its rebuild /retool time

[Dwinsgames]

Got to keep Sutton , he will be the most reasonably priced IMO and he is not the well known commodity that Hilton is ...Haden's age could keep his price down but he is a short term guy at this point 1-2 year deal and if 2 years team has to have a friendly out after 1....

as for Pierre , I'll wait n see but not put to many eggs in that basket remember Hilton was an UDFA too and the only reason he found success is because Steelers got eyes on him while scouting Senquez Golson whom they drafted in round 2 and medically flunked out of the league .. in steps Hilton and does everything we expected Golson to do at a much cheaper rate ...the price just went up dramatically tho ....

[Dwinsgames]

UNRESTRICTED: NT Tyson Alualu, T Zach Banner, P Jordan Berry, RB James Conner, SS Jordan Dangerfield, FS Sean Davis, QB Joshua Dobbs, OLB Bud Dupree, OLB Jayrone Elliott, G Matt Feiler, T Jerald Hawkins, CB Mike Hilton, G Danny Isidora, OLB Cassius Marsh, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, CB Cam Sutton, T Alejandro Villanueva, ILB Avery Williamson, and DE Chris Wormley.




RESTRICTED: OLB Ola Adeniyi, WR Ray-Ray McCloud.


thats a whole lot of roster to fill with almost no money

[Mojouw]

I dunno, I am almost certainly wrong, but the idea of massive roster turnover just isn't that worrying to me anymore. I look at the various lists and I see like 4 guys that are above the "just an average NFL roster player" line. Is it really going to be all that hard to replace guys like Dangerfield and Sean Davis?

Hilton, Dupree, Sutton, and Juju will hurt. That's for sure. But think about it this way....those guys were not enough to get over the hump. So what is the point with maxing out and running it back? Time to take your cap medicine and identify another way to build out your roster.

It may not immediately bear fruit (I think the 2021 Steelers will take a step or two backwards) but it should be really interesting to watch.

[86WARD]

[Shoes]

I hope we can keep Alualu & wormley

[86WARD]

Hilton, JuJu and Sutton are the three I want them to keep.

[Dwinsgames]

I dunno, I am almost certainly wrong, but the idea of massive roster turnover just isn't that worrying to me anymore. I look at the various lists and I see like 4 guys that are above the "just an average NFL roster player" line. Is it really going to be all that hard to replace guys like Dangerfield and Sean Davis?

Hilton, Dupree, Sutton, and Juju will hurt. That's for sure. But think about it this way....those guys were not enough to get over the hump. So what is the point with maxing out and running it back? Time to take your cap medicine and identify another way to build out your roster.

It may not immediately bear fruit (I think the 2021 Steelers will take a step or two backwards) but it should be really interesting to watch.

when Alu Alu was out the defense was significantly less successful , Feiler and AV while neither are "great" will still require a significant investment to replace and the continuity of the line itself being the left side of the line ( blind side ) so I believe they will be missed as well .... sure we can plug Dotson in at guard reducing the cost but that leaves nothing in terms of quality depth meaning we still need to address that with costly contracts we can not afford or draft picks which limits are ability to concentrate on the areas we are most deficient ...

RB
QB ( if Ben retires and maybe even if he does not )
LT
LG
ILB depth
OLB depth
NT
S depth

are all significant needs right now

[Mojouw]

when Alu Alu was out the defense was significantly less successful , Feiler and AV while neither are "great" will still require a significant investment to replace and the continuity of the line itself being the left side of the line ( blind side ) so I believe they will be missed as well .... sure we can plug Dotson in at guard reducing the cost but that leaves nothing in terms of quality depth meaning we still need to address that with costly contracts we can not afford or draft picks which limits are ability to concentrate on the areas we are most deficient ...

RB - one of the easiest positions to acquire talented players at. Just because the Steelers stink at it doesn't mean it is impossible.
QB ( if Ben retires and maybe even if he does not ) - this needs to happen no matter what
LT - Okafor and Hawkins
LG Dotson
ILB depth I would argue they have depth (Spillane) and need a STARTER
OLB depth Yup...this will be not easy
NT - Another issue. I suspect they can get Alualu to come back for another season at a reasonable cost
S depth At least they are finally going to have to address this!

are all significant needs right now

Looking at the above you hit the draft with three major needs: QB/C/RB and three depth needs S/OL/LB. It is an ambitious set of priorities and likely will not be accomplished in one draft and/or off-season. The depth of the roster will be compromised in 2021. But with the issues at QB...depth will be the least of their concerns.

For me, I have no interest in this team treading water and being a fringe playoff team for years. I would rather see a significant step back in 2021, take the cap medicine, rebuild the depth, acquire promising new players at key positions, and re-emerge as early as 2022 with a seriously competitive team.

Unfortunately, the Steelers are not wired this way. They will almost certainly try to have it all ways at once - rebuild, reload, and be compete. That is a tall order and is a feat rarely pulled off well.

[Squeegee Thompson]

Of that list of FAs, the only ones I think they have to try and keep are Dupree, Sutton and Hilton. It'd suck to lose JuJu, but he's really not as irreplaceable as he seemed to be earlier. The WR room is loaded. JuJu can go make his huge contract $ in Las Vegas.

Dupree is the guy who makes TJ the monster that he is. When he commands respect and help from the right side, that opens up the space for TJ to wreak his special brand of havoc. Maybe Hightower can take that role in a few years, but he's not there yet. As injuries have shown, you also need at least 3 exceptional OLBs in the 3-4 system. The odds of both of your starters taking the majority of the snaps for 16 games is extremely low. I'd like to see at least an offer made to Dupree, maybe even franchise tag the guy.

Hilton defines the personality of the secondary when he's out there. Nasty little SOB with a nose for the football and an uncanny ability to time and disguise his blitzes. When the rest of the defense seems content to just throw a shoulder into the Derrick Henrys of the league and hope they go down, Hilton flies around with complete disregard for his body and safety. If you wanna be the #1 defense in the NFL, you need more Hiltons and fewer Mark Barron-types. Tone-setters.

Sutton is the heir-apparent to Joe Haden when his time is up or he becomes a cap casualty. They don't exactly have a DB room full of lockdown-type guys right now, so that make his signing all the more important. He's shown steady improvement with each year and looks to be ready to take a starting role.

Most of the rest of those guys are just JAGs (Markus Allen, Sean Davis, Rodney Dangerfield, etc) or are over-the-hill and easily expendible (Villy, Alualu). Some painful cuts will need to happen, but I think they have to make a priority of signing Dupree, Hilton and Sutton.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Hilton, JuJu and Sutton are the three I want them to keep.

Banner tweeted today "best exit interview ever". I think a good chance that he and agent work a deal to be in B&G next season.

[dislocatedday]

I dunno, I am almost certainly wrong, but the idea of massive roster turnover just isn't that worrying to me anymore. I look at the various lists and I see like 4 guys that are above the "just an average NFL roster player" line. Is it really going to be all that hard to replace guys like Dangerfield and Sean Davis?

Hilton, Dupree, Sutton, and Juju will hurt. That's for sure. But think about it this way....those guys were not enough to get over the hump. So what is the point with maxing out and running it back? Time to take your cap medicine and identify another way to build out your roster.

It may not immediately bear fruit (I think the 2021 Steelers will take a step or two backwards) but it should be really interesting to watch.

Exactly, why should the Steelers need to try and keep a majority of those players, or expensive aging vets, when the team is not exactly consistently in the playoffs these past few years, much less competing for a SB?

Dupree, Hilton, Sutton, and JuJu are are the only players that would be good pieces going forward IMO (I like James Connor but I also think that he can be replaced). Some will leave for greener ($$$) pastures, but the Steelers will likely sign a couple of them (my guess is Sutton is at least one guy who stays).

The real blue-chip younger players are the ones they will need to retain on 2nd contracts and build around for the future (Watt, Fitzpatrick, Bush, Claypool are the current ones that come to my mind), and obviously we all hope they find another guy to be the long-term answer at QB within a couple years. Draft well from there and fill out the roster as necessary.