2019 Offseason...Staff, FA, Draft Outlook

[ATL96Steeler]

Well, fellas and gals of Steeler Nation...Merry Christmas!

The Steelers hold a very slim hope to make the playoffs this season...basically DIV winner is there only hope or another freak tie by IND vs TN.

With that said, I've already shifted in to post season mode.

Staff.

• HC...we'll just have to see, but I would be surprised if Tomlin is let go. He's proven to be a decent motivator etc. 1st time missing the playoffs since the '13 season, 124-66-1 overall. But his record vs playoff caliber teams is severely lacking imo and I don't see that changing without some staff changes. Secondly, he continues to have lapses in DEF performance against bad teams. Doubtful they will make a change, but...

• DC...15th ranked DEF. The 4 playoff teams outside of the DIV (BAL), they gave up 42, 33, 10, 31 pts. I have a feeling Butler will be the scapegoat if the staff sees any major shake ups.

• DEF staff...Do they hold firm with Joey Porter (OLB) and Tom Bradley (DBs)?

• OC...4th ranked OFC. I think Fichtner did a pretty good job overall considering he played the season w/o Bell and several games w/o RB2 Connor...it looked very Bruce Arians like with Ben throwing it considerably more than you want for a playoff type team, but PIT is not looking like a playoff team now....I don't expect many changes here. Ben has already said, he's coming back...the last yr on his deal...have to see if there is any movement towards extended him to at least 2020.

• ST...obviously Danny's crew played a big part in this season both positive and negative. I think more focus will be on the kicker and punter.

Players

• OFC...the one that jumps off the page 1st for me (Does Gilbert finish out his last yr?) Is Foster resigned. And the final one...Bell. As it stands, Bell is still under the control of the Steelers in terms of options. If they do nothing, and he signs elsewhere, they will likely get a 3rd rd compensation pick in 2020. Will they try to make something happen to move that pick into the '19 Draft?

• DEF...a 15th ranked DEF obviously is not terrible, but far from the standard that we've become accustomed to if you've watched this team for more than a few years. They've got to make some changes to personnel. Dupree, I said in SEPT that Bud would probably get between 6 and 8 sacks. Thru 15 games he has 5.5. But he did have some impact...imo not $12 mil worth. We'll have to see if they reward him with that 5th yr. Burns, they don't have the time to wait here. He's simply not starter material and neither is Sensabaugh. They MUST come into '19 with a better player opposite Joe Haden. Bostic, imo they got what they should've been expecting. He's not the long term answer and I think the staff knows that. Fort made some plays as the "coverage LB, but ideally PIT needs a 3 down player at this position. Burnett, a mixed bag for me, I saw some success but enough failures that he should be a question mark to return. Davis...his 1st season at FS was not the disaster that a few told me it would be, but it was not a great season either. I think he will be the starting FS next yr.

Obviously I have touched on every position or player so feel free to chime in.

Thoughts?

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Well, fellas and gals of Steeler Nation...Merry Christmas!

The Steelers hold a very slim hope to make the playoffs this season...basically DIV winner is there only hope or another freak tie by IND vs TN.

With that said, I've already shifted in to post season mode.

Staff.

• HC...we'll just have to see, but I would be surprised if Tomlin is let go. He's proven to be a decent motivator etc. 1st time missing the playoffs since the '13 season, 124-66-1 overall. But his record vs playoff caliber teams is severely lacking imo and I don't see that changing without some staff changes. Secondly, he continues to have lapses in DEF performance against bad teams. Doubtful they will make a change, but...

• DC...15th ranked DEF. The 4 playoff teams outside of the DIV (BAL), they gave up 42, 33, 10, 31 pts. I have a feeling Butler will be the scapegoat if the staff sees any major shake ups.

• DEF staff...Do they hold firm with Joey Porter (OLB) and Tom Bradley (DBs)?

• OC...4th ranked OFC. I think Fichtner did a pretty good job overall considering he played the season w/o Bell and several games w/o RB2 Connor...it looked very Bruce Arians like with Ben throwing it considerably more than you want for a playoff type team, but PIT is not looking like a playoff team now....I don't expect many changes here. Ben has already said, he's coming back...the last yr on his deal...have to see if there is any movement towards extended him to at least 2020.

• ST...obviously Danny's crew played a big part in this season both positive and negative. I think more focus will be on the kicker and punter.

Players

• OFC...the one that jumps off the page 1st for me (Does Gilbert finish out his last yr?) Is Foster resigned. And the final one...Bell. As it stands, Bell is still under the control of the Steelers in terms of options. If they do nothing, and he signs elsewhere, they will likely get a 3rd rd compensation pick in 2020. Will they try to make something happen to move that pick into the '19 Draft?

• DEF...a 15th ranked DEF obviously is not terrible, but far from the standard that we've become accustomed to if you've watched this team for more than a few years. They've got to make some changes to personnel. Dupree, I said in SEPT that Bud would probably get between 6 and 8 sacks. Thru 15 games he has 5.5. But he did have some impact...imo not $12 mil worth. We'll have to see if they reward him with that 5th yr. Burns, they don't have the time to wait here. He's simply not starter material and neither is Sensabaugh. They MUST come into '19 with a better player opposite Joe Haden. Bostic, imo they got what they should've been expecting. He's not the long term answer and I think the staff knows that. Fort made some plays as the "coverage LB, but ideally PIT needs a 3 down player at this position. Burnett, a mixed bag for me, I saw some success but enough failures that he should be a question mark to return. Davis...his 1st season at FS was not the disaster that a few told me it would be, but it was not a great season either. I think he will be the starting FS next yr.

Obviously I have touched on every position or player so feel free to chime in.

Thoughts?

Meant to say...I have NOT touched on every player.

 

[Yo Tee]

In my opinion, here's what we need to do this offseason:

1. We need to start from the top down and I believe that 1 front office position needs to change. That is the GM position. Kevin Colbert became the GM in 2010. The Le'Veon Bell situation was complete and utter bullshit for 2 years, not getting into free agency last year or any trade action this year was complete and utter bullshit and this team is stagnant. Colbert should be lighting a fire underneath the coaching staff, who should be lighting a fire underneath the players to fix shit and play your positions correctly.

2. The following coaching staff positions needs to change: Defensive Backs Coach and Special Teams Coordinator. Our defense has actually played like a good defense about 2 times this year. Our secondary is just complete and utter trash. Artie Burns is a bust. Joe Haden is a vet presence but is injury prone. Morgan Burnett turned out to be a bad deal. Cameron Sutton isn't doing much. Only guys I'm excited for in the secondary is Sean Davis and Terrell Edmunds, who's shown up lately. We have such talent in our LBs with Watt, Bostic and Williams, we have a very good D-line, it's our secondary that is fucking it up for us. We are in the top 10 against the rush but in the middle of the pack against the pass. We need to upgrade our DBs and that starts with getting a better DB coach. Special Teams, I mean holy shit. Boswell regressed HARD. 92% FG last year and he's 65% this year. 13-14 from 40+ last year, 6-11 this year. He's missed 5 XPs this year, when in his previous 3 years, he missed a combined total of 3! What the hell happened to this guy?! Longest kick return was a 35 yard return, longest punt return was 23 yards. While I'm glad we don't have AB or JuJu returning kicks or punts, I think it's time to sign/draft a LEGIT return specialist. Ryan Switzer isn't cutting it and there's no reason Roosevelt Nix is an option as a return guy.

3. We seriously need to be in the market for the following positions: Kicker, Return Specialist, Cornerback, Legit WR3. As good as he's been the last 3 years, after this year, Chris Boswell should not be in a Steelers uniform next year. Thank you for your service, but the time has come to move on. Right now, Ryan Switzer seems to be our return guy and as fast as he is, I don't think his field vision is very good. It could very well also be that our Special Teams coverage is just shit. We need to draft/sign a guy SPECIFICALLY to be our return guy. Or, we need to work with Switzer on being that guy next year. Cornerback, I believe, is obvious here and I believe is the position we should've drafted this year. Joe Haden is probably the key CB on this team and his best years are not ahead of him and it doesn't look like the younger guys have learned anything from him, which I believe says more about our young guys than it does about Haden. There were key guys we passed up on both in the draft and free agency this year that seem to be panning out much better than Edmunds and the guys we currently have. As far as the WR3 position, whether that's molding a current guy on our roster or going after a FA in the offseason, we need a designated WR3. Right now, we have AB, JuJu and our TEs. If you just look at our WRs, we have AB and JuJu over 100 receptions and the WR in receptions is 35. Yes, we utilize our TEs very heavily, but we need to be able to trust in another WR that's not AB or JuJu. This might mean that both AB and JuJu's numbers go down next year, that's fine. As long as we can develop a trustworthy WR3, I'm fine with that. Baltimore has Snead, Crabtree, John Brown. Chargers have Allen, Mike Williams, Ty Williams. I'm fine with utilizing Vance and Jesse, but in hopes of not being predictable in terms of who we are throwing the ball to, we need a solid WR3.

4. This isn't going to be a popular one. I believe we need to adopt the dual RB scheme. Seeing the way Jaylen Samuels has played replacing Conner has given me hope that this could actually work. We need to have this in the back of our minds. James Conner is injury prone. He's torn his right ACL twice and has now sprained his left ankle. Now I'm not saying replace James Conner, I'm saying we utilize Jaylen Samuels alot more than what we did when Conner was healthy. 12 carries in the first 10 games he was active. As a starter, he's averaging 5.3 yards per carry and has a 100% catch rate in the last 4 games. We can benefit heavily by having Conner and Samuels as our dual RBs. Conner put up great numbers, there's no denying that, but him being injured in 3 of the last 4 years, going back to his last two years in college, worries me. Both are good pass catchers, with more experience, Samuels should get better as well.

5. We need to develop Mason Rudolph or Joshua Dobbs more and seriously plan for life after Ben Roethlisberger. From what I've seen from Josh Dobbs, he is not ready to be the successor to Ben. We haven't seen anything from Mason to think that he is either. We need decide what direction we are going in that I think that decision needs to be made ASAP. If Josh is the guy, treat him as such. If Mason is the guy, treat him as such. That decision might not be made until the preseason next year, which I think it too late, but that's probably when it will be decided. As long as we have Ben, he needs to work with these young guys to develop them to take over the keys to the offense. Our coaching staff needs to work with Josh and Mason to develop them and see who's got what it takes to be the next starting QB for the franchise.

 

[Superbelt]

Tomlin should be allowed to pursue other options. He's consistent, but consistently mediocre. We need life, we need fire, we need drive in the coach. We need discipline more than anything. If someone arrives in training camp next year in a helicopter, or something else equally stupid, you can go ahead and pencil the season in as a lost cause again.

Same with the majority of the Defensive staff (Dunbar can stick around, if the new guy wants to keep him). Need to stop hiring former Steeler players to be coaches. Just because they could play, doesn't mean they could coach.

Offensive staff should remain intact.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Some short thoughts... Still riding the frustrated emotions & general disdain for the coaches, so take my notes with a grain of salt.

Staff:
*Time to move on from Tomlin. I'm done with his stupidity & ineptitude. Coach Rah-Rah probably isn't going anywhere, but one can always dream.
*I don't want Butler back. Even if he proved his system CAN work, why did it take 15 games to figure it the fuck out? Too little too late. I'd rather see a DC come in that displays a better level of competence & willingness to adjust.
*Good bye Joey Porter. You're not a good coach. You're nothing more than another "players coach". That's cool & all, but they need someone that can coach the talent to another level. Not just pat them on the ass after they make a play.
*I have mixed feelings on Danny Smith. Not exactly the brightest coach, but he has proved his worth many times. But if he had a say in keeping Boz & Berry this year, then he should go.
*Fichtner can stay. He had some of his best playcalling down the stretch. Would like to see more balance though.

Players:
*Offense... I wouldn't mind if they gave Gil another year, only because the lack of depth. Feiler & Chuks proved themselves, so I wouldn't be upset to see him walk. He just can't stay healthy. And maybe they can get lucky & have Jerald Hawkins survive a training camp. I could see them giving Foster another year as well. He's a gel guy, and Ben will give his vote of confidence. They don't need him though but anything to keep Ben on-board. Don't be surprised if Ben starts up his "retirement campaign" once again. Maybe this time he's trying to push Tomlin out the door. Thoughts on them retaining Vance McDonald? His contract is about to get hefty, and they aren't getting any sort of consistency out of him. He's a beast when healthy, but seems to only see the field less than 70% of the season. Oh yea, and fuck Bell. I'd be happy with the comp pick for his departure.
*Defense... Praying for defensive heavy draft. OLB, ILB, CB are the immediate needs. Dupree isn't worth the money he'll be making. ILB is obvious. And they need an overhaul at CB. Haden's at the tail-end of his career. Burns, Sens, Sutton, etc. Not going to cut it.

 

[Superbelt]

Significant Player releases/walks:

Berry and Boswell: Berry has never been any good (he's been kept around because Boswell 'likes his holding'...), and Boswell has the yips. Don't need to keep messing with that.

Artie Burns: Nuff said

Bud Dupree: Maybe, I'm on the fence with him. Worth a lot to cut him. Is he worth that much to keep?

Dan McCullers: Invisible again. We sure could use a real NT, been getting by because Hargrave has been too good to keep off the field, and he isn't going to start over Cam or Stephon.

Ridley: Nuff said

Sensabaugh: Being better than Burns isn't enough. Can find better in the draft or FA to fill his slot.

Marcus Gilbert: He can be really good. But can't depend on him be on the field. And his backups have left no appreciable drop in play. Easy decision.

Justin Hunter and Hey-Bey: Couldn't step up when there was a need at 3rd WR.

 

[Yo Tee]

Right now we'd have the 19th pick in the draft. Most mock drafts I've seen have us taking an LB at this spot. I do think we need to address the secondary though.

 

[Superbelt]

Right now we'd have the 19th pick in the draft. Most mock drafts I've seen have us taking an LB at this spot. I do think we need to address the secondary though.

I don't trust Tomlin to draft the right CB, anyway.

Better to find someone serviceable in FA. He's just going to draft the raw track star, if he has his way.

 

[Yo Tee]

I don't trust Tomlin to draft the right CB, anyway.

Better to find someone serviceable in FA. He's just going to draft the raw track star, if he has his way.

Steven Nelson from KC is a FA next year. He will be cheap and a decent young talent to fit in. Some pretty decent LBs in free agency as well. Cory Littleton from the Rams, Anthony Barr from Minnesota, Dee Ford from KC, Jadeveon Clowney from Houston.

I would just like for us to change up our way of doing things because it's obviously not working. Only trade that has worked out for us has been the Vance McDonald trade. We've traded for JJ Wilcox, Dashaun Phillips and signed Morgan Burnett. None of those have worked out for us. We need to target some key free agents on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. Bostic is really the only signing in the last 2 years that has worked for us. Haden is having his best year since his pro bowl year in 2014 but his play is not worth the $9 mil we are paying him, in my opinion.

 

[Superbelt]

I disagree. Haden has been worth every penny.

 

[Yo Tee]

I disagree. Haden has been worth every penny.

We could've had Eric Reid at $1 mil this year and had the same statistical output. Save money, have the same stats and a younger talent.

 

[Superbelt]

We could've had Eric Reid at $1 mil this year and had the same statistical output. Save money, have the same stats and a younger talent.

It would be nice to have both.

Or both, and Gareon Conley, when he was available.

We might be looking at a bye right now if we had someone capable opposite Haden.

 

[Yo Tee]

It would be nice to have both.

Or both, and Gareon Conley, when he was available.

We might be looking at a bye right now if we had someone capable opposite Haden.

I agree with all that.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

So what is everyone’s top 5 draft needs for the Steelers?

I’m not sure how to order them yet but here’s my rough list:

CB
ILB
OLB/Edge
O-Line
D-Line

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Steven Nelson from KC is a FA next year. He will be cheap and a decent young talent to fit in. Some pretty decent LBs in free agency as well. Cory Littleton from the Rams, Anthony Barr from Minnesota, Dee Ford from KC, Jadeveon Clowney from Houston.

I would just like for us to change up our way of doing things because it's obviously not working. Only trade that has worked out for us has been the Vance McDonald trade. We've traded for JJ Wilcox, Dashaun Phillips and signed Morgan Burnett. None of those have worked out for us. We need to target some key free agents on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. Bostic is really the only signing in the last 2 years that has worked for us. Haden is having his best year since his pro bowl year in 2014 but his play is not worth the $9 mil we are paying him, in my opinion.

Spot on with one exception...on THIS team Haden was well worth the money. But, he's not elite and moving on up there in age.

GM...I no longer think Tomlin can lead this team to a 7th title. That said, the DEF personnel they have put out there on the backend continues to be poor and the weakest part of the DEF...For a franchise that built a dynasty on DEF, I'm still dumbfounded they would invest that kind of money into Bell for 2 seasons while the DEF had 2 significant needs that cap money could've gone towards. Bostic was a bandaid.

I was debating with @SteelersPride about how Elway had conducted biz, and we came away from that agreeing the Colbert is too conservative in his approach in FA, and in my opinion the draft as well. I'm still not sure how Leonard could be in IND when PIT had the inside track on this kid when they got Hargrave the yr before.

I think GM and HC should go.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

So what is everyone’s top 5 draft needs for the Steelers?

I’m not sure how to order them yet but here’s my rough list:

CB
ILB
OLB/Edge
O-Line
D-Line

This looks pretty good for a starting point.

From what I'm hearing from the early CFB/draft heads...there are 3 CBs that probably will be starting week 1 in 2019. If they don't make a move to get one of thoses (we know they won't) I would probably call OAK back and see what it would take to get Conley. Focus on Edge or ILB with the 1st pick.

I agree on DL...as long as they have Munchak, if he really likes a guy...I would give him consideration.

 

[thedddd]

Offense:
WR3 - if sticking with the unbalanced offense.
TE - If McDonald gets too expensive they will need something.

Defense:
DB is obvious
End Rush to replace Dupree but I see them keeping him.
ILB - Bostic is serviceable but they are desperate for someone to cover a TE.

Special Teams
Obvious K and P.
KR/PR - Switzer was ok and really wasn't the game breaker he was made out to be. Out of the top 10 in PR's only two players had a worse avg and in KR's out of the top 10 he had the lowest avg (even extend that to the top 20 in returns he is the lowest).

 

[ATL96Steeler]

In my opinion, here's what we need to do this offseason:

1. We need to start from the top down and I believe that 1 front office position needs to change. That is the GM position. Kevin Colbert became the GM in 2010. The Le'Veon Bell situation was complete and utter bullshit for 2 years, not getting into free agency last year or any trade action this year was complete and utter bullshit and this team is stagnant. Colbert should be lighting a fire underneath the coaching staff, who should be lighting a fire underneath the players to fix shit and play your positions correctly.

2. The following coaching staff positions needs to change: Defensive Backs Coach and Special Teams Coordinator. Our defense has actually played like a good defense about 2 times this year. Our secondary is just complete and utter trash. Artie Burns is a bust. Joe Haden is a vet presence but is injury prone. Morgan Burnett turned out to be a bad deal. Cameron Sutton isn't doing much. Only guys I'm excited for in the secondary is Sean Davis and Terrell Edmunds, who's shown up lately. We have such talent in our LBs with Watt, Bostic and Williams, we have a very good D-line, it's our secondary that is fucking it up for us. We are in the top 10 against the rush but in the middle of the pack against the pass. We need to upgrade our DBs and that starts with getting a better DB coach. Special Teams, I mean holy shit. Boswell regressed HARD. 92% FG last year and he's 65% this year. 13-14 from 40+ last year, 6-11 this year. He's missed 5 XPs this year, when in his previous 3 years, he missed a combined total of 3! What the hell happened to this guy?! Longest kick return was a 35 yard return, longest punt return was 23 yards. While I'm glad we don't have AB or JuJu returning kicks or punts, I think it's time to sign/draft a LEGIT return specialist. Ryan Switzer isn't cutting it and there's no reason Roosevelt Nix is an option as a return guy.

3. We seriously need to be in the market for the following positions: Kicker, Return Specialist, Cornerback, Legit WR3. As good as he's been the last 3 years, after this year, Chris Boswell should not be in a Steelers uniform next year. Thank you for your service, but the time has come to move on. Right now, Ryan Switzer seems to be our return guy and as fast as he is, I don't think his field vision is very good. It could very well also be that our Special Teams coverage is just shit. We need to draft/sign a guy SPECIFICALLY to be our return guy. Or, we need to work with Switzer on being that guy next year. Cornerback, I believe, is obvious here and I believe is the position we should've drafted this year. Joe Haden is probably the key CB on this team and his best years are not ahead of him and it doesn't look like the younger guys have learned anything from him, which I believe says more about our young guys than it does about Haden. There were key guys we passed up on both in the draft and free agency this year that seem to be panning out much better than Edmunds and the guys we currently have. As far as the WR3 position, whether that's molding a current guy on our roster or going after a FA in the offseason, we need a designated WR3. Right now, we have AB, JuJu and our TEs. If you just look at our WRs, we have AB and JuJu over 100 receptions and the WR in receptions is 35. Yes, we utilize our TEs very heavily, but we need to be able to trust in another WR that's not AB or JuJu. This might mean that both AB and JuJu's numbers go down next year, that's fine. As long as we can develop a trustworthy WR3, I'm fine with that. Baltimore has Snead, Crabtree, John Brown. Chargers have Allen, Mike Williams, Ty Williams. I'm fine with utilizing Vance and Jesse, but in hopes of not being predictable in terms of who we are throwing the ball to, we need a solid WR3.

4. This isn't going to be a popular one. I believe we need to adopt the dual RB scheme. Seeing the way Jaylen Samuels has played replacing Conner has given me hope that this could actually work. We need to have this in the back of our minds. James Conner is injury prone. He's torn his right ACL twice and has now sprained his left ankle. Now I'm not saying replace James Conner, I'm saying we utilize Jaylen Samuels alot more than what we did when Conner was healthy. 12 carries in the first 10 games he was active. As a starter, he's averaging 5.3 yards per carry and has a 100% catch rate in the last 4 games. We can benefit heavily by having Conner and Samuels as our dual RBs. Conner put up great numbers, there's no denying that, but him being injured in 3 of the last 4 years, going back to his last two years in college, worries me. Both are good pass catchers, with more experience, Samuels should get better as well.

5. We need to develop Mason Rudolph or Joshua Dobbs more and seriously plan for life after Ben Roethlisberger. From what I've seen from Josh Dobbs, he is not ready to be the successor to Ben. We haven't seen anything from Mason to think that he is either. We need decide what direction we are going in that I think that decision needs to be made ASAP. If Josh is the guy, treat him as such. If Mason is the guy, treat him as such. That decision might not be made until the preseason next year, which I think it too late, but that's probably when it will be decided. As long as we have Ben, he needs to work with these young guys to develop them to take over the keys to the offense. Our coaching staff needs to work with Josh and Mason to develop them and see who's got what it takes to be the next starting QB for the franchise.

Good points...

1...agreed, there should be some heat in that building raining down on Colbert & Tomlin.

2...I'm so-so on Davis, enough bright spots shown in his 1st yr at the position I guess outweighs his faults, but he's not going anywhere, Edmunds looks pretty good for a rookie...I do see them returning as the FS/SS.

3....Returner...Switzer is not a special player, but sufficient for the job. WR3...I'm not ready to give up on Washington, Rogers showed enough spark...I would draft this position, but not any higher than 4th rd is my thinking at the moment. I'm looking to push Hunter, and or DHB off the roster.

4....RB...Connor will get the #1 spot and Samuels likely the #2, but they should be ready to cut ties with Ridley. I expect a draft pick on this position or a UDFA brought in. How this regime uses the RB1 needs to change to spread the touches and preserve the RB1 better so I agree there.

5....QB2/3...I look at it like this...as long as Ben is on the roster, he's probably going to be the starter. The backup battle will again be between Dobbs and Rudolph, we'll have to see who surfaces as the #2 guy. All we can do is hope they're developing in practice, OTAs, camp, etc...weeks 1-17, we really hope neither sees a ton of snaps.

 

[Yo Tee]

Good points...

1...agreed, there should be some heat in that building raining down on Colbert & Tomlin.

2...I'm so-so on Davis, enough bright spots shown in his 1st yr at the position I guess outweighs his faults, but he's not going anywhere, Edmunds looks pretty good for a rookie...I do see them returning as the FS/SS.

3....Returner...Switzer is not a special player, but sufficient for the job. WR3...I'm not ready to give up on Washington, Rogers showed enough spark...I would draft this position, but not any higher than 4th rd is my thinking at the moment. I'm looking to push Hunter, and or DHB off the roster.

4....RB...Connor will get the #1 spot and Samuels likely the #2, but they should be ready to cut ties with Ridley. I expect a draft pick on this position or a UDFA brought in. How this regime uses the RB1 needs to change to spread the touches and preserve the RB1 better so I agree there.

5....QB2/3...I look at it like this...as long as Ben is on the roster, he's probably going to be the starter. The backup battle will again be between Dobbs and Rudolph, we'll have to see who surfaces as the #2 guy. All we can do is hope they're developing in practice, OTAs, camp, etc...weeks 1-17, we really hope neither sees a ton of snaps.

2. Yeah they will definitely return. I'm pretty high on Davis but that's probably only because he's one of the rare bright spots in this secondary.

3. I wouldn't give up on Washington either, but he's gotta improve his hands and his confidence. I'm completely fine with Washington being WR3, we just need a decent 3rd option down the field instead of throwing it short to the TE or out on the flat to the RB.

4. Agreed. Conner 1, Samuels 2 and cut Ridley. I will also say that there are very decent free agent RBs in 2019. Adrian Peterson, Latavius Murray, Baltimore has two FA RBs in Alex Collins and Gus Edwards we could look at.

5. I would like to see Ben NOT play in the preseason at all. Start Mason for 2 games, Dobbs for the next 2. Let them have complete and total control over the offense. The one who shines the brightest obviously would get favored as the #2. I'm just don't know how the franchise can be comfortable with not knowing who is gonna take over the starter role with Ben nearing the end of his career. I don't want to end up being New England who doesn't have a successor whatsoever if Brady were to retire this year.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

2. Yeah they will definitely return. I'm pretty high on Davis but that's probably only because he's one of the rare bright spots in this secondary.

3. I wouldn't give up on Washington either, but he's gotta improve his hands and his confidence. I'm completely fine with Washington being WR3, we just need a decent 3rd option down the field instead of throwing it short to the TE or out on the flat to the RB.

4. Agreed. Conner 1, Samuels 2 and cut Ridley. I will also say that there are very decent free agent RBs in 2019. Adrian Peterson, Latavius Murray, Baltimore has two FA RBs in Alex Collins and Gus Edwards we could look at.

5. I would like to see Ben NOT play in the preseason at all. Start Mason for 2 games, Dobbs for the next 2. Let them have complete and total control over the offense. The one who shines the brightest obviously would get favored as the #2. I'm just don't know how the franchise can be comfortable with not knowing who is gonna take over the starter role with Ben nearing the end of his career. I don't want to end up being New England who doesn't have a successor whatsoever if Brady were to retire this year.

Secondary...imo, it's get a legit CB2, and let'em man up and play, get rid of that soft zone BS 80% of the snaps....Do that, and the backend is fixed. Watch the teams this weekend and into the playoffs...none of them will be nearly as zone heavy as the Steelers are. With Colbert's history, he won't be aggressive enough to make it happen in the draft, this needs to be a trade imo and look in the draft for depth / competition for CB4/5.

WR3...everyone that seems to know much about Washington says he will respond. As long as they have Connor and Samuel as well as TEs that can work in between the hashes, if Ben is willing to spread it around, and Fichtner develops some trust in more targets...it can take some pressure off the WR3 position....still would take a stab in the draft again mostly targeting Hunter or DHB's slots.

QB2, Rudolph will get enough chances to show some growth....I'm not too worried about this yet. Competition should determine who gets the job...Ben only played 1 game this year....It wouldn't bother me but it will take a game or two to get in sync not playing any.

LB...Bostic brings limitations...you can't have 2 LBs on the field that are coverage challenged in base. Good teams are just going to iso them to death. They were able to get Matthew Thomas thru the PS squad to date. If that holds true, he will get a good shot...else they need to upgrade this post in the draft.

3 Safety Sub pkg...I have mixed thoughts still. Generally speaking I like the concept as a nickel/dime adjustment, but not sure if Burnett should have that role next yr.