The Pittsburgh Steelers entered the 2023 offseason with a few needs across the roster. General manager Omar Khan is in his first full season leading the team’s front office and he knocked it out of the park.
The Steelers addressed all of their biggest needs, such as locking in starting-caliber players, early on in free agency. Patrick Peterson was signed away from the Minnesota Vikings to shore up the secondary and they used a second-round pick on Joey Porter Jr. out of Penn State.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Steelers added reinforcements to the offensive line. With their first-round pick, they selected Broderick Jones out of Georgia and signed guard Isaac Seumalo away from the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency. Veteran wide receiver Allen Robinson was acquired from the Los Angeles Rams to boost the weapons around Kenny Pickett as well.
Heading into training camp, the Steelers roster looks pretty set. If anything, they could use a few more depth pieces up and down the roster as insurance in case of injuries or effectiveness. The one position that singing could come at, according to Brad Spielberger of PFF, is linebacker.
In his opinion, adding an off-ball linebacker would put a nice bow on what has been a strong offseason in Pittsburgh. The player that he suggested as a target is Rashaan Evans, who spent last season with the Atlanta Falcons after playing the first four seasons of his career with the New England Patriots.
“The Steelers have rotated through a handful of former highly drafted off-ball linebackers over the past few seasons and follow a similar idea here with the 2018 first-rounder. Evans is coming off career highs with 1,104 snaps, 46 defensive stops and 110 tackles while missing only 7.3% of opportunities.
Free agency addition Cole Holcomb is primarily a Mike linebacker but has experience at the Will spot, which is also the situation for Evans, who was taken in the first round after a stellar Alabama career generally lining up on the weak side. However they’re ultimately aligned, both players have experience across the formation and should work well together behind a stout defensive line. Pittsburgh needs to be better against the run in 2023, especially as they battle with a tough schedule that could build early leads against them. Evans can make a difference.”
Pro-Football-Reference has Evans logged for an even more impressive 156 total tackles with 86 solos. He added 2.0 sacks, six tackles for loss and four passes defended, doing a little bit of everything for the Falcons in 2022.
The Steelers overhauled the entire linebacker group from last season as Devin Bush Jr., Myles Jack and Robert Spillane all departed in free agency or were released by the time. In addition to Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts was also signed earlier in free agency.
Adding a player of Evans’s caliber to the mix would be excellent insurance for the group. He and Holcomb, as pointed out by Spielberger, would be interchangeable parts at the spots in between edge rushers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. A lot of pressure would be taken off of them as well with how strong the defensive line is and with what should be an improved secondary behind them.
