On Sunday evening, Russell Wilson announced that he would be signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers when the new league year opens on Wednesday, March 13. This is a huge coup for the Steelers, who will be acquiring a proven quarterback with Super Bowl experience for the veteran minimum salary of just $1.2 million. The Denver Broncos will pick up the remainder of Wilson's contract, a whopping $38 million.
The Steelers had an up-and-down season last year but ultimately made the playoffs, losing to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card game. Despite making the postseason, the Steelers were never really considered a threat to win the Super Bowl, largely because of their struggles at quarterback.
Adding a player with Wilson's pedigree is an excellent way for Pittsburgh's front office to address its biggest problem and position the franchise to compete for the Vince Lombardi Trophy this upcoming season.
However, there is still work to be done. These three moves can set the Steelers up nicely to make the most of this season with a proven QB at the helm.
Where do the Steelers still need to improve?
One area in which the Steelers could still improve is their offensive line. Pittsburgh's line is not as bad as its reputation among fans over the past two seasons would suggest. That being said, it's not particularly a strength, either. Kendrick Green's failure set the team back significantly, as did Kevin Dotson's struggles that ultimately led to the guard being dealt to the Los Angeles Rams.
Broderick Jones looks like a promising player, but the front office still needs to add at least one tackle and one guard. Really, Pittsburgh could use improvements at both guard positions and center as well as tackle. However, Mason Cole and Isaac Seumalo are serviceable players, and James Daniels could be an excellent reserve option. At a minimum, the team must upgrade one guard and one tackle to make the most of this all-or-nothing season with Wilson under center.
Sign an offensive lineman in free agency
The first avenue for Pittsburgh to upgrade its offensive line is the free agent market. The team should look to sign one of the top guards or tackles available in order to solve at least one problem with their line and put them in a much better position going forward. Their top guard target should be Robert Hunt, and the top tackle they should go after is Jonah Williams.
Hunt has developed nicely and turned into one of the top-10 guards in the league, maybe even top-five. He's a physical player who can knock opposing linemen off the line of scrimmage, creating running lanes for his team's ball carriers. In pass protection, he has a sturdy base and strong frame to keep pass rushers away from his quarterback.
Upgrade another offensive line position in the draft
The next way for the Steelers to improve their line is through the draft. Pittsburgh's draft strategy will depend heavily on what they do in free agency. One option is to go the best player available route. This would mean drafting the best lineman that is left on their board, regardless of where on the line he plays. The other option would be to decide whether they want to target tackle or interior line, and then draft the best player from that position.
Looking at the draft board, Joe Alt and Olu Fashanu are likely to be long gone by the time Pittsburgh is on the clock, unless the team trades up.
That leaves JC Latham, Taliese Fuaga and Amarius Mims as the top o-linemen likely to be available when the Steelers pick. All three are tackle prospects. The best interior linemen in the draft are Jackson Powers-Johnson and Zach Frazier, who are both centers. It is typically easier for a center to switch to guard than for a guard to move to center, so these two are likely to have some positional flexibility. At least one of the two should still be available when the team is on the clock in the second round.
Because of the way that the draft board shakes out, Omar Khan's best option is to target Robert Hunt in free agency. Adding a guard will give the team more room to target one of the top tackle prospects on the board when the draft comes around, regardless of whether that is Latham, Fuaga or Mims.
All three grade out similarly as prospects, and it is likely that at least one of them will be available without the team needing to trade up. In the second round, Pittsburgh could then target one of the interior lineman, who could compete with Cole for the starting center job or Daniels for a guard spot.
Taking this approach would allow the Steelers to address one guard position with a proven NFL player, one tackle position with a blue-chip prospect, and another interior line position with a highly rated prospect.
Keep Diontae Johnson
The third thing the Steelers need to do after signing Russell Wilson is keep the talent at their skill positions intact. Diontae Johnson in particular has long been rumored to be a potential trade candidate. However, with the Steelers going all in on the 2024-25 season, Johnson should still be wearing the black and gold this year.
Johnson is a talented player, and he is likely to put up big numbers with Wilson throwing to him and George Pickens commanding plenty of defensive attention on the other side of the field.
The Steelers have had talent at the skill positions for a couple of years now, but have struggled to unlock it. Wilson is potentially the key to unlocking Pittsburgh's weapons in the passing game. This will also make Najee Harris and Jalen Warren more effective on the ground.
It's important the Steelers don't get ahead of themselves and break up this talented core group of players just as they are about to finally realize their full potential.
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