Nothing beats NFL silly season! Just weeks removed from many in the media suggesting that a trade could be in the cards following a contract dispute, it was recently announced that T.J. Watt had signed a new three-year, $123 million extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s massive news for Steelers fans, who get to keep arguably the best defensive player in the league in Black & Gold for the foreseeable future. But don’t think for a second that this is (or should) be the last piece of the puzzle for Pittsburgh.
Throughout this offseason, the Steelers have been making moves. They signed veteran quarterback and future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers (a controversial but understandable move), got receiver D.K. Metcalf from Seattle, and most recently traded Minkah Fitzpatrick to Miami in exchange for corner Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith. But even after all of that, it still doesn’t feel like enough.
What The Pittsburgh Steelers Need To Truly Compete This Year
For one, the Steelers’ WR room took a massive hit when the team sent George Pickens to Dallas shortly after acquiring Metcalf. This has left Metcalf as the clear WR1 (which he would’ve been anyway), but with no defined WR2. Yeah, Metcalf is an athletic specimen, and he alone will be able to change games. But without a viable No. 2 wide receiver capable of relieving the pressure that Metcalf will undeniably face throughout next season, Rodgers is going to have a tough time behind center.
Now, maybe Calvin Austin can step up into that role. And maybe after spending his entire rookie season on the sidelines with injury, Roman Wilson proves to be worth the wait and breaks out. But neither of these possibilities are guarantees.
In our past sims on Madden 25, it was shown that having one more wide receiver on the team made a ton of difference. Granted, Madden isn’t always the most realistic or an accurate representation of on-field performance. But, it should be noted that when picking up just one average alternative option — namely, Gabe Davis — the Steelers were a better team.
Another potentially soft spot for the Steelers is at running back after parting ways with Najee Harris in the offseason. This leaves Jaylen Warren as the premier back in Pittsburgh. Now, maybe Warren is good enough to carry the load on his own — he was certainly great when swapping snaps with Harris, who honestly never lived up to his potential. But Warren stood out because he was the one putting in the big performances, despite being an understudy. Shouldering the burden for the lion’s share of running plays is different than needing to step up in certain spots.
Now, the Steelers did draft Kaleb Johnson — an All-American HB out of Iowa — in the 3rd round of the draft this year. So, to their credit, the team is building behind Warren. But no draft pick is a guarantee. And, until we actually see Johnson perform on the field, I’m going to keep this as a question mark.
Finally, there’s the defensive line. Now, the Steelers did draft Derrick Harmon in the first round, and he will have a good cast of characters around him in Cam Heyward and Keeanu Benton. The problem is that behind these three players (one of them being a rookie), there isn’t much in the way of rotational depth.
Heyward is 36 years old, and expecting him to line up for every snap is beyond unrealistic. In order to prevent a catastrophe this season, I can’t foresee Pittsburgh not looking at at least one more signing in that area. Now, I’ll fully admit, the current options when it comes to defensive linemen who can be considered reliable are paper-thin right now. So it’s like that Omar Khan & Co. will have to get creative to sort this issue, assuming it’s seen as an issue to begin with.
