Do Steelers offseason losses outweigh their new additions?

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a lot of roster turnover this offseason, but do the losses outweigh their additions. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to sneak into the playoffs last season as a Wild Card team, but were soundly eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs in the opening round. After that, the Steelers had to prepare for an important offseason, which included finding a successor to the retiring Ben Roethlisberger.

Pittsburgh lost four players of note, such as Roethlisberger, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Joe Haden and Ray-Ray McCloud. But look at the long list of additions the team made this offseason, courtesy of Still Curtain’s Tommy Jaggi.

Do Steelers offseason additions outweigh losses?

When it comes to the quarterback position, this was not the offseason to be in need of one. The free agency and draft classes were noticeably weak as compared to previous years, but Pittsburgh ended up with possibly the best options in each. The team signed Mitchell Trubisky to a two-year contract and selected Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett with their first-round pick. Regardless of who wins the starting job, it will be an improvement over an aging Roethlisberger.

Pittsburgh lost two others player on offenses in Smith-Schuster, who signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs, and Ray-Ray McCloud, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers decided to address the need of wide receiver in the NFL Draft by selecting Georgia’s George Pickens, who had some big hype through the pre-draft process, in the second round. Two rounds later, they took Memphis’ Calvin Austin III. It is difficult for a rookie to make an impact like Ja’Marr Chase did with the Cincinnati Bengals last year, but both playing solidly could do wonders for the offense.

Then, there is Haden, who is still a free agent as of this writing. The Steelers did bring in a corner with starter’s experience in Levi Wallace, who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Buffalo Bills. This past season, Wallace recorded 58 combined tackles, 10 defended passes and two interceptions. In coverage, he allowed 47 receptions for 470 yards and two touchdowns on 81 targets, per Pro Football Reference.

The only way to tell if Pittsburgh’s additions can overcome their losses had this offseason is to see how they do in the upcoming campaign. The Steelers will be in for a challenge, since the AFC has gotten a lot tougher.