Steel City Underground presents our 2023 Steelers Recall: a seem to be back at Pittsburgh Steelers video games and storylines from remaining season.The Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 offseason started out a lot faster than many fans would’ve liked, as the group fell quick of expectations and ignored the playoffs.That additionally got the rumor mill strolling a lot sooner, alternatively than later, as each and every interview and press convention was once picked aside to figure out how the next season ought to flip out.
Mike Tomlin
Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II sat down with Missi Matthews on Steelers.com and mentioned countless items, so of which weren’t far off of the mark from what we will experience at some point of the 2024 offseason. Among the matters used to be whether or now not Mike Tomlin would still be the head coach of the Steelers going forward:While he declined to comment on yet some other extension for Coach Tomlin, Rooney was quoted as saying:“I don’t truly evaluate Mike on anything other than I’m satisfied he’s our coach.”Among the paraphrased statements is that Rooney hopes Tomlin will be here for a “long time” and he’s thrilled that the Steelers are always in a role to compete for a championship with Tomlin at the helm.
Matt Canada
With one more yr remaining on his modern teaching contract, Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada used to be a major subject of dialogue as to whether or not or not he would return for some other season. Rooney was speedy to factor out altering Kenny Pickett‘s offensive coordinator and starting over from scratch, ought to show hazardous to Pickett’s development:“Yeah, I suppose so,” Rooney said. “I assume we’d like to see the enchancment and you know, with a rookie quarterback, they appear to work nicely together. They constructed a proper working relationship. And so to type of kind of begin over once more with a new offensive coordinator, could wind up back in the same state of affairs again, where the first half of of the season you’re breaking into new coordinator, so, we just felt like there’s adequate there to construct on that, we desire to continue to maintain that group together.”
Mitch Trubisky
Trubisky’s title sparks the opening of ultimate year’s offseason, as nicely as this one. Rooney’s interview on Pittsburgh local KDKA-TV generated some buzz, when he referred to that he’d like Mitch Trubisky to return next season:“I expect Mitch will be on the roster subsequent yr and be an nice backup if we want him,” he said. “I think he confirmed that he can be that. We can win with him.”Trubisky was set to earn over $10 million, however his contract used to be signed with him last the starter into year two of the deal. The could’ve saved $8 million via cutting him all through the 2023 offseason, however, the now former Steelers quarterback was once prolonged an extra two years based totally on the vote of self assurance through the proprietor and the need to drag some of his 2023 earnings out into subsequent years for cap relief.Unfortunately when we write this article one yr from now, we will see that choice proved to be a poor one by the front office.
Omar Khan technology begins
Speaking of the the front office, the 2023 offseason as well as the 2023 NFL Draft would prove to be firsts for new commonplace supervisor Omar Khan, who’s season officially started out without the oversight of preceding GM Kevin Colbert following the conclusion of the 2022 NFL Draft.Khan would have a lot of work to do with other headlining testimonies taking core stage…
Pending free agents
The first order of business in the Omar Khan generation would be which contemporary Steelers remain and which ones are let go.Among the principal names that had been set to hit free business enterprise have been defensive starters, along with Larry Ogunjobi, Cameron Sutton, and Terrell Edmunds. A variety of inner linebackers had been additionally scheduled to test the market, with Devin Bush and Robert Spillane being two of the three rotational starters at inside linebacker that were unlikely to return.The well-documented catch 22 situation with Mitch Trubisky’s contract additionally paired with Mason Rudolph‘s contract expiring left many questioning who the Kenny Pickett’s backup could be.
Some different longer-term Steelers were additionally on the bubble, as Tyson Alualu, Chris Wormley, Derek Watt and Zach Gentry had been all scheduled to will become free retailers as well. (And in the case of this list, none of the four would be on the 2023 Steelers roster.)
Three top 50 draft picks
By advantage of trading WR Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears in the course of the season, the Steelers picked up an additional 2nd round draft selection. It would flip out that the Bears would be the worst crew in the NFL and the function of that pick would be number 32: a rare prevalence as the pinnacle pick out of the 2d round, as the Miami Dolphins forfeited a first round choice as punishment for free employer tampering.That intended the Steelers had been set to have three preferences in the pinnacle 50 preferences of the 2023 NFL Draft, choosing at numbers 17, 32 and 49.
Fans have been abuzz all offseason making an attempt to determine out which pinnacle names the team may want to land, and in a future article, we will element that this draft type didn’t disappoint!
Alex Highsmith extension
The remaining large order of enterprise that used to be looming giant over the Steelers 2023 offseason used to be an extension for LB Alex Highsmith, who was once coming into the closing year of his unique four-year rookie contract.During the 2022 season Highsmith finished sixth in the league with 14.5 sacks – which used to be additionally a crew best. Since changing Melvin Ingram as a starter in Week 6 of 2021, Highsmith had 20.5 sacks in 29 games.
That’s why it made experience for the Steelers to start talks with Highsmith as an alternative than waiting. Getting in advance of inflation and making sure they maintain their homegrown stars in-house ought to is continually a precedence and Khan used to be certain to see to it that Highsmith would be a Steelers for years to come.
