Steelers perfect offseason plan in 3 steps

If the Steelers want to be Super Bowl contenders next year they need a strong offseason. These three moves could be perfection for Pittsburgh. 

The Steelers managed to scrap and claw to a 9-8 regular season record last season, but that’s not good enough for head coach Mike Tomlin. He will demand offseason changes from the team’s front office in hopes of making Pittsburgh a legitimate title contender again.

The organization is banking on internal improvement from Kenny Pickett at the quarterback position, but he needs better protection. In a perfect world, the Steelers would come out of this offseason with a quality starter at left tackle they can count on for the foreseeable future.

Cornerback represents the most pressing need for the franchise. The Steelers struggled mightily in pass coverage for long stretches of the 2022 campaign. One thing Pittsburgh definitely can’t afford is to let their best corner walk via free agency. That’s why the first step on the team’s to-do list should be to retain one of its top defenders.

3. Steelers need to re-sign Cameron Sutton

Sutton quietly made the big transition from solid slot corner to quality starter on the outside last year. Predictably, that’s going to earn him a lot of money from a team looking to improve its secondary in the coming weeks.

The Steelers need to make a strong, multi-year contract offer if they want to retain his services. Losing him would make the biggest weakness on the team even more severe. Pittsburgh might not want to pay Sutton top-tier money at the cornerback position but losing him would be a disaster. This is a spot where the team needs to begrudgingly pay whatever is required to keep Sutton in the fold.