A life without Big Ben; what does 2022 hold for the Steelers offense?

I’ve been following the Pittsburgh Steelers for many years. But it was only around the time that Ben Roethlisberger, Le’veon Bell and Antonio Brown were harassing the AFC when I properly started to enjoy our offensive play. 

The trio looked resplendent in black and yellow. They were an offensive powerhouse. Since then, I’ve learned that Pittsburgh is particularly famed for their defensive prowess, but it was too late. By then, I was already a Steeler.

I would have to enjoy and endure the fact that we’re generally better at taming passing offenses than creating them these days.

All the same, what I’m trying to get to here is that for the whole time I’ve been a Steelers fan, Big Ben has been ever-present. And back when I first started watching them, he was great. Better than great even. 

On his best days, our franchise QB could sling it with the best of them. But over the past three seasons, father time finally caught up with Number 7 and his lack of mobility, combined with injuries meant that those in Pittsburgh had to endure the slow demise of Mr Roethlisberger.

For everything you gave us, thank you Ben. But please, please, please, for the love of God don’t come out of retirement.

Where does this leave the Steelers as we approach the 2022 season? Should we be excited? Should be we experiencing trepidations and apprehensions of the unknown? 

Or should we just resign ourselves to the fact that it’s time for a rebuild. The Steelers offense is looking suspiciously full of holes and our division just brought in ANOTHER elite QB? Let’s think about it.

New quarterback room for 2022

The obvious place to start. The departure of Big Ben and tragic loss of Dwayne Haskins (Rest in Peace), left the Steelers with Mason Rudolph. 

Some people seem to be able to get behind this guy, but I haven’t seen much that I’ve liked in his play over the past few years. So, Kevin Colbert’s job was looking pretty challenging as he approached his final draft as GM. 

Step forward Mitch Trubisky.

Whilst I was initially underwhelmed with this, it makes total sense. The contract is cheap, the guy was a number two overall pick only five years ago and the team at the Bills sang his praises on his release to Pittsburgh. 

The upsides far outweigh the downsides. If he hits the reset button, we could strike gold. If he flounders again, so be it. Nothing ventured. 

Also, one of his pre-NFL coaches apparently couldn’t pronounce his name properly and nicknamed him ‘Mr Biscuits’, which I love.

Trubisky will be alongside by the only QB to go in the first two rounds in the 2022 NFL Draft, Kenny Pickett. 

Pickett is the most pro-ready QB out of college. But in a weak year, does that make him pro-ready quarterback at all? For me, again, his upsides are enough to make me excited. 

He is mobile and he is accurate, especially at short and medium range. The fact that he’s just spent five years in the same training facility as Mike Tomlin and the team tells me that they must know something more about his potential than you or me.

Are either better than Watson, Jackson or Burrows? Hell no. Definitely not today and probably not ever. But are they good enough to allow the team to compete in the wider League? I think so.

Receiver and TE corp

I’m pleased with the movement at WR in the last year. Gone are drop-machine James Washington and injury-riddled JuJu Smith-Schuster. 

Diontae Johnson goes into the fourth year of his rookie contract having been awarded Pro Bowl honours last season whilst the Steelers WR2. 

Chase Claypool approaches what could be a make-or-break year for the young Canuck. His talent is undeniable. His ceiling is only capped by the young man keeping his head and improving his decision making. 

Between Johnson and Claypool, they should be able to split a defence. Depth does tail off pretty quickly, but the Steelers have a great history of picking up round two or three rookie who really outperform the performance their draft position would suggest.

George Pickens went in the second round but was a likely round one prospect until tearing his ACL in the spring of 2021. The pickup of Calvin Austin III in Round 7 could be interesting. He’s small in stature but his speed is lightning. 

Whilst I’m a smidge bullish about the cheap and cheerful QB room, I’m a bit more reserved on the receiver front in truth. Adding some elite talent here at some point in the future should really be in our eyes.

However, I think Pittsburgh have an excellent TE prospect in Pat Freiermuth. Towards the end of his first season, he was probably playing at the level of an Ertz, or maybe even a Waller or Hockenson – which is excellent. 

Do I truly believe he can be a Kelce, Andrews or Kittle? I’m sceptical, given Kelce is a generational talent and Andrews appears to be telepathically in sync with Lamar Jackson. 

Gentry is yet to hit home but Cam Heyward’s Connor younger brother joins from round six. That family connection could help him settle. 

Frankly, it’s unusual for a team to have more than one decent TE, so we should be pleased with this selection.

O-Line and Running Backs

Najee Harris was an excellent pick-up last year. However, I feel he was way too heavily relied on in 2021.

As clauses go (and I’ll really stretch this metaphor), he’s watertight. The depth behind him leaves a lot to be desired, however.

I really feel like we drop from RB1 to RB4 and skip straight through RB2 and 3…

Defences made light work of our inexperienced offensive line and Big Ben had to use Harris as a get out of jail clause for a large amount of time. 

Probably one of the Steelers biggest issues last year was the O-Line. The lack of experience and, to an extent, the size and power up front left Ben extremely exposed.

Hopefully, a few free agency signings have brought some improvement. Picking up Mason Cole at Center, as well as former Bears Guard James Daniels should really help shore up a pretty brittle wall.

Then, the extension for Chukwuma Okorafor will hopefully pay dividends. Though, I remain to be convinced on this one. 

The one thing I would say is that both Trubisky and Pickett can evade pressure far better than the statuesque Roethlisberger. So perhaps modest improvement is as much as is really needed at this stage.

All in all, will we improve in 2022? I think so, but of course I’m going to say that in May. We’re all full of optimism at this stage of the year. 

A fresh quarterback, one of the best head coaches on the scene now supported by Brian Flores no less, what’s not to like? 

Will I read this back at the end of October and regret my confidence… I’m going to go out on a limb and say probably not.