In one of the busiest, most exciting offseasons ever for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the roster under GM Omar Khan has undergone a significant transformation. A number of new faces joined the team, some well-known names left the organization, and the roster top to bottom is in a much better position moving forward compared to years past – even if there are some holes remaining.
Knowing that, it was a bit of a surprise to see ESPN’s Mike Clay project the Steelers to have one of the worst offenses in football once again in a piece that dropped Tuesday morning, though he did have the Steelers having one of the best defenses in football.
According to Clay’s projections, the Steelers’ offense will be 27th in the NFL, while their defense will be fourth. Overall, the Steelers were projected by Clay to be the 20th-best team in the NFL, while the New York Jets — yes, really — are the top team overall in Clay’s projections.
In Clay’s projections, the Steelers’ defense is behind only the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers, while the Steelers’ offense is ahead of only the New York Giants, New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, and Washington Commanders.
Not great company offensively.
The offensive projections are a bit surprising after the Steelers overhauled their quarterback room, signing Russell Wilson and Kyle Allen in free agency, and trading for Justin Fields, giving Pittsburgh a high ceiling in the quarterback room with the future Hall of Famer in Wilson and one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in football in Fields.
Despite that, Clay ranked the Steelers’ quarterback room 23rd in Clay’s between the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers. That’s rather shocking, considering how bad Bryce Young was in Carolina as a rookie and how average Derek Carr was last season for a bad Saints team.
Elsewhere in Clay’s projections, the Steelers’ running back room with Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson ranked 11th, just behind the Saints, while the wide receiver room — one of the cheapest in football — ranked 28th, barely ahead of the Saints, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers and Patriots.
Tight ends Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Connor Heyward and MyCole Pruitt ranked 14th overall in Clay’s projections, while the rebuilt offensive line featuring two new draft picks in Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier landed at No. 22 between the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens.
Defensively, all but the cornerback position rated rather highly in Clay’s projections. A defensive line that features Cameron Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi, and Keeanu Benton ranked No. 7 overall, while the Steelers have the best EDGE group in the NFL, with T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig edging out the Browns.
Off-ball linebacker, which features new additions Patrick Queen and rookie Payton Wilson, ranked 13th overall, while the cornerback position, which is rather light behind Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Jackson, came in at 27th in Clay’s rankings.
Safety with Minkah Fitzpatrick, Damonte Kazee and free agent addition DeShon Elliott checked in at No. 6 in Clay’s rankings, rounding out Pittsburgh’s great defense on paper.
The defensive rankings seem to make quite a bit of sense, but the offense rankings from Clay are a bit hard to understand. In large part, the low rankings at quarterback and offensive line are due to Clay’s projections being low for the Steelers overall offensively. He has the Steelers throwing for just 3,749 yards and 19 touchdowns while rushing for 2,154 yards and 13 touchdowns, scoring a total of 32 touchdowns offensively.
We’ll see how close Clay’s projections are once the 2024 season is over. They seem a bit low offensively, especially with Arthur Smith now in charge of the offense. Hopefully the 2024 season isn’t another year of the defense needing to do all of the heavy lifting to keep the Steelers in games in hopes of the offense figuring things out.
