Inside the Steelers’ Baffling Offseason: Executives Sound the Alarm | 4 Downs

Steelers’ Chaos, Predicting The Tentpole Games, and Howie Roseman’s Canton Case

This week, teams across the NFL are preparing to begin OTAs, and the page is officially turning from the roster-building offseason to the preparations for the 2025 campaign ahead.

Hope is eternal in 32 buildings; be it that this can be a special Super Bowl-caliber season thanks to the returning talent and pieces added over the past two months, or that perhaps, finally, the franchise quarterback capable of lifting the entire roster’s fortunes has finally arrived.

In Philadelphia, general manager Howie Roseman has arguably maintained the deepest roster in the sport, loading the Eagles up for a legitimate run at the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy and second consecutive championship.

But, across the Commonwealth in Pittsburgh, the Steelers are experiencing a vastly different reality.

The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens might be the biggest threat to the Kansas City Chiefs’ reign over the AFC, and both got better during roster-building season, while it might not be an open-and-shut case for the conference champs.

Inside this week’s column, league executives try to make sense of whatever is happening in Pittsburgh, I offer up my way-too-early preseason power rankings, make some bold predictions for the schedule release about to grip the nation this week, and attempt to put Roseman’s burgeoning legacy among the greats in the history of the game into perspective.

Let’s get after it.

First Down: Steelers at a Crossroads ‘Flying Blind’ Into 2025

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

For an organization that prides itself on being a heritage franchise boasting a tradition of excellence and a track record of reaching the postseason 8 of the past 11 seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offseason has been one more of a team at a crossroads than one trying to break through a glass ceiling.

From waiting on Aaron Rodgers to emerge from his solitary stroll down the beach in search of the meaning of his life, hoping he’ll sign up to play in the Iron City, to acquiring DK Metcalf only to later dispatch George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys, uncharacteristically, general manager Omar Khan doesn’t just seem to be taking a wait and see approach but rather appears to be flying blind in the middle of the night.

“George Pickens is a really good wide receiver,” an NFC scout tells me, on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. “He adds another weapon for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys, to keep defenses honest and on guard.

“He also creates wide open opportunities for CeeDee Lamb and the players they now have out of the backfield.”

For the Cowboys, acquiring Pickens could potentially be the move that lifts Dallas back into relevance in the NFC, perhaps even moving the needle incrementally closer to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East.

But, for the Steelers, offloading Pickens unquestionably makes the offense less explosive and rips up what had the potential of a promising blueprint of pairing two deep threats, opposite Metcalf, in an offense that was at its best when it pushed the ball vertically in 2024.

The timing couldn’t be worse for the Steelers, who dealt Pickens after the NFL Draft concluded for a meager third-round pick and late-round pick swap, undercutting the playmaking wide receiver with a career 16.3 yards per catch’s trade value, and delaying the impact of the assets acquired for him on any sort of impending rebuild.

“It’s not good,” a rival AFC Scouting Director told me of the Steelers’ offseason.

After falling to the Ravens in the AFC Wild Card round, rather than push the envelope along the offensive line or, most importantly, upgrade at quarterback, the Steelers’ future at the most important position in sports remains uncertain as it ever has been.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s marquee additions of veteran cornerback Darius Slay and first-round pick Derrick Harmon could be impactful, but there isn’t an argument that exists that this team is any closer to winning the AFC North let alone pushing for a postseason win or Super Bowl championship than they were walking off the field in Baltimore in January.

“They don’t have a starting quarterback,” the Scouting Director points out “They lose Pickens’ talent, but also his locker room baggage. I’ll say, their defense is better, for sure, but they have not done anywhere near enough to compete.

“With a lesser quarterback, you have to surround him with talent, but they largely spent the offseason losing talent, not gaining it.”

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

To the Steelers’ credit, dropping a veteran like Slay, who held opposing quarterbacks to a 78.3 passer rating when targeting him, opposite Joey Porter Jr. could be a significant upgrade.

Meanwhile, Harmon is a plug-and-play high-impact starter.

However, adding two defenders to a defense that allowed 20.4 points per game last season feels like straddling the line between trying to rebuild and attempting to win on the fly, while doing very little to bolster a wildly inconsistent offense.

Based on the Baltimore Ravens going all-in the past two offseasons, adding game-altering talent on both sides of the football, and the Bengals ensuring playmaking receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are whole and happy, the top-half of the division feels further from Pittsburgh’s grasp than it has in years.

If the Steelers don’t find some path at quarterback, and quickly, and even if it is Rodgers who opens the season behind center, if he doesn’t improve on a woeful season with the New York Jets, there are plenty of veterans on this roster who are going to look around and wonder if it’s worth sticking around for. Namely T.J. Watt, who is entering the final year of his contract.

Does Watt really want to commit to a haphazard rebuild with no direction at quarterback, or would the four-time All-Pro and former Defensive Player of the Year prefer to shop around for the most lucrative deal that also offers his best chance at winning a ring?

“They have too many good players who are going to suffer if they keep going down this path,” the Scouting Director tells me.

Tomlin has famously never had a sub-.500 season since taking the job in 2007, but that streak feels more at risk than ever, given how this season has played out, with the expectation that it will be Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, or sixth-round rookie Will Howard behind center.

Are any of those quarterbacks beating Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, or Josh Allen when it matters most? Do any of those quarterbacks elevate the players around them? Is this a defense that’s capable of masking an offense that looks primed to spend at least part of the season searching for an identity?

The answer to all of those questions, at this moment, feels like a resounding “no.”

“I’m not saying Mike Tomlin is thinking this, but sometimes coaches with long tenures think they can out-coach opponents and also develop every player into more than what they are.”

The problem? As one NFL agent put it to me bluntly:

“This offseason looks like a ‘Fire Mike Tomlin’ concept.”

---

Between The Hashmarks is independent and reader-supported NFL journalism. If you’re a football fan who enjoys in-depth coverage of NFL news, with analysis and insights from sources across the league, please consider becoming a subscriber today!