Offseason moves hint at draft plans
Steelers go all in on another playoff run
The idea the Steelers will take a quarterback in the first round might sound nice to those who think they need to immediately find Ben Roethlisberger’s replacement. But it is not rooted in reality. The only way the Steelers will draft a quarterback in the first round is if Trevor Lawrence somehow drops to No. 24.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Steelers are all in for one final playoff push. It is the reason they re-did Roethlisberger’s deal to affordably keep him around for one more season. And it’s the reason they brought JuJu Smith-Schuster back for one more season.
But, because they did, they created holes in other areas of the team, areas they didn’t anticipate. And those holes are on defense. Couple those with the need for a No. 1 running back and a starting center, and the Steelers have four areas they will attempt to address in their early stages of the draft.
After losing Bud Dupree and backup Ola Adeniyi to the Tennessee Titans in free agency, the Steelers have no serviceable depth behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith at outside linebacker. Right now, the top reserve is Cassius Marsh, who was signed in late December after playing for five other teams. The importance Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert place on outside linebacker — they consider it the most valued position on the defense — will make bolstering the depth a high priority.
And, after releasing inside linebacker Vince Williams for salary-cap purposes, the only viable candidate to replace him is Robert Spillane, who, in case you’ve forgotten, started seven games in 2020 at the other inside linebacker position. Williams was known as the ‘Buck’ linebacker in the Steelers defense, the player who typically lined to the strong side and was mostly responsible for stuffing the run. Spillane replaced Devin Bush as the “Mack” (or weakside) linebacker, a player with more responsibility to roam and cover sideline to sideline. The Steelers need another thumper in the middle.
The Steelers top priority in the offseason is to fix all aspects of their running game, everything from the scheme to technique to personnel. Ideally, they will do that early in the draft with a running back and an offensive
lineman. Consider the needs at linebacker, and a betting man might do well to anticipate the top four picks in the draft being some variation of RB, OL, OLB and ILB.
Quarterback? Not for a team that has eyes for one final playoff push and needs new bodies to make that happen.
Oh, it’s possible the Steelers could draft a quarterback after the third round, even the fourth. But, really, what is even the point of that? Right now, they have more faith in the potential reclamation of Dwayne Haskins than they do any quarterback they might find in the mid- to later stages of the draft.
And, unless it’s disingenuous blabber, the Steelers have maintained they are very comfortable (for now) with Mason Rudolph as Roethlisberger’s backup.
A quarterback in the first round? Not if they’re all in for one serious push in 2021.
Ticket price relief
Many companies and corporations already have begun to hike consumer prices as the pandemic heads, hopefully, toward an end. It would appear to be a cruel tactic after so many people lost jobs or had reduced wages because of COVID-19. Don’t count the Steelers among them. While other NFL teams already have announced they will hike ticket prices for the 2021 season, hoping to recoup lost revenue from last season, the Steelers have informed their season-ticket holders they will keep their prices the same this year.
Because of empty or barely filled stadiums due to the pandemic in 2020, the NFL lost a projected $4 billion in revenue, or approximately $125 million per team. It is understandable why some teams — Buffalo and
Denver among them — have raised ticket prices to recapture some of their losses.
What’s more, many AFC teams are bumping the price of tickets to account for the extra home game they receive this season because of the expanded 17-game schedule. But those teams also have one less preseason game to charge a season-ticket holder.
According to Statista.com, the Steelers have the 10th-highest average ticket price in the league at $114.24, nearly $10 higher than the league average. They are higher than several other larger markets such as Washington ($113.46), Atlanta ($106.6), the Los Angeles Rams ($106.2) and Dallas ($99.5), even though they haven’t raised ticket prices since 2018.
They are to be applauded for resisting what appears to be the norm with consumer price hikes.