NFL PREVIEW: 2020 PITTSBURGH STEELERS

BY ADAM GREENE

Key Additions: TE Eric Ebron (free agent), LG Stefan Wisniewski (free agent), DE Chris Wormley (free agent), FB Derek Watt (free agent), CB Breon Borders (free agent)

2020 NFL Draft: WR Chase Claypool, Notre Dame (round 2), LB Alex Highsmith, Charlotte (round 3), RB Anthony McFarland Jr, Maryland (round 4), OL KevinDotson, Louisiana-Lafayette (round 4), S Antoine Brooks Jr, Maryland (round 6), DT Carlos Davis, Nebraska (round 7)

Projected Offensive Starters: QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB James Conner, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR James Washington, WR Diontae Johnson, TE Eric Ebron, LT Alejandro Villanueva, LG Stefan Wisniewski, C Maurkice Pouncey, RG David DeCastro, RT Matt Feiler

Projected Defensive Starters: LDE Stephon Tuitt, NT Dan McCullers, RDE Cameron Heyward, WLB T.J. Watt, LILB Vince Williams, RILB Devin Bush, SLB Bud Dupree, LCB Joe Haden, RCB Steven Nelson, SS Terrell Edmunds, FS Minkah Fitzpatrick

K: Chris Boswell

P: Jordan Berry

Head Coach: Mike Tomlin

2019 Record: 8-8, 2^nd place AFC North

A Look Back: The Steelers’ season should have been over the minute Ben Roethlisberger went down in their second game of the season, a loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Instead, after an 0-3 start, Tomlin was able to coax a decent season from his team, alternating between Mason Rudolph and Devlin “Duck” Hodges at quarterback. While neither guy did enough to solidify their positions as Roethlisberger’s heir apparent, they’ll likely keep lucrative NFL back up jobs for a while. Especially Rudolph.

While rolling 8-5 after the early stumble was notable, the Steelers really only beat one winning team all season, the 9-7 Los Angeles Rams. Still, you have to hand it to Tomlin, who likely did his best work as a head coach in a season that didn’t end with a Lombardi Trophy.

2020 Projection: If you want to worry about Pittsburgh’s prospects in the new season, there’s good reason. They made no effort to upgrade Roethlisberger’s back up and considering he’s played in just two full healthy seasons in the last five that could be an issue. This is Roethlisberger’s 17^th season and he’s not a guy that is great at avoiding a collision. Even when he’s not on a football field.

But we can’t project injury possibilities and even if Big Ben missed a couple of games (which happens), the Steelers could still survive it as long as he’s healthy-ish in December for a playoff push.

The positive for Pittsburgh is their schedule, which doesn’t look too different from last season’s. There’s plenty of winnable games on it and while I feel the Ravens will still be good, they won’t be some 13-14 win monster. It doesn’t hurt that their cross-conference match up is with the NFC East with two teams, the New York Giants and Washington Whatevers, that should be easy pickings. If they sweep the Bengals and Browns, that’s six wins right there.

2020 Projected Win Total: 10-6. The Steelers at over 9.5 wins pays at -140 and 10-14 victories pays at +110. I see a split with the Ravens, a sweep of everyone else in the North and wins over the Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars and a nice little “upset” over the Mike McCarthy-led Dallas Cowboys.

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