Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

Tendered offers to Feiler and Hilton.

Sean Davis has signed a one year deal with Washington for $5m. I’ll never forget that game against the chargers where he ran straight in to Joe Haden while he was making an interception in the end zone, the ball popped out of Hadens hands straight to a chargers player for the luckiest TD you’ll ever see in your life. Would have been hilarious if they hadn’t lost because of it.

They now have nobody left on the roster from that disastrous 2016 draft class. Steelers should have a couple of compensatory picks next year with all these guys leaving in free agency though.

OOnegative wrote: »

Did Artie go somewhere?

No but he is a free agent and they have no intention of bringing him back by all accounts. He’d be better off himself to start somewhere else anyway, just didn’t work for him in Pitt

They’ve signed Eric Ebron two years $12m. Not sure how I feel about that he has had an up and down career and a lot of injuries over the years. Very good TE in the redzone when he gets going though.

They’ve also traded for a defensive lineman from the Ravens called Chris Wormley, can’t say I know anything about him, presumably it’s a depth signing to try to mitigate the loss of Hargrave

OOnegative wrote: »

The Ebron signing seems to say we’re not 100% on McDonald. Ebron is lethal in Redzone but has serious issues staying on the field!! Wormley I’ve heard of but like yourself know little about.

With Vances injury history it’s no harm to have another veteran TE. I thought they were going to draft one but it’s a difficult enough position for rookies to make an impact. That’s another need moving down the draft board anyway

New signing at TE

https://twitter.com/steelers/status/1244801651346755584?s=19

My big worry is still the run game. Last season we had none and with Ben gone it was more third and long not third and short. The season before that there was an over reliance on Ben's throwing because the defence couldn't get us good field position and the run game faded as teams got more video on Connors.
I don't see them going high in the draft for a RB as it's highly unlikely they would play much or make enough of an impact. Looks like it's Connor and Snell for this season and hope that our passing game lets them improve enough to be effective.

I think Ben coming back immediately improves both the passing and run attack, and takes pressure off the OLine. Teams were stacking the box all year last year to stop the run because they knew Mason and Duck couldn’t push the ball downfield against man coverage. The Steelers were the most blitzed team in football in 2019. Can Ben stay healthy is the big question. If he can and he is even 80% of what he was it will make a huge difference. We must remember that virtually everyone on offence was hurt last year, not just Ben. They surely can’t have a year like that again.

They definitely need to start thinking about getting younger across the offensive line. Feiler has turned out great and they should try to lock him up long term and move him to left Guard across from DD. They also have high hopes for Okarafor at RT and Decastro has several good years left. Villanueva and Pouncey are both big question marks for me at the moment, they got abused at times last year. Draft a Guard that can play Center this year and look at LT next year and they should be set for another while. Wisnewski looks to be an excellent pickup, huge experience and on a great value contract.

The_Honeybadger wrote: »

Draft is done, they had very little ammo this year so hopefully they chose well.

Round 2: Chase Claypool WR
Round 3: Alex Highsmith OLB
Round 4: Anthony McFarland Jr RB
Round 4: Kevin Dotson G
Round 6: Antoine Brooks S
Round 7: Carlos David NT

I think the addition of Claypool may spell the end for Juju in Pittsburgh after 2020. They can’t pay him as well as TJ Watt from that 2017 class, they’ll probably want to keep Cam Sutton around too.

Don’t know much about the others apart from what I have read in the scouting reports. Doubtful any of them see significant playing time in 2020 outside special teams barring injuries.

Roster is in pretty good shape assuming they return to a normal level of injuries after the catastrophe that was 2019. Worrying lack of depth at safety and particularly inside linebacker which they will address in FA I am sure but they are fairly well set up everywhere else imo. Hopefully Ben can still play and stay on the field when he gets back out there.

Loving the clips I'm seeing of Dotson. A long term investment to help the run.
Agree on Claypool and Enron helping the red zone offence hugely.
Is Highsmith a long term Vince Williams replacement?

Hard to see the rest of the guys making much of an impact.

Kirk Van Houten wrote: »

Loving the clips I'm seeing of Dotson. A long term investment to help the run.
Agree on Claypool and Enron helping the red zone offence hugely.
Is Highsmith a long term Vince Williams replacement?

Hard to see the rest of the guys making much of an impact.

Highsmith will probably play special teams and back up TJ and Bud in 2020. If he works out he’ll replace Bud at OLB from 2021. No way they can pay Bud Dupree and TJ Watt and we all know who they’ll keep.

dfx- wrote: »

When is Minkah's contract up? He's still on his original deal isn't he, 2 years at Miami/Pittsburgh, so the summer of 2022?

Juju, Watt, Fitzpatrick, big deals or decisions in the coming years

If Ben retires before that it will clear up a huge chunk of money. He's due 41 million next year so either he rerires or they restructure again.

Pouncey could be gone after next year aswell.

https://twitter.com/_bigben7/status/1262427467907727365?s=21

Great to see Ben throwing a ball again and looking fit, season (assuming there is one) is a wash again if he can’t go

dfx- wrote: »

You would have to hope they break with normalcy and make him play more than a quarter in the preseason games. You can't judge it until then.

He will probably play more snaps than normal in preseason but yeah, in September it will be on the defence to win games as it was in 2019, it could be ugly as Ben gets back in to it and even at that he might never be the same. Bens return and the overall level of injuries across the roster will define the season, they have good / excellent starters everywhere but some very questionable depth, particularly on defence. Best case is probably 11-5, worst 8-8. Ravens will be hot favourites for the division but I would not be surprised if they regress a little from last year tbh, so it may be up for grabs.