Tim Benz: Steelers' self-created depth chart issues enough to lower regular-season predictions

For much of the offseason, my belief about the Pittsburgh Steelers was that they’d be 10-7. Again.

That they’d be the last team in the AFC playoff bracket. Again.

And that they’d finish the season without a playoff win. Again. For an eighth consecutive year.

I’m modifying that. Now I think that sounds a little too optimistic. Drop me down to an official prediction of 9-8 and the last team to be eliminated from the playoff tree.

My initial thought that they’d make the playoffs was tenuous in the first place. Now, too many problems have cropped up in the offseason to assume that same result.

Most of those problems have been self-created.

The offensive line injuries aren’t the Steelers’ fault. They can’t do anything about that. Isaac Seumalo’s pectoral injury, Troy Fautanu’s knee, Broderick Jones’ elbow and Nate Herbig’s rotator cuff are just bad luck.

What you can blame them for is having the offensive line in a state of flux throughout the offseason. Maybe some of Broderick Jones’ problems in the preseason have had to do with him flip-flopping between right tackle and left tackle. Maybe he’s still healthy if he’s playing on the left side instead of the right side during that snap in practice when he got injured.

The status of the wide receiver room? That’s definitely an issue of the Steelers’ own making as well. They’ve left George Pickens as the lone receiver of significance on the outside. He is going to see double teams ad nauseam, and God help the passing attack if he should suffer an injury of any significance.

The Steelers got high on their own supply and read too many of their own headlines when it came to their reputation of being able to find a wide receiver wherever and whenever they wanted. After trading Diontae Johnson for Donte Jackson in March with no immediate backup plan, the Steelers needed a No. 2 receiver through free agency, the draft, or a trade.

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Most receivers didn’t move in free agency. Those that did, the Steelers didn’t want to pay to sign. The Brandon Aiyuk trade proved too difficult to swing. Ironically, perhaps it would’ve been easier if general manager Omar Khan had kept Johnson as an option to go back to San Francisco — as the 49ers seemed to want a receiver in return in any trade for Aiyuk — and they could’ve bolstered the position.

Jackson appears to be an upgrade at corner. You have to wonder, though, if he could’ve been acquired for a lesser price later in the offseason, or if Carolina may have even considered releasing him as had been rumored in advance of the trade.

I understand that Khan and Mike Tomlin were motivated to move Johnson out of Pittsburgh. The question needs to be asked, however, if they really improved as much at the No. 2 cornerback position as they ended up declining at the No. 2 receiver spot.

Van Jefferson is plenty capable as a No. 3 receiver. The Steelers are putting him in a bad spot by asking him to be a No. 2, and he’ll be totally overslotted as a No. 1 if Pickens gets hurt.

Part of this whole problem is how the Steelers approached the draft. Even if Roman Wilson didn’t get hurt early in training camp, he profiles as a slot player in the NFL and it’s a stretch to assume that he could’ve ever been a legit second receiving option on the outside as a rookie.

But when the Steelers doubled down on the offensive line in the first two picks with Fautanu and Zach Frazier, Wilson became the best the team could do at pass catcher in the third round. Thirteen were off the board before Wilson was chosen at pick No. 84.

For as tempting as Fautanu was, if the franchise loves Dan Moore Jr. as the left tackle as much as it seems, then it might have been wise to hold off on first-round tackles in back-to-back years and wait to solve that 2025 vacancy when Moore leaves as a free agent in, you know, 2025.

If Khan had taken a first-round receiver or a slot corner instead of Fautanu, he could’ve still gotten Frazier in the second round. Or draft Frazier, Graham Barton or Jackson Powers-Johnson as a center in the first round, then take the receiver or the slot corner in the second round.

Oh, yeah. Slot corner. Have we mentioned slot corner yet?

Right now, their best slot corner is probably Cam Sutton. He’s not eligible until after Week 8. Even if that was a surprise to the Steelers, a six-week suspension shouldn’t have been. Yet, until he is eligible, the Steelers have no one better suited to man that position than an undrafted rookie in Beanie Bishop, or their second-best safety in DeShon Elliott.

Then there is the small matter of the quarterbacks. Will whatever combination they get out of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields be better than what they got out of Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky for the first 14 weeks of 2023? Probably.

Will it be better than what they got out of Mason Rudolph during the last three weeks of 2023? Unlikely. Rudolph was really good during those last three games.

Is Russell Wilson going to be more like the quarterback we saw in Seattle or the guy Denver is paying $37 million to play elsewhere? I fear it’s more the latter. Even if that version of Wilson from Denver is better than the national pundits have suggested, I’m still skeptical of how positive that’s going to be.

Whatever Wilson and/or Fields give the Steelers in 2024 may not prove to be a better option than signing Kirk Cousins for $180 million. Let’s just hope Wilson is better than Cousins on Sunday when the Steelers visit Cousins’ new team in Atlanta for the season opener.

The odds-makers don’t seem to think so. Most outlets have the Steelers as a three-point underdog against a Falcons squad that was 7-10 last year and fired the head coach that Pittsburgh decided to hire as its offensive coordinator.

Most of those same outlets only have the Steelers at an over-under win total of 8½ games. They must see these many flaws with the Steelers too. They don’t really care why they exist. They just know that they do.

If Steelers fans are to set their expectations realistically, they should acknowledge those shortcomings as well.

Like it or not.