Despite some of their improvements this offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of competition in their division. While the Cleveland Browns figure to be out of the picture this year, both the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals will be tough to conquer. Former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck thinks the Steelers’ defense is gearing up to take care of the Bengals this year.
Especially after their massive trade for Jalen Ramsey.
“It looks like they’re building a team to stop the Cincinnati Bengals,” Hasselbeck said on FS1’s The Herd on Monday. “When I look at them, I really feel like they’re coming up with like, ‘what is our identity gonna be?’… I don’t know how we’re gonna stop the Cincinnati Bengals. I do believe that there’s a fear there, of like, personnel-wise, we don’t match up with them.
“They basically have three corners to go fight that Joe Burrow, three-wide receiver set.”
There are a few reasons why the Steelers might have made this move, not including the Bengals. For one, cornerback was a weakness coming into the offseason. Now, it’s one of—if not the biggest—strengths on the roster.
Moving on from Fitzpatrick does make some sense, too. While he’s been a cornerstone of the Steelers’ defense for several years now, Fitzpatrick had a down year in 2024, especially against the pass. The Steelers also made some moves this offseason that made Fitzpatrick more expendable. They extended DeShon Elliott, who had a quality season in 2024, and also acquired Juan Thornhill.
Those two could form a nice duo, although Ramsey himself is versatile enough to play a few different roles on the defense as well.
With that said, the Bengals do have a scary offense. The Steelers are always going to prepare to stop their divisional rivals. They could have had the Bengals in mind when making their moves this offseason. Considering that, the extra help should be useful. Both Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey have been great defenders for many years. That experience should pay off, especially for Joey Porter Jr., who had a brutal showing against Cincinnati last year.
With that said, the Steelers and their defense have been able to top the Bengals recently. They beat their division rival in Cincinnati last year. Pittsburgh nearly beat them again to end the season at home, despite being in the midst of a five-game losing streak to end the year.
Now, they have a cornerback room that should be capable of somewhat containing their dynamic receiving duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Whether it was out of fear or not, Pittsburgh should match up better against its divisional rivals in 2025.
