Grading the Pittsburgh Steelers busy day at the trade deadline, and taking a look at how the schedule changes after the bye week.
Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports gave the Steelers a B+ in the Chase Claypool trade to the Chicago Bears. Benjamin handed out a C+ to Chicago. “Are they better without him? Not necessarily. But the Steelers deserve the benefit of the doubt in pretty much any move involving receivers, considering the way they draft and develop starting-caliber pass catchers,” Benjamin wrote.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated pointed out that all three of the Bears trades (Roquan Smith, Chase Claypool, Robert Quinn) involved assistant general manager Ian Cunningham’s connections. Cunningham came up under Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, worked with Steelers assistant general manager Andy Weidl in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and worked for Eagles general manager Howie Roseman.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee Show that he wasn’t surprised to hear they were in on Chase Claypool. According to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers were in the running for Claypool. They offered the same compensation as Chicago did, but the Steelers thought Chicago’s pick would be considerably higher even though both teams are 3-5.
According to Football Outsiders, the Steelers have played the NFL’s most difficult schedule through eight weeks. They have the 20th-most difficult schedule the rest of the way.
The Pittsburgh Penguins honored Steelers legend Franco Harris with his own No. 32 Penguins jersey on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.
On the Pivot Podcast, Maurkice Pouncey got emotional when Ryan Clark asked about the memorable moment on the bench with Ben Roethlisberger after a crushing playoff defeat to the Cleveland Browns that turned into the last game of his career.
Since Week 2, the Steelers’ eight sacks are tied for the fewest in the league. Pittsburgh had seven sacks in their Week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The impact of not having T.J. Watt on the field has been astronomical.
STEELERS SCHEDULE
The Steelers will practice at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for their second of two bye-week sessions at 10:45 a.m. Mike Tomlin is expected to speak after practice. Alan Saunders, Nick Farabaugh
