Some thoughts on the first three days of free agency

One of the hallmarks of this franchise is that they never seem to be in a rebuild, not the full-fledged, fire-sale sort other teams experience (some for vast stretches of time). It's is an organization that's entered the draft with a pick inside of the top 15 just three times in thirty years.

What we do see are transitional periods, like the one the club has been in since Ben retired. Ideally it should have begun a couple of years ahead of his final lap, but the PTB opted for a boom/bust approach and rolled the dice up until the very end. This, along with some poor draft decisions ahead of 2021, set back the inevitable retooling phase.

Khan and Co. began drafting the pieces to build the next foundation upon arrival, but have been hampered by some untimely injuries and cap limitations imposed from previous contracts. The dead money totals from the previous three years:

2022: $36.5M
2023: $21.2M
2024: $30.7M

This year the handcuffs came off. Khan entered the offseason with only $3.6M in dead money, the second-lowest in the league. This, in conjunction with a record $279M salary cap, seemed to clear the way for the re-tooling effort.

A look at the roster:

Legend: Unrestricted FA, signed elsewhere, Restricted/Exclusive Rights FA, new addition,
* - player is 30 or older at beginning of league year.

OFFENSE

QB
Wilson*
Fields Rudolph
Allen Thompson

RB
Warren
Harris Gainwell
Patterson*

LT
Jones
Moore, Jr.

LG
Seumalo*
Anderson, S.
Scharping

C
Frazier
Herbig*
McCollum

RG
McCormick
Daniels

RT
Fautanu
Anderson, C.

WR(X)
Pickens
Wiliams*

WR(Z)
Jefferson Metcalf
R. Wilson

WR(S)
Austin III
Skowronek Miller

TE
Freiermuth
Washington
Pruitt* Parham

FB
Heyward


DEFENSE

LDE
Ogunjobi*
Lowry*

NT
Benton
Adams
Lee

RDE
Heyward*
Loudermilk

LOLB
Watt*
Herbig
Moon

LILB
Queen
Holcomb
Robinson

RILB
Roberts* Harrison
Wilson
Matakevich*

ROLB
Highsmith
Leal

LCB
Porter Jr
Trice
Henderson

SS
Elliott
Killebrew*
Watts

FS
Fitzpatrick
Kazee*

RCB
Jackson Slay*
Pierre

Nickel
Bishop
Sutton* Echols

SPECIAL

P
Johnston*
Waltman

PK
Boswell*

LS
Kuntz*


Thoughts:
1. Khan and Co. continue to send mixed signals. The FO appeared to send a message last weekend when they not only traded for Metcalf, but then extended him to the tune of $30M/yr. They followed that historic move up by appearing to have no plan in place to address the glaring hole they had at QB. Both Fields and Darnold signed for reasonable deals that the Steelers could have afforded. Instead the past three days have felt more like three weeks as they wait for an old and likely overpriced Rodgers to decide what he wants to do in the fall. A very disappointing encore to an electric start to the offseason.

2. The FO continues to wink at the CB position. The Steelers are returning only three of seven CBs from last year's roster. It was a perfect time to add a plus corner to the room - e.g., DJ Reed inked a 3yr/$54M deal with Detroit - instead they settled with a 34 y/o Darius Slay on a bridge contract, and depth piece Brandin Echols to backup an inconsistent Bishop in the slot. For all the money they've invested in the defense, it's a mystery why they haven't spent more on this position.

3. Keep attacking the o-line. There were/are some quality guards in this pool. Jenkins, Becton, Herbig, are still unsigned. Seumalo is in the last year of his contract and McCormick was inconsistent last year. Bring in another James Daniels type (still don't know why he wasn't brought back) and put the best talent out there. The line has to get fixed. P.S. They need depth at tackle as well.

4. They're putting a lot of stress on the draft. It seems a given DL goes early, they need help at CB, could use another RB, and will presumably be taking a QB as well. That's a lot for a team that has only two picks in the top 100. Still can't help but think they're looking at a trade to get the Metcalf pick back. But in the meantime their inactivity continues to add pressure to April.

 

Point number 4 is essentially my official position of the team at this point. Team is way too draft dependent this season compared to previous seasons. Given the limited draft capital, I can see this year being the first season that the Steelers trade down to acquire more picks; a 2026 pick not being out of the question either.

 

i think echols was a more important signing than many think. not only the slot but he can fill in on the outside. nice pickup i believe. watts being back will help too.

cook, mccullom and nester do give some depth at the tackle spot but i believe they will draft one. nice that this draft is deep with o-linemen.

ward and shampkin are a little depth at RB. i do believe they draft one at some point. nice that this draft is loaded at the position.

lee could be counted on a little more this year on the DL. he was a draft pick last year but again this position is pretty deep in this draft.

OL, DL, QB, RB, CB i think are all in play in this draft. free agency isn't over yet either some moves could still be made. rowe could be a signing that makes sense as depth for the safety spot. help teach watts. trice has to stay healthy. fautanu needs to stay healthy. mason wouldn't be the worst signing for depth. kyle allen? cooper rush? allen knows the system. hold on to your hats this ain't over yet.

 

Lee could be counted on a little more? More than 0 snaps? You’ll have to forgive those of us that don’t have much faith in someone that has done absolutely nothing

 

Apparently the NFL thought so, also, as he got an $800k+ performance bonus. One of only 3 out of the top 25 handed out to 2024 draftees.

 

You have this habit of propping up fringe players, trying to present them as more than they are. There is little reason to believe Cook is even a good backup at tackle. McCollum doesn't play tackle. Nester is a practice squad guy who hasn't played in an NFL game yet.

Ward and Shampkin are scrubs who have no business being on the roster for the opener.

Echols is fast, but he is not good. Trust me. Nobody in New York is worried about the Jets losing him.

 

McCormick wasn't bad if you grade on a curve like that, but that doesn't mean he was even an average starter.

 

No one except Frazier played above the line. Two turnstiles on the ends, a banged up Seumalo.

I'm hoping Jones can move to the left and excel but the jury is still out to me.

 

they were kind of full at the position last year. you usually don't draft a guy just to throw away especially in a spot where you are trying to get younger. that's like never using a redshirt freshman in college and never using him after that. not every player is going to step into a starting role year one.

 

Truly amazingly bad anecdote, but whatever. I know you get a hard on every year for these fringe players, but holy crap. You’re banking on a guy that we didn’t even see in preseason.

 

banking on what? if he becomes depth it's worth it. they did give up draft capital on him. where would he have played last year? bench cam for him? bench ogunjobi? adams? benton? loudermilk? lowry? there are only so many spots. might as well bundle up those 7yh round picks and throw them in the garbage with that thinking.

 

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=3b4b...XJzYXRpbGl0eS1yZWFkaW5lc3MtYWxvbmctZGwv&ntb=1

 

We don’t have a replacement for Larry o. Hoping and praying a 7th round draft pick that didn’t even play during preseason is beyond foolish. This team is worse off than it was a year ago. Now we are put in the position of having to draft for need. That’s how we end up with the likes of Devin bush and artieburns.Of course you pull out the strawman crap. Every now and then a 7th turns into something great. However, they are the anomaly not the norm

 

Oh boy a dc said something good about a player. Now show me all of the articles where a dc talks **** about players

 

I'm fine with moving on from Ogunjobi, but again, where is the replacement? They probably need to add two defensive linemen, but they are doing nothing about it in free agency.

 

Yes this year we are drafting by need, no doubt, and outside of QB, we are LUCKY that the draft is stacked at DT, RB, and CB

 

I didn't mean to project harsh criticism on him. Like you say, he wasn't expected to contribute last year, but was the next man up when Daniels went down. Some inconsistency would be expected for any rookie thrown into the fray like that. The point I was trying to make was that between his continued development and Seumalo coming off a rough year with a contract about to expire, the opportunity is there to bring in a high-level performer. Then you have the option of either turning Seumalo loose early or sitting McCormick behind him for the season if he still needs some refining. The team has the means to be more aggressive this offseason.

Again, I'm not bagging on McCormick, but the Performance Based Pay program awards bonuses to younger players based solely off of their playing time relative to their pay/draft position. McCormick saw the playing time once Daniels was lost to injury..

 

Edits made to the roster above to reflect the Rudolph and Scotty Miller signings.