Matt Canada Watch hit Day 4 on Thursday. Last I checked, he was still here. If he's still here Monday, I would bet he's your offensive coordinator for 2023. (Congratulations!)
But that's a story for another day. I have a few other things crossing my cranium as the Steelers begin a critical offseason ...
— Unless they can guarantee themselves a better option, the Steelers should keep Mitch Trubisky for the second and final year of his contract, whether he wants to be here or not.
How does that saying go? If your starting quarterback is the most important player on the team, then your backup is second — if he has to play.
I would hate to see the Steelers torpedo a promising season by going on the cheap for an inferior backup. The hope, obviously, is Kenny Pickett plays all 17 games. But quarterbacks are going down all over the league these days, and Pickett already has sustained two concussions. It feels more important than ever to secure the backup situation.
Trubisky would be a $10.2 million cap hit. The Steelers can save $8 million on their cap if they cut or trade him. To some, that might seem like a great spot to save money. And maybe the Steelers ask Trubisky to take a pay cut (which I'm guessing he'd refuse). To others, like me, that doesn't seem exorbitant for an excellent insurance policy — and a guy who seems to do better in a backup role than as the starter (even when he starts in a backup role, if that makes sense). And remember, you're not paying Pickett big money yet.
Trubisky seems to have more of an aggressive attitude when he's not No. 1 on the depth chart. He played great jumping in for an injured Pickett against Tampa Bay and very well as the starter-in-relief in Carolina. He also had some rough games, but that's why he's a backup, right?
If the Steelers could find somebody such as Jacoby Brissett, great. Get him and maybe save some cash. But if they're looking at, say, Josh Dobbs as the primary backup, that's a bad and potentially ruinous decision.
Make it easy: Keep the guy you have under contract. Invest in a hugely important position. Trubisky will be OK, even if he'd rather be elsewhere.
— There's just no way a team should be as dependent on one player — outside of a franchise quarterback — as the Steelers are on T.J. Watt.
He's great. He changes games. He's probably the best defensive player in the league. I get it. But to go from nearly unbeatable to expansion level because of one player? To go from beating Joe Burrow to losing to Zach Wilson because of one guy? Can't happen.
The 1995 Steelers lost an all-time great — Rod Woodson — for the entire season and managed to find their way to the Super Bowl.
Since the beginning of last season, the Steelers are 1-9 when Watt doesn't play, 17-6-1 when he does — and I'm convinced if Tom Brady gets the ball late in the Tampa game, the former record would be 0-10. The Steelers don't win when Watt leaves games early, either, which happened multiple times last season (the Detroit tie, the Minnesota loss as examples).
This is not a sustainable model, and the way Watt plays (maniacally), the Steelers should assume he's going to miss time or be compromised in multiple games and make a better contingency plan.
They had a good one two years ago when they signed Melvin Ingram, but that was before he quit. And in the two seasons since, Watt has established quite an injury history. If backup quarterback is critical, so is backup edge rusher, particularly in this case. Malik Reed didn't cut it.
Find a much better veteran or draft a versatile linebacker early in the draft who can play outside and inside. Something. Anything.
— I'd never thought of Bill Cowher's final season here as worthy of Coach of the Year votes. He went 8-8. But in light of all adulation being heaped upon Mike Tomlin for going 9-8 this season — a phenomenal, miraculous, award-worthy job is what I hear locally and nationally — maybe it's time to revisit Cowher's 2006 campaign.
Like Tomlin this year, Cowher started 2-6 and rebounded big time, going 6-2 down the stretch — and did so with a broken quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger nearly died in a motorcycle accident the month before training camp, came back looking nothing his previous self, missed the opener because of an emergency appendectomy and soon after sustained a concussion.
No wonder, then, that Roethlisberger had the only horrible year of his career — the only year where his interceptions (23) outnumbered his touchdowns (18).
Also, that was the Steelers' first season in many years without heart-and-soul leader Jerome Bettis. Safeties Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark missed a combined seven games. Santonio Holmes was a mostly ineffective rookie. Heath Miller wasn't yet who he would be. Center Jeff Hartings limped through the final season of his career.
And yet, after starting 2-6, Cowher's team did not quit. And unlike this year's team, it even beat some real quarterbacks down the stretch (MVP finalist Drew Brees and Pro Bowl pick Carson Palmer). The capper was an overtime win at Cincinnati that eliminated the Bengals from the playoffs.
Now, I would never compare it to this year's miracle — beating the likes of Tyler Huntley, Sam Darnold, Andy Dalton, Marcus Mariota and Matt Ryan with the NFL's highest-paid defense — but looking back, it wasn't too shabby.
