Tim Benz: Plenty of Steelers issues to criticize of late — but not offense/defense payroll disparity

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ decision to sign outside linebacker Alex Highsmith to a $68 million extension has been applauded by some. Others see it as overspending on an above average, but not great, player.

One thing is for sure, the signing has kicked up another wave of scolding the Steelers for having a payroll imbalance between their offensive and defensive depth charts.

There have been plenty of areas where the Steelers have opened themselves up to criticism over these past six years without a playoff win. But this critique is misplaced and overblown.

According to Spotrac.com, the Steelers are allocating $110.6 million toward the defensive side of the ball. That’s 48.6% of their adjusted salary cap dollars. That’s fourth most in the NFL for both categories, and it’s not yet counting Highsmith’s contract. Only the Chargers, Bills and Seahawks rank in front of the Steelers in both categories.

Based on Spotrac’s total, of the 10 teams who currently spend the most on defense, only three of them — the Bills (2nd, $118 million), Giants (5th, $104 million) and 49ers (9th, $101 million) — won a playoff game last year.

Meanwhile, at $101.5 million, the Steelers’ offensive spending ranks 18th, with an adjusted cap percentage of 44.3% (19th).

That has baited some, such as FS1’s Colin Cowherd, into ripping the Steelers for being out of touch with what wins in the NFL these days, especially in comparison to some other AFC rivals.

Namely, the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

“Kansas City’s view? Spend the money on offense. Keep the defense young fast, cheap and fresh. If they get hurt, they recover more quickly. The Steelers’ worldview? More sacks! The Steelers have led the NFL in sacks for the past six years. Zero playoff wins … zero,” Cowherd said Thursday on “The Herd.”

"The Steelers' world view? More sacks... Success is about staying current."

— @ColinCowherd illustrates the difference between Pittsburgh and Kansas City pic.twitter.com/NysGYW1gJ3

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 20, 2023

I’ll agree with Cowherd and other critics that the NFL has become an offense-first, passing league. I’ll also agree with Cowherd that the old-school “you win championships with a run game and defense” credo is antiquated. I’ll even agree that the Steelers’ offense isn’t up to modern standards.

But that’s not because of payroll allocation. Using the offense/defense split of the payroll is just circumstantial, low-hanging fruit.

First of all, as the numbers above point out, while the Steelers are in the top 5 of defensive spending, they aren’t spending too much more on the defensive side of the ball in terms of raw dollars. And that’s with a starting quarterback (Kenny Pickett) in just the second year of his entry-level contract.

Second, of the Steelers’ top 10 salary cap hits this year (including what Highsmith’s new number will be when officially calculated), only four are on the defensive side of the ball — T.J. Watt ($29.3 m), Cameron Heyward ($22.2 m), Minkah Fitzpatrick ($7.9 m) and Highsmith (TBD).

Five are on offense — Diontae Johnson ($16.3 m), Chuks Okorafor ($13.3 m), James Daniels ($11.1 m), Mason Cole ($6.9 m) and Mitch Trubisky ($6 m). The 10th is kicker Chris Boswell at $5.6 million.

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Finally, building off of that previous point about Pickett’s entry-level contract, whatever the Steelers are failing to spend on offensive talent, they sure are making up for it in draft capital.

Five of the 11 potential opening-day starters on offense — Pickett, Broderick Jones, Najee Harris, George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth — are all first- or second-round picks playing on their entry-level contracts. So of course they aren’t making a lot of money.

Of the remaining six starters, four of them are in that group of names listed above in the top 10 of the team’s payroll. And if Dan Moore starts instead of Jones at left tackle, he’s on his entry-level deal as well.

Not to mention that as recently as 2017, OverTheCap.com notes the Steelers as leading the NFL in offensive spending at $94.8 million.

In 2018, the offense dropped to 17th overall. But that’s only because they tried to pay Le’Veon Bell, and he was just too stubborn to take it, so he sat out the year. The roster still had Ben Roethlisberger at $17 million, Antonio Brown at $16.7 million and four veteran offensive linemen (Maurkice Pouncey, Ramon Foster, Alejandro Villanueva, and David DeCastro) who totaled $23.23 million.

How many playoff wins did the Steelers get in those years? To borrow a phrase from Cowherd: “Zero … zero.”

Look, maybe we’ll find out the young players they have recently drafted just aren’t good enough. But if they are, they are going to get paid. A lot. Then we’ll be complaining that the club doesn’t spend enough on defense. It’s cyclical.

For the time being, the issues with the Steelers offense are much more about youth, inexperience, play calling and scheme. Not payroll allocation.

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter preview the opening of Steelers training camp, which launches next Thursday.