During a rather busy offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers make a number of roster additions in an effort to improve areas of need from the 2023 season. The general belief is that the Steelers got better this offseason and are in better position to compete in the playoffs, even after making a playoff appear last season while dealing with significant injuries and going through three starting QBs.
Despite those offseason additions and the upgrades made at the quarterback position with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, there are plenty of analysts continuing to question the Steelers ahead of the 2024 season.
One of those analysts is ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who predicted the Steelers won’t make the playoffs this season. Barnwell criticized the Steelers for looking and winning like a team from the 1970s last season and believes it’ll be similar this season even with the new pieces.
“The Steelers had the league’s oldest defense in 2023, but the talent they’ve compiled (including a pair of young, budding stars in defensive tackle Keeanu Benton and cornerback Joey Porter Jr.) should keep their floor relatively high. There just isn’t much to be excited about on offense, though, regardless of whether Wilson keeps the quarterback job all season,” Barnwell writes for ESPN.com. “They have finally invested significant draft picks in upgrading their offensive line, but coordinator Arthur Smith will be operating with a much worse unit than the ones he enjoyed in Tennessee and Atlanta.
“Unless there’s something lurking in Wilson or Fields we didn’t see in their prior stops, I’m not sure this adds up to a playoff berth.”
Yes, the Steelers’ defense is on the older side, and added some veterans to the roster this offseason, featuring the likes of Patrick Queen, Donte Jackson, and DeShon Elliott. Those three plugged key holes on the defensive side of the football. On paper, the Steelers’ defense appears even better than before and has the chance to be exceptional this season.
Add the young pieces that appear poised for major steps forward this season in Joey Porter Jr., Keeanu Benton and Nick Herbig, and the Steelers’ defense looks fearsome.
It will come down to the offense, though. Is it really fair to say that new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is going to be operating with an offense that is much worse than what he had in Tennessee and Atlanta? That seems like gross recency bias from Barnwell and forgets to take into context that Ryan Tannehill was an unknown who backed up Marcus Mariota in Tennessee before taking over following Mariota’s benching and thrived in Smith’s offense. A.J. Brown was a rookie under Smith and then blew up. Derrick Henry was, of course, Derrick Henry.
But are we really saying right now that the versions of Wilson and Fields are worse than what Tannehill was when he took over? Same for the Falcons quarterbacks in Atlanta? That’s quite the take from Barnwell, if that’s where he’s going. The Steelers have pieces in place offensively with Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth, not to mention an offensive line that has been invested heavily in recently.
This team has the chance to be good, period. I understand the concerns about Wilson and Fields, but this team got better in the offseason top to bottom and went to the playoffs last year with three different starting QBs, an incompetent coordinator who was fired ahead of Week 12 and dealt with major injuries defensively.
If that team went 10-7, this team should be better, even with a tough schedule.
