It was a busy Tuesday for the Pittsburgh Steelers and GM Omar Khan. Entering the day, Pittsburgh needed to make a move to add a wide receiver. Ultimately, Khan did just that, trading for veteran WR Mike Williams from the New York Jets.
He wasn’t done either. Later in the day, Khan swung a surprise trade with the Green Bay Packers, landing veteran pass rusher Preston Smith, shoring up depth defensively.
For former NFL GM Doug Whaley those moves sent a message to the rest of the league regarding the Steelers’ Super Bowl aspirations.
“I think it sends a signal to everybody that they feel they have a shot this year. It shows that, hey, listen, even though Mike Williams isn’t going to be the bona fide number two — everybody was hoping for this one — [he] gives you another tool in the toolbox that Arthur Smith can use,” Whaley said Wednesday on the 93.7 The Fan Morning Show, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on YouTube. “But it also prevents against injury. So if [George] Pickens goes down, you can still have someone that is capable, obviously not to Pickens’ level. And then on defense with Preston Smith, you’re talking about a guy with, as coach always says, position flexibility, able to play outside linebacker, move in at the end and in sub-[package].
“He can be that outside rusher if you need to, or inside rusher. So it helps with injuries. And then what it also does, it helps keep those two beasts [T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith] healthy. Not only healthy, but fresh during games.”
While the move for Williams was largely expected, especially with the Steelers having a great need at wide receiver and having been connected to him for much of the last month, the move to land Smith and add to a strength on the defense was the real signal that the Steelers believe they have a shot to compete for a Super Bowl.
You can never have enough pass rushers, and regardless of how many might view team building today and the way to win games, time and time again it has been proven that defense wins championships in the end. Of course, you still have to have a competent offense, but you need to have the ability to get after the quarterback and make stops.
The Steelers’ depth at EDGE now looks even better with T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig and Smith, not to mention guys like Cameron Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi and Keeanu Benton in the trenches.
Adding Smith will allow the Steelers to rotate more at outside linebacker, keeping guys like Watt and Highsmith fresh and able to make impact plays to help the Steelers win. It’ll help them stay relatively fresh down the stretch, too, as the Steelers push for the playoffs.
While Whaley makes the point that Smith can play inside, too, that’s not exactly true. In his career across 7,099 snaps, Smith has just 103 snaps over the tackle or inside. Primarily, he plays outside of the tackle and standing up as a true EDGE defender. Maybe the Steelers ask him to play inside more in a pinch and fill the DeMarvin Leal role, but Smith is so established as a solid EDGE defender that it seems silly to ask him to do something he doesn’t really do after joining a new team.
Pittsburgh didn’t exactly swing big and land those game-changing pieces, but it did very well to shore up depth and add talented, proven veterans. Tuesday was a clear sign that the Steelers like the team that they have and believe they can go on a run this season.
That’s very encouraging. Hopefully the moves pay off.
