The Pittsburgh Steelers faced something of an abridged offseason due to a lack of salary cap space and NFL draft capital. Pittsburgh didn’t have huge offseason needs which helped mitigate some of the shortcomings but nevertheless, there was more that could have been done.
At least according to ESPN columnist Bill Barnwell. He ranked all the teams according to their offseason chances and the Steelers checked in at No. 20. According to Barnwell, the biggest loss was defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and the replacement by Chris Wormley wasn’t close to equal.
Barnwell also thinks the Steelers missed the boat by not upgrading their backup quarterback situation. In fact, this is the focus of what Barnwell thinks the Steelers still need to do.
Upgrade behind Roethlisberger. The Steelers should absolutely be in the market for Cam Newton or Joe Flacco. If Roethlisberger returns from his elbow injury and stays healthy all season, great. If not, they can’t afford to let another dominant season from their defense go to waste because their offense is averaging one point per possession, as it did during the second half of 2019.
Barnwell is absolutely right. I know the front office has continued to assure everyone they are comfortable with Mason Rudolph as the team’s backup quarterback but after last season there’s no way they believe that. This team is too good to let a correctable error at quarterback be the reason the team misses the playoffs for a third straight season.
