‘What Are You Believing In?’: NFL Executives Rank Steelers As One Of AFC’s Worst Teams

The hope for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season is that they win a playoff game for the first time since 2016. With a Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Russell Wilson, a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, and an improved defense, there’s a chance it could happen. But NFL executives aren’t high on the Steelers this season. In a poll of NFL executives “whose backgrounds range from personnel evaluation to contracts/salary cap and analytics/strategy,” put out by The Athletic’s Mike Sando, the Steelers ranked No. 12 in the AFC.

The consensus among the executives was that the Steelers are going to struggle. Not a single executive ranked them above No. 12 in the AFC, while one ranked them at No. 16, or last in the conference, and another at No. 15.

One executive said if you’re believing in the Steelers, it has to be because of Mike Tomlin.

“What are you believing in there?” one exec asked. “You have to believe in Tomlin. The quarterback play and offensive line play was atrocious in preseason.”

Judging the offense strictly by the preseason isn’t the best measure or indicator of success for a number of reasons. For one, guys aren’t playing a full game, and the Steelers also aren’t going to show everything they plan on running offensively in the preseason. In general, the preseason can sometimes be misleading, as the Steelers’ offense looked leaps and bounds better in the preseason than it actually was when it came time for the season in 2023.

With that being said, it’s fair to have concerns about quarterback play and the offensive line, although the line play stabilized a bit in the third preseason game after struggling in the first two. Granted, not having OG Isaac Seumalo for at least Week 1 makes things more difficult. And the Steelers are again relying on Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle, at least early in the season, while hoping Broderick Jones can recover after a bit of a lackluster end to 2023 and an up-and-down preseason. All that with a rookie Zach Frazier at the pivot and it’s certainly understandable to see why people would have concerns.

As far as quarterback goes, Wilson is going to be the starter with a package of plays potentially built in for Justin Fields. Both were unceremoniously cast off by their former team, Wilson cut with Denver eating the most of his salary and Fields traded for a conditional sixth-round pick. Both are looking for a fresh start with the Steelers, and while the expectation is the quarterback play will improve from last season, there’s a chance that both guys can’t find their footing and struggle. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but it’s a legitimate concern.

I don’t really see a world where the Steelers are one of the bottom-four teams in the AFC this season unless things really fall apart, but it was interesting to see every single executive surveyed be down on the Steelers ahead of the season. We’ll see if they’re proven right, but ultimately, I think that Pittsburgh will stay competitive with improved quarterback play, a strong running game and a stout defense.