Steelers Urged to Sign Former Raiders Guard

The Steelers already made an outside addition to their 53-man roster, but could they make another addition? Bleacher Report looked for a free agent that made the most sense for every team in the NFL, and former Raiders and Seahawks guard Gabe Jackson was the guy they landed on for Pittsburgh. The reasoning on the outside makes sense, with Nate Herbig still banged up, they view the guard depth as something that could be needed in Pittsburgh.

“Given the success of the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line under position coach Jeff Stoutland,” Alex Ballentine wrote. “It’s not a bad idea just to poach former Eagles offensive linemen. However, Herbig suffered a shoulder injury during training camp. While he seems to be trending in the right direction, it also exemplifies how important it is to have depth on the offensive line. Gabe Jackson could help provide more of that. The 32-year-old is getting up there in years, but he has started at least 15 games in each of the last three seasons. Last year, he allowed only two sacks for the Seattle Seahawks, per PFF.”

While Jackson is a quality veteran guard who should land somewhere, the Steelers do not seem like the place. For one, the backup guard would comfortably be Spencer Anderson, in this case, a young player the Steelers do believe in heavily. As noted in the explanation, Herbig is on his way back and said he was ready to play, so it seems likely that Herbig will play in Week 1.

If Herbig ever went down for an extended period, a guard and center-capable player would need to be brought on board. Jackson seems too similar to Kevin Dotson in that he is a good player but locked too much into just the guard position when Pittsburgh has a bevy of options there.

Don’t expect the Steelers to be the team to make the move on Jackson. If they did add any position right now, the backup center still seems like the one place that would be likeliest. Maybe they would add another safety for depth behind the top three, though Elijah Riley functions as a backup there and in the slot.