The Pittsburgh Steelers have plenty to prove to the rest of the NFL this season. Most pundits either have the Steelers making a deep playoff push or falling flat on their face but very little in between. But when ESPN dug into every NFL roster and ranked each individual positional unit, they found the Steelers to be very middle of the road at several.
Here’s how the Steelers positional units stacked up against the rest of the league according to ESPN.
Quarterback-No. 9 (No. 1 New England Patriots)
Running back-No. 14 (No. 1 New York Giants)
Wide receivers-No. 17 (No. 1 Los Angeles Rams)
Tight ends-No. 20 (No. 1 Philadelphia Eagles)
Offensive line-No. 4 (No. 1 Eagles)
Interior defensive line-No. 5 (No. 1 Carolina Panthers)
Edge rushers-No. 22 (No. 1 Houston Texans)
Off-ball linebackers-No. 21 (No. 1 Seattle Seahawks)
Cornerbacks-No. 14 (No. 1 Los Angeles Chargers)
Safeties-No. 26 (No. 1 Rams)
Overall-No. 11 (No. 1 New Orleans Saints)
Any big surprises here? I’d say seeing the safety position ranked so low is somewhat of a surprise but when you consider just how thin the Steelers are there, no doubt there’s work to be done. With all the young talent on this team, if a few step up and play big you should see several of these spots really climb like wide receiver and off-ball linebacker.
