Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Tuesday.
The Kickoff
We are closing in on one full week since free agency (the legal part) began. Depending upon your point of view the Pittsburgh Steelers either have their quarterback for 2025 in Mason Rudolph or they don’t. It seems the Steelers are still all-in on Aaron Rodgers who right now is playing this like Charlie Daniels played the fiddle. He knows the Steelers are desperate and apparently he really doesn’t care where he plays in 2025 so long as he gets paid. Regardless of what happens, I’ve never believed that the organization was much for the coming year. It feels instead like they are gunning for 2026 and that makes sense. They’ve signed most of their free agents to one-year deals and they appear to be in line for a number of compensatory draft picks too. With the NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh next year, this just has all the feels of a big moment in which the Steelers get their QB of the future. Or maybe… they go 8-9 in ‘25 and we run things back all over again. Heck, I just don’t know what to think at this point.
The D-Line
The Steelers brought back Isaiahh Loudermilk yesterday in a move that almost feels like it was made in pity. You’ll recall that the Steelers moved up to get him in the Draft and despite a decent rookie season, he’s never worked out. At best he’s a camp body but not much more. Pittsburgh also brought in veteran defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale who is 31-years old. This will be his fourth team in seven seasons and I see him as purely a rotational player and not much more. I honestly don’t know how they pass on a defensive lineman at pick 21 unless the top guys are already gone. The unit is still quite a mess and needs help.
Safety Help
The Steelers have signed yet another free agent to a one-year contract. This time they’ve brought Juan Thornhill over from Cleveland. Thornhill has two Super Bowl rings from his time in Kansas City where he was drafted. He then spent the last two seasons with the Browns. He’s missed 12 games in the past two seasons due to injury so that is a concern. With Cam Sutton and Damontae Kazee unlikely to return, this was a needed addition. Thornhill is an exceptional athlete who played a lot of cornerback in his earlier time.
Random Reads
I used to love ‘March Madness.’ Now? I’ve probably watched all of ten minutes of basketball this year. My passion for the Steelers has taken up most of what I had left for other sports and frankly, hoops just doesn’t do it for me anymore… Would you have ever thought that the Pittsburgh Steelers would allow themselves to be held hostage by a quarterback that the New York Jets didn’t even want? That’s where we are now… As most of you know, I’m not a fan of regular season football being played away from NFL stadiums. Therefore, I have to wonder what fans of the Chicago Cubs and LA Dodgers must think seeing their teams ope the season in Japan… The Bengals have found a way to keep both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and maybe Trey Hendrickson. Whether they have a defense or not won’t matter in the regular season much but in the playoffs? That’s often a different story.
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