The Pittsburgh Steelers are a completely different team from the group that went into Buffalo and lost in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. They have three new quarterbacks, overhauled the offensive line, Diontae Johnson is gone, Patrick Queen is a new star on defense, and Arthur Smith is in as the new offensive coordinator. The Steelers made significant changes, earning General Manager Omar Khan some praise from analysts.
Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News believes that the Steelers had the best offseason of any team in the NFL. He gave Pittsburgh an ‘A’ grade, joining the Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders, and Minnesota Vikings in those rankings. That is not the first time Pittsburgh has received this type of praise, and Iyer’s specific praises make sense when looking at the team.
Iyer points out that the quarterback overhaul and focus on the offensive line are massive pluses for the Steelers. Khan and Mike Tomlin went into the offseason searching for value across the team and found it. But I have a few issues with giving this grade out, personally. For one, the Johnson trade remains a question mark. More than that, the quarterback acquisitions are low risk but have a chance to be a band-aid.
The Steelers might be right back where they were entering 2024 next offseason, searching for the immortal question of who their quarterback will be for the future. For what Khan had at his disposal, there is little question that the team at least went about the offseason from a process perspective in a sound manner. But that hardly guarantees anything with the success of the movies, and many of them were low-risk signings.
Still, the Steelers have overturned their roster on its head and hope that the changes result in the urgency to bring a playoff win home should they make it that far.