With 100 days until the start of the 2024 NFL season, CBS Sports’ Zachary Pereles listed the 100 most important players who will shape the 2024 season. He went division by division, so the numerical order isn’t like that of a top-100 players list, but the Steelers came down to three names – OLB T.J. Watt, WR George Pickens, and QB Russell Wilson.
If you are talking about the Steelers, you can’t get far without discussing the impact of Watt. Seemingly every season that he has been healthy since he broke onto the scene as a Defensive Player of the Year contender he has been in the mix for the award. He won it in 2021 with a record-tying 22.5 sacks, and has come very close on three other occasions. Here is what Pereles wrote:
“Since 2019, T.J. Watt has had four healthy seasons. He has been selected first-team All-Pro four times, made five Pro Bowls, led the league in sacks [three] times and been top three in Defensive Player of the Year voting four times (with a win in 2021). He is otherworldly good and a huge reason why Pittsburgh is always in the mix, regardless of quarterback play.
Look no further than the Steelers’ record with and without Watt on the field. In the regular season they are 69-33-2 with Watt and 1-10-0 without him. He has been the single most important player on the team over the last handful of years.
As for Wilson, the Steelers’ season will be fairly dependent on how well he can bounce back from a rough two years with the Denver Broncos. His box score stats weren’t terrible, but he went 11-19 as the starter there and the Steelers’ standard is much higher than that. He is looking to get back on track for an eventual Hall of Fame induction while the Steelers are desperate for good quarterback play after a few seasons where that hasn’t been the case. Here is what Pereles wrote of Wilson:
“The Steelers’ presumed starter, Wilson is coming off two disastrous years in Denver. Can he turn things around under Arthur Smith, a play action-heavy play caller who doesn’t fit Wilson’s strengths on paper? We’ll see.”
There are some ways that Wilson and Smith are not the ideal fit, but Smith has had success with mobile quarterbacks in the past and Wilson has had success with run-heavy offenses in the past. I think they will be able to make it work.
In a lot of ways the success of Wilson is going to be tied to the success of his top receiver in Pickens. It is Pickens’ first season as the undisputed WR1 and he will be paid some extra attention by defenses as a result. If he struggles this year, the Steelers don’t have another premier receiver on the roster to pick up the slack and things could get rough. On the flipside, a big breakout season probably means the Steelers are in a good spot with what should be a run-first offense.
If they can get the deep-passing game firing on all cylinders, then defenses are going to have a tough time stacking the box against the Steelers’ heavy-run sets. Here is what Pereles had to say of Pickens:
“It’s time for George Pickens to turn all that talent into consistent production. Wilson, with his precise, arcing deep passes, could unlock a new level for the third-year wide receiver.”
Pickens will be playing with the best quarterback of his short career with Wilson. Pickens’ strength has been the deep receiving game and Wilson’s strength over the year has been his beautiful deep ball. That gives Pickens a chance to be great and finally achieve his goal of making the Pro Bowl in 2024.
