As free agency approaches next week and the draft the following month it’s that time of year for rumors and speculation, fans being hopeful their team makes a splash to make them a contender. I’d like to think the Steelers will make said splash with a rare amount of cap space available, but it’s likely they’ll move forward with their conservative ways, as we’ve already seen thus far making hardly any coaching changes. That said, I still wanted to go through what I think an ideal offseason would look like for them on both sides of the ball via free agency and the draft. We’ll look into the obvious needs as well as some areas where most may not be thinking about.

Offense

If you want to know how I feel about quarterback, you can read that in much more detail here. I’ll give you a hint, his name rhymes with Bustin Shields.

Wide Receiver

With how the Steelers want to play I still think it makes the most since for them to sign and/or trade for a receiver once free agency opens (you can find my full analysis on the free agent wide receivers available and who the best options are here). I won’t reveal who I think the Steelers should take this early on in the article, but I don’t think it should be a receiver. There’s so many massive names available, especially via trade, that if they really want to try to win now (not saying I agree with that philosophy) they should make a splash that way, even if it means taking on a big contract for a year or two. DK Metcalf, Chris Godwin, Davante Adams, Cooper Kupp, and even Amari Cooper would all force defenses to not consistently double Pickens and open up the run game.

I don’t think it will be one of those names, and if it’s not then I would be okay with them going WR in round one. If they choose to go that route, my top choice is Ohio State wideout Emeka Egbuka. We’ll see his forty time if he ends up running at his pro day, but I really don’t think that matters. He’s the best all-around receiver of the class in my opinion – he may not be the best at one particular thing, but he’s really great at everything and doesn’t have flaws in his game. He worked primarily in the slot (81% of snaps from the slot per PFF) but has enough size (6’1, 205) and ability where I think he can succeed on the outside too. He has a lot of success in finding soft spots in the zone and on crossing routes at all levels of the field, two things the Steelers desperately need more of in their offense. He also was the leader in this class in first downs per target and second in yards per route run. Luther Burden and now Matthew Golden after his 4.29 forty are both in play as well if they decide to go WR, but Egbuka would be my selection because of his well-rounded game, reliability, and ability to grow into true WR1.

Running Back

This one is super straightforward for me because of one reason – Jaylen Warren is a really good football player. I think he should be the lead back in a Leveon Bell/James Connor roll, that’s how good I think he is. The dude is so explosive between the tackles and hardly ever goes down on first contact. He’s also electric out of the backfield as a pass catcher and a down-right dog in pass pro. I would bypass the tender and just sign him to a two-year deal if I were the Steelers, but with all the reports that are out we know they’re going with the tender. Regardless, assuming (please God) Najee Harris leaves, he’ll be the only running back on the roster. They’ll probably sign an older vet that has special teams experience to be the third guy, perhaps someone like Dare Ogunbawale who has 45 tackles over his eight years in the league, with six last year in Houston per PFR (edit: Ogunbawale was re-signed by Houston shortly after I completed this article).

That leaves the backup to be selected in the draft. With how loaded this class is at running back the Steelers can afford to have this pick be on Day 3. I haven’t gone too far into their film yet, but two guys I really like that should be there on Day 3 are RJ Harvey from UCF and DJ Giddens from Kansas State. Harvey ran a 4.40 and Giddens a 4.43 at the combine and would give the Steelers a nice change of pace when Warren comes off the field. Harvey is smaller at 5’8 204 compared to Giddens at 6’1 212, but they’re both elusive in their own right and have what the Steelers like in running backs – physicality. They finish the hell out of their runs, and would fit right into this run first scheme.

Swing Tackle

Dan Moore and James Daniels are as good as gone, and assuming Broderick Jones moves to left tackle as Khan said at the combine the Steelers will need another tackle to pair with Dylan Cook. The Steelers have invested heavily in the offensive line the last few drafts so I don’t see them taking anyone outside of a late round flier, so this spot will likely come through free agency.

I’m no guru when it comes to the offensive line, but I’d assume the contract will be in the range of $1.2 – $2.5 million a year for one or two years, likely with someone with a good number of starts under his belt. Guys like Germain Ifedi from Cleveland, Cody Ford from Cincy, Josh Jones from Baltimore could fit that bill. Even though he’s going on 36 years old, a reunion with Kelvin Beachum would be very cool and would bring a much-needed veteran voice to the tackle room.

Guard

This is one of those areas where I think most people might think the Steelers are content at, but is a position I would look to sign a starter at. I have nothing against Mason McCormick – he played probably as good as he could have as a rookie who was thrown into the fire, but it again comes down to what the Steelers are trying to do. If they want to run the ball consistently they need to control the line of scrimmage, and we didn’t see enough dominate play out of McCormick to have confidence in him to end the pain we’ve seen over the last few years of running backs getting hit in the backfield and not being able to pick up short yardage first downs. You also can’t forget Seumalo is a free agent next year and will be 32 years old, so you have to plan for the future.

It was encouraging to hear Brian Baldinger say the Steelers might be in the market for a lineman. If he’s right it should be a guard, and they should invest highly in one. Mekhi Becton from Philly, Will Fries from Indy, and Dalton Risner from Minnesota are all guys with starting experience in zone schemes and could make a major impact in the Steelers run game. The Steelers would need to be willing to spend money, especially on the first two guys, but it would add value both on the ground and in the pass game and give McCormick another year to develop.

Defense

Corner

Without a doubt the second biggest need behind wide receiver, the Steelers luckily have plenty of options in free agency fill both needs on the outside and in the slot. On the outside I think the majority of Steelers fans would be satisfied with any of Charvarius Ward, Carlton Davis, or DJ Reed. Out of those three, my preference would be Davis. He’s a physical corner who’s excellent in the run game and has a lot of experience playing in man coverage. He only allowed two touchdowns last year before getting injured and was having a solid season in Detroit before getting hurt. On that same note however, Davis has yet to play a full season in his career because of injuries, something that may turn the Steelers away. The two big names should be at receiver and corner, and that doesn’t mean bringing Donte Jackson back who fell apart at the end of last year.

In the slot, I agree wholeheartedly with Alex Kozora that Nate Hobbs is the guy they should bring in. He wasn’t given the opportunities he deserved in Las Vegas for whatever reason, but he has above average size for a slot corner 6’1 who’s a good tackler and can hold up in coverage. He can play the Mike Hilton role that the Steelers have been dying to replace, and at only 25 years old with limited stats he’s the perfect choice to sign to a long year deal that doesn’t break the bank. Kendall Fuller and the aforementioned Hilton are other options, but as they’ve gotten older their coverage ability has declined so it’s not worth paying a higher price for lower quality play.

Defensive Line

With a loaded class, this is where I want the Steelers to go with their first round pick. Mason Graham, one of the two options from Michigan, will likely be gone within the top 10 picks, and it’d be surprising to see Walter Nolen from Ole Miss last to 21 as well. If either somehow do make it that far that should easily be the pick, but the hot name to tie to Steelers in mock drafts I actually like as well. Kenneth Grant out of Michigan is massive man at 6’4 330 who excels at stopping the run. With 7 tackles for loss last year and 6.5 sacks over the last two Grant is the perfect option to contribute this year and be the long-term option after Cam Heyward.

I’m not going to overstep my boundaries here in talking about other defensive lineman I know nothing about in the later rounds, but it definitely makes sense for Pittsburgh to double dip at the position. We saw them do it with the o-line last year, and if they want to get back to the old “Steeler Way” or whatever Tomlin wants to relive from his glory days when they were actually dominant at stopping the run, this would be the draft to do it.

Safety

Obviously the starting safeties are fine, but with Damontae Kazee being 32 and none of their young guys really separating themselves they’ll need to add some depth here. Again I’m more of an offensive guy when it comes to scouting college players, but if someone like Malachi Moore is there in the second or third round I’d consider taking him. He’s undersized and got out-shined at the combine which will hurt his stock, but any safety from Alabama is normally a really good football player.

If they do go the free agency route, a player like my hometown native Nick Scott would make sense. He has a ton of playing experience all around the field and would give the Steelers confidence in the back end should someone go down while also providing snaps in nickel situations.

To wrap it up, let’s see if all of my top free agents would fit into the Steelers cap budget of $53,873,775 using project market values from Spotrac. Obviously these are very raw numbers and I don’t know exactly how the cap works (no one does except for Howie Roseman apparently), so this is just to give an idea of what could be possible.

• DK Metcalf: though I think the Steelers would sign DK to an extension should they pull off this trade, for this exercise will use his one year remaining cap hit of $11 million (Seattle would have to take on $21 million)
• Jaylen Warren: 2nd round tender of $5.3 million
• Cody Ford: $1.5 million
• Will Fries: $14.3 million
• Carlton Davis: $13.8 million
• Nate Hobbs: $2.9 million
• Kenneth Grant: $3.5 million (based off of Troy Fautanu’s contract)
• Nick Scott: $2.3 million

This doesn’t include the rest of the rookies they’ll select or the quarterback contract, but all those values add up to roughly $54.6 million, so slightly over their projected cap space. Will Fries is probably the most valuable lineman available now with Trey Smith tagged so that move is unlikely, but regardless it shows that they have a lot of room to make things happen. This doesn’t even include upcoming extensions (TJ Watt) and potential restructures (Freiermuth) where they can create even more space.

As I’ve said time and time again, the Steelers normally don’t do cool things in free agency and are on the conservative side, but I think it’s important to point out what the top end possibilities are, especially this year with so much cap space. If they truly want to win now they’ll need to surround their quarterback with the best talent possible, and maybe this year they’ll finally take my feelings into account and grab some studs.