The Steelers have a 2 year window to win the Super Bowl

All the more reason I did state possible considerations. I stated nothing regarding certainties.


The others though do fit your statements.

 

I'm all for getting a safety in rd1 or rd2, anything to get rid of Mitchell and his 5 million salary.

 

Anything to get rid of Mitchell I have been in full support of since the second half of this season.


The question remains is this; will Ronnie Harrison be there by then? I sure hope he is but if he is not and within striking distance, I would trade up to nab him.

 

Well, they did get a safety last time they traded up in the first round of the draft. That worked out okay.

 

Steelers making an exception and going after a big time free agent like Earl Thomas is desperately needed.

Getting Joe Haden helped. He comes back, Steelers need a world beater at safety and then you can draft linebackers.

 

Here is why they aren't winning it next year

1. The Steelers schedule, which broke easy this year may be one of the toughest in the NFL next year. NFC South and AFC West. They're not securing HFA (and probably not a bye) with that schedule and that will kill any chance.

2. Houston gets Watson back

3. Raiders got Chucky - they'll be much, much better next year.

 

And he was a once in a generation defensive freak - which says volumes.

 

I truthfully feel like #1 benefits us - at least the no playoff bye part. We are horrible after a bye, so maybe we go deeper. Who knows.

 

No cap room. They paid the two ghost, Heyward and Tuitt 26 million to get bullied off the ball every snap and 3 tackles. 3rd and 4th highest paid players were no shows in the biggest game of the year.

 

I can agree with this statement, but with pro active, aggressive decisions this could change. I have seen some different

moves the Steelers have made over the past years that tells me the Steelers are open to change.

 

Thomas isn't a free agent

 

Yeah, but Troy didn't round out to form until his 2nd year. We don't have the luxury of time.

 

Tim Lewis wasted troy his first year, he should have started instead of flowers who couldnt cover a receiver with one leg, tim lewis sucked and he proved it by using troy only in nickle dime...

 

You meant the Chucky who's barely over .500 in his NFL coaching career. The Gruden legend, fueled by his incessant media presence, is much bigger than the Gruden reality.

 

I think we could be 1 player way from winning a SB. Problem is injuries are always the wildcard that prevent great teams from winning every single year.

That one player IMO is NT. I think if we had a good NT...a really good one.. we win that game and it changes a lot on our defense. If shazier is done then we need an ILB. No doubt we also need a safety..

So the offseason basically means we need to keep Bell somehow and upgrade 3 positions on defense. I think one can assume one of those positions will be upgraded via FA. The other 2 need to be addressed via the draft. We'll need to add some depth incase those rookies don't perform. I think this can easily be done. I don't think Bell can easily be done. I think we might need to let him walk. We've got a good back up. As good as Bell is , our offense can still be good with out him.

 

Hargrave and Mitchell are at least serviceable... biggest immediate need is clearly ILB.

 

OR... go to 4-3 base. Hargrave would do better in that alignment. Get a 4-3 DT in Free Agency.

Dupree and Watt are pretty much 4-3 OLBs now anyway. They cover more than rush.

 

Watt is a 3-4 OLB. Was at Wi also. Dupree is not going to be effective either way. He's a weak tackler, weak at the pass rush, and can't get off blocks. They rush just as much as they cover and that's just passing downs. They often are on the sidelines in the dime. I think they might be alternating. Hargrave's issue is his short arms and poor reaction off the ball. This was the issue with him in college and scouts made note of it in the draft. We thought we could teach him technique but it's not working. If he's getting man handled by technically sound O-lineman then it doesnt matter what the alignment is. He's OFTEN in a nickel or dime...how many sacks does he have? His pass rushing looked good early in the season... he's since done nothing. Heyward and Tuitt are the only D-lineman we have capable of playing a 4-3.

 

Finding a Casey Hampton/Joel Steed/Gary Dunn clone will be difficult. Even if we could find one... he would only play on 1st and 2nd downs. I don't know if a 1st round draft pick NT would be worth it, when we desperately need ILB and Free Safety. I doubt any NT taken after the first two rounds could be starter ready in September 2018. Hampton started right off the bat, but he was a beast NT taken in the 1st round. The ILB or FS would be every down players.

 

I'm of the opinion we should be able to find a NT in FA that is better then Hargrave..and reasonably cheap.

 

Who? Not being a smartass... I'd like to see which NTs are available in FA.

It's not like we don't have the roster space for NT. Cut McCullers. Keep Hargrave for depth, but give him some competition.

 

Justin Ellis, NT, Raiders. Age: 27
Dontari Poe, NT, Falcons. Age: 27
Bennie Logan, NT, Chiefs. Age: 28
Xavier Williams (RFA), NT, Cardinals. Age: 27
Beau Allen, NT, Eagles. Age: 26
Mike Pennel, NT, Jets. Age: 27
John Jenkins, NT, Bears. Age: 29

 

How were the Cardinals vs. the run? Xavier Williams would be nice. Cardinals run a similar style D.

 

Mitchell serviceable