Welcome to Brian Batko’s Steelers mailbag. You’re more than welcome to email him at bbatko@post-gazette.com, tweet him @BrianBatko or slide into his DMs to inquire about the Steelers, NFL or anything out of bounds.
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Paul from Sacramento: Hi Brian, Love your chats and insight (also the podcasts with Ray) what are your thoughts now of the WR group? do they consider a rd 1? I am still hoping for the DL .. some are now mentioning number 1 going to the safety out of Mich.. Thoughts?
Brian: Thank you, Paul. My thoughts on the current Steelers wide receiver group are: “Uh, hey, where did everybody go?”
I didn’t necessarily think JuJu Smith-Schuster would return, and figured there was no chance for James Washington to want to continue down this road (and vice versa). But Ray-Ray McCloud leaving surprised me, at least until I saw what the 49ers would be paying for Ray-Ray McCloud. Put it this way, it’s quite surprising to me that none of those three are back.
So, where does that leave the Steelers? They need help — obviously — unless they’re about to go back to the Wing-T era offense. You’re right on the money that a first-round talent at defensive line will be tough to pass up. And the longer this goes on without a replacement for Terrell Edmunds, safety is actually the most glaring hole on the roster. But let’s lay out the case for using that 20th overall pick on a wideout, shall we?
• The No. 3 receiver in today’s NFL is, essentially, a starter. So, the Steelers are lacking a starter on offense, and whomever fills the Smith-Schuster/McCloud spot on the depth chart will play a lot of snaps right away.
• The jury is still out on Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool. Sure, the latter was a Pro Bowler last season (as an alternate) and the former looked like a budding star as a rookie, but Johnson’s drop/fumble issues flared up again at a bad time and Claypool seemed to regress in his second year. On paper, Johnson’s production is worthy of a second contract, but for someone who often shrugs off his struggles with ball security, how big will the gap be between what he thinks he’s worth and what the Steelers think? Claypool still has the physical tools of a true No. 1, and maybe his deep-ball ability can thrive with a different quarterback than late-stage Ben Roethlisberger, but the step back he took is alarming. I’m not sure the Steelers should feel comfortable with either one as their go-to guy in the long term, which makes finding a receiver who can be here for a while a high priority.
• Do you see the salaries and assets being invested into top wide receivers lately? Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill are getting crazy money and costing their new teams a lot to acquire them, so the price is going up if you want an elite option at this position. Drafting one and controlling him for four or even five years on a rookie contract could be savvy business.
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Dan W: Any real chance to add the honey badger? Seems like a great leader and obviously fills a need. Can we afford him?
Brian: That’ll be difficult, given how much the Steelers already have spent in free agency. They chose to give out heftier deals at inside linebacker, offensive line and quarterback as opposed to using that at safety. And really, that makes sense, given that they’ll likely have the highest-paid safety in the game when they reach a new deal with Minkah Fitzpatrick.
But I can’t completely discount it, because of all the available options to play next to Fitzpatrick in 2022 — outside free agents, draft prospects, Terrell Edmunds — Tyrann Mathieu is the best fit. He can play underneath, maybe take some chances knowing Fitzpatrick is behind him in the post, plus you can even bring him on blitzes from multiple spots. Here’s what Mike Tomlin said about him before the playoff game: “The Honey Badger [Tyrann Mathieu] is an awesome example of [versatility]. You can play him in the deep middle, in the deep half. You can play him down in the box and blitz him. He's got a history at nickel. He’s well accomplished in that area.”
Mathieu had three interceptions last season (13 over the past three years) and a missed tackle percentage of just 9.5 (his lowest since 2018, per pro-football-reference.com). But he also had an 88.1 passer rating allowed, his highest since 2018, and Pro Football Focus gave him a sub-70 grade for the second straight season. Mathieu, about to turn 30, also could balk at taking less than the three-year, $42 million deal he got from the Chiefs in 2019, but I keep coming back to something Ike Taylor told me about him this time last year when I interviewed him for a Q&A in the offseason.
“Honey Badger. Honey Badger, all day,” Taylor said almost before I was done asking him which player the Steelers let get away when he was around. “Man, as a Pittsburgh Steeler, we just looked at who could be a Pittsburgh Steeler. We don't care about size, height or speed. At the time it was me, Ryan Clark, Mewelde Moore, Keenan Lewis, Mike Wallace — it was just, coming out of college for Honey Badger, he had a few off-the-field issues. We were like, ‘Coach, if you get Honey Badger, man, we got him. Plus, we got Troy [Polamalu], too. He’s going to sit under Troy. Man, this ‘bout to be easy.’
We, I — I know me and Ryan Clark, for sure — begged to get him. Begged, begged, begged, begged to get him. Begged to get him. Begged to get him. Because he’s one of us. He’s a Pittsburgh Steeler.”
That’s quite an endorsement from a guy who knew what it was like to play for Super Bowl-winning Steelers defenses.
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Rick in Orlando: With Watson coming into the division, does this make for a bit of panic to draft a QB in rounds 1 or 2 as we have the 4th best QB in the division now? Or, stand pat and see what happens with MT and ride it out until next year. I personally say wait to draft a QB next year and take care of all the other weaker areas at all other positions right now.
Brian: You’re going to have to specify now when you discuss MT and the Steelers, folks. But I know you’re talking about Mitchell Trubisky here.
And no, I don’t view it that way. The Steelers are simply trying to build the best team they can, rather than trying to be the best at one position than the other teams. Look, I get it. Every year you don’t find “the guy” at quarterback can feel like a waste of a year, a little bit. It sure looks as if the Steelers are falling behind right now as the other three have their franchise QB in place (especially Cincinnati; you could poke holes in the other two if you really want to).
But having Deshaun Watson in the division now could mean you need to zig even more while the other teams zag. You’re going to need the kind of defense that can stop these offenses, or do their best to contain them. Don’t get me wrong, the Steelers need to improve on offense. You can’t be successful scoring as infrequently as they did a year ago. But you might be better off forging a different identity — efficient ball-control offense, smothering and opportunistic defense — than trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Think you have better questions than these? Email bbatko@post-gazette.com or write him on Twitter @BrianBatko.
First Published: March 24, 2022, 3:00 p.m.
Updated: March 24, 2022, 3:22 p.m.