Faneca would. But either way, the Steelers would make a big improvement with either of those players on the roster.
