This offseason has been incredibly busy for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After the retirement of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger the front office sprung into action to replace him as well as work hard to bolster the offensive line as well fill the holes on defense.
But none of this was enough to impress the folks over at Pro Football Focus. They ranked all 32 NFL rosters ahead of the start of training camp and for the Steelers, the news isn’t great.
PFF ranks the Steelers roster at No. 22 overall. This ranks dead last among teams in the AFC North by a huge margin. PFF has the Cleveland Browns as the best roster in the AFC North at No. 6 followed by the Cincinnati Bengals at No. 8 and the Baltimore Ravens at No. 12.
Here’s what PFF had to say about the struggles on the Steelers offensive line.
The Steelers’ offensive line has deteriorated from a unit that five-plus years ago was one of the best in the league under offensive line coach Mike Munchak. Now it profiles closer to the bottom of the league. This group was aided in pass protection by Ben Roethlisberger‘s 2.2-second average time to throw over the past two seasons (fastest in the NFL), making how it fares in what should be a different-looking 2022 offense something worth monitoring.
This entire season will be dictated by how the new offensive linemen work into the system. Getting the run game going with Najee Harris is going to be a key with a new quarterback under center.
