Schobert trade is not all about luck
It’s one thing to take a chance on injured or aging veterans looking to recapture some of what made them good. Every team does that. The Steelers are doing it with the likes of Trai Turner and Melvin Ingram.
It’s quite another to fill glaring holes, right before or during a season, with quality players in their primes. That doesn’t happen often, but the Steelers seem to have a knack for it. Inside linebacker Joe Schobert is the latest example, assuming the deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars is finalized. He follows the likes of Joe Haden and Minkah Fitzpatrick on the can’t-believe-they-got-that-guy-at-train.
Part of it is luck. Who would have thought the Cleveland Browns would cut a 28-year-old Haden late in training camp, just as it was becoming obvious the Steelers were headed for disaster in their secondary? Or that the Miami Dolphins would make a stud like Fitzpatrick available two games into his second year, just after the Steelers watched Tom Brady torch Kam Kelly in the season opener?
Similarly, who would have thought one of the better coverage linebackers in the league — one who signed a $53 million free-agent deal in Jacksonville a year ago — would become available Aug. 12, just as it’s becoming obvious the Steelers inside
linebackers can’t cover anybody?
So yes, part of this is good fortune. But the other part is the Steelers’ unbending, win-now philosophy, which drives some people nuts. They would prefer their team sink to the bottom of the league, if only for a year, and reap the benefits. Like maybe find their next franchise quarterback.
It’s a defensible stance. The Steelers had to go 6-10 to put themselves in position to draft Ben Roethlisberger, after all. But can you really blame them for going all out to win, for refusing to even sniff a rebuild, year after year?
I can’t, at least not when they still have a realistic chance of winning. And the Steelers do. Schobert will undoubtedly help in that cause — and will undoubtedly replace Robert Spillane, although run-specialist Spillane will be needed in a division that loves to pound the ball.
Vince Williams’ sudden retirement took the Steelers by surprise, but this could work out for the best. Williams and Spillane had similar profiles — runstoppers first. Schobert delivers the desperately needed coverage dimension.
Remember when the Steelers still had a chance to come back against the Browns in the playoffs last season, down 12 with plenty of time left? They wound up with Spillane matched up against receiver Jarvis Landry on a key third down. I don’t need to tell you what happened.
That’s not to say Schobert will be smothering receivers when he is forced to cover them. But he’ll give the Steelers a chance in those situations and sometimes an advantage in others, like when covering running backs and tight ends.
Schobert’s best year, according to Pro Football Focus, was with the Browns in 2018. But in two years since — one with Cleveland, one with Jacksonville — he has racked up 7 interceptions, 13 defended passes, 13.5 tackles for a loss, 4 forced fumbles and 4.5 sacks. He’s also a tackling machine, with 274 over the past two seasons.
Pending news of the return for Schobert, what is there not to like here? I’m not sure how this keeps happening, how the Steelers keep finding ideal fits at the last possible second. Maybe they can find one more.
Anybody know of a speedy young cornerback out there?