It’s never a good idea to look back in sports, especially for teams in the NFL who are coming into free agency on the heels of a disappointing season. The job of the front office and the coaching staff is to identify the area that need work and then to go out into the market and find the players that will plug those holes, all while working with a tight salary cap situation. The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a nightmare season where it looked as though they would never have enough healthy bodies to be able to compete. The fact that they were still in the playoff hunt heading into the final week of the season is a testament to the job done by Mike Tomlin and the rest of his coaching staff. The Steelers do not have a ton of cap space, but they have already made a few very solid moves in free agency that could set them up nicely for the coming season. Here’s an overview of the Pittsburgh Steelers and their NFL Odds as it stands.
Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Odds After Free Agency Week 1
Player Movement and Possible Future Moves
Last season got off to a disastrous start for the Pittsburgh Steelers, with QB Ben Roethlisberger getting injured in Week 2 and being out for the season. The injuries began to pile up after that, and all in key positions. At one point, Pittsburgh were playing with a 3rd string QB and pulling guys off the practice squad to fill in at running back. They still managed to go 8-5, thanks in large part to a ridiculously good defense, before running out of gas and losing the final 3 games of the season.
What became clear is that the Steelers do not yet have an adequate replacement for Big Ben when he decides to retire, which might not be that far in the future. Roethlisberger is recovering well and should be ready to go at the start of the new season, but that had not stopped the Steelers adding pieces to shore up both the offense and the defense.
Their moves began with an attempt to shore up the offensive line, which they did by bringing in Super Bowl winner Stefen Wizniewski from the Kansas City Chiefs. He will replace Ramon Foster, who announced his retirement. The Steelers were a little underwhelming at the TE position last season, so the addition of Eric Ebron should help take some of the weight off Vance McDonald, who had a down year last season. The Steelers also went out and got Derek Watt, brother of T.J. to add to special teams. One of the defensive stars of last season, Bud Dupree, was handed the franchise tag, a move that they really needed to make given that they do not have a ton of cap space to work with.
I think it’s fair to suggest that we don’t really know where this team stands based on the injuries they had last season, so it will be interesting to follow the Steelers in 2020.
The Pittsburgh Steelers Odds to Win the Super Bowl
One of the exciting things for the Steelers is that the core of their defensive group is still quite young, so expect them to dominate again this season. If they can stay healthy and the offense improves with the return of Big Ben, the Steelers might be a good pick at +2500.
