Pittsburgh Steelers fans, we haven’t done “Friday Football Footnotes” at “Breakfast With Benz” for a while, have we?
Well, now is as good a time as any. There are lots of little Steelers nuggets to digest.
Plus, I’ve spent way too much time shoveling the snow off my sidewalk and the walkway to really turn one of these into a full-blown column.
So, let’s have at it!
All about Al
Former quarterback and NFL.com analyst David Carr came up with a list of one offensive free agent per team that is a “must keep” for his current club.
I know what you’re thinking. If the Steelers have a “must keep,” it’s gotta be wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, right?
Not so fast. As Carr points out, given the Steelers’ depth at receiver and the injury woes of running back James Conner, the answer should be offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva.
“Villanueva is closer to the finish than the start of his career (he’ll be 33 by Week 1), and struggled at times last season (especially against the Bengals),” writes Carr. “But he’s still a savvy, reliable bookend tackle. He hasn’t missed a single game during the last five seasons and his familiarity and physicality will be critical to Ben Roethlisberger’s success if the QB returns for an 18th season. Plus, I think Villanueva and the Steelers could work out a reasonable contract that satisfies both player and team.”
I certainly see where Carr is coming from on Conner. And Smith-Schuster may be easily — and cost effectively — replaced by promoting Chase Claypool and adding a mid-round draft choice.
That said, I’ve seen a lot of places suggest the Los Angeles Chargers may give Villanueva a serious look. In fact, to the tune of $45 million ($20 million guaranteed) on a multi-year deal. Given the Steelers cap situation, that should be too rich for their blood.
Furthermore, does anyone on that offensive line really qualify as a “must keep”? The run game was dead last in the NFL. And Roethlisberger got rid of the ball from snap-to-throw at an average of 2.17 seconds. That was the fastest in the league and the fastest since 2012, according to Pro Football Focus.
Via ChargersWire, “Villanueva has graded between 74.0 and 82.0 in each of his last five seasons, per Pro Football Focus. He ranks in the 54th percentile in PFF pass-blocking grade and the 46th percentile in pass-blocking grade on true pass sets during that time.”
Keeping Villanueva would delay the immediate need to draft a future franchise left tackle. But it will also delay the start of an offensive line reconstruction that is vastly needed for whoever succeeds Roethlisberger at quarterback in 2022.
Uptick for Terrell
Pro Football Focus put together a similar list. They decided to outline the most improved player on every team.
According to Ben Linsey, the Steelers’ nominee is third-year safety Terrell Edmunds.
“Edmunds improved his coverage grade from 58.3 in 2019 to 75.3 this past season while reducing his passer rating when targeted from 120.8 to 76.2. He doubled his combined pass breakups and interceptions (six in 2020 compared to three in 2019) as well. His continued development will be key if the Steelers hope to deliver another dominant defensive performance in 2021.”
Hmm. I suppose. Maybe.
Edmunds did have two interceptions against the Jacksonville Jaguars. His first two since the middle of his rookie season. And he did have a game-saving sack against the Denver Broncos in Week 2.
But like so many other Steelers, I felt like he regressed as the season went along. I felt like the solid tackling he displayed early in the season became a liability at times late in the year. And his usual failure to come up with a big play returned over the final six weeks.
Don’t get me wrong. He was better in 2020 than he had been in his first two seasons. And I’m not sure who else earned that kind of praise. Does Robert Spillane count for consideration? Did Mason Rudolph play enough?
Was Chuks Okorafor actually good enough? Or did he just hold down the fort at right tackle?
I feel like saying Tyson Alualu would be my choice because he was very good for the first two-thirds of the season at a new position. But he doesn’t really qualify since he was quite solid last year replacing Stephon Tuitt at end, too.
You could argue that James Washington was actually better — or at least more efficient — in a much more limited role. Especially scoring a career-high five touchdowns. But all his catches, targets and yards were way down from 2019.
Tell you what. I’ll go off the board and say Eric Ebron. Like Edmunds, he was much better in the middle part of the season than he was by year-end when his issues with blocking and consistent catching cropped up again.
But he was much better than his previous season with the Indianapolis Colts. Ebron stayed healthy for 15 games, and he caught 25 more balls for 183 more yards and 10 more first downs. The five touchdowns were big, too.
Grading out
NFL.com also put grades on all of the 2020 draft classes for the four teams in the AFC North. The Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns were both given an A- for their classes. The Steelers and Baltimore Ravens both got a B- minus.
Seems like we are grading on a bit of a curve for the Ohio teams here, aren’t we? Especially when the likes of Joe Burrow, Grant Delpit and Jacob Phillips all missed big chunks of time due to injury and/or covid-19.
I’d probably bump down Cincy and Cleveland to a B+ and bump up the Steelers and Ravens to a B. After all, I think the assessment was a little harsh on Baltimore first-round pick Patrick Queen. And everyone knows that I am the president of the J.K. Dobbins fan club.
As for the Steelers, how high can you really grade the class when there was no first-round pick? Chase Claypool’s contributions — including 11 total touchdowns — boost the ranking. As did Kevin Dotson’s play when called upon at guard. I’d argue the grade of this class would’ve been higher if Dotson was allowed to play more often. Which he should’ve been.
As for outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, he wasn’t bad. But I’m not on the bandwagon that many Steelers supporters are. I get the vibe that a lot of folks in Pittsburgh assume that he’s going to be a long-term lock opposite T.J. Watt as Bud Dupree’s replacement.
I’m not. Highsmith was steady. But one sack in the five starts replacing Dupree is leaving me skeptical that he’ll ever be much more than a solid backup.
As for Anthony McFarland, Carlos Davis and Antoine Brooks Jr., they did little more than getting their feet wet.
New England Nittany Lion?
One significant bummer for Penn State fans this year was being unable to watch Micah Parsons.
The All-American linebacker opted out of his junior year because of the covid-19 pandemic. But he is still often slated as a top-10 pick in most NFL mock drafts.
However, Dane Brugler of The Athletic recently came out with one projection that had Parsons slipping to the New England Patriots in the 15th slot of the first round.
Gee, do you think Bill Belichick would have some fun moving Parsons around all over the middle third of his defense?
It strikes me that Parsons won’t get out of the top 10. But Brugler concocted some trades high up the board that would make such a scenario possible.
I agree with the analysis of Patriots beat writer Jeff Howe upon seeing that idea. Parsons is athletic and versatile enough to handle all of the various linebacker jobs in Belichick’s constantly morphing New England defenses.
Picture a little Jamie Collins sprinkled on top of Dont’a Hightower and rolled in Jerod Mayo. Actually, don’t. Don’t picture that at all. It’s not a pretty sight for opposing offenses.
By the way, Brugler’s projection for the Steelers was a trade with the Miami Dolphins at pick No. 18. With that selection, he projects the Steelers taking Virginia Tech offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw.
A horse of a different color
And that color is orange. Maybe pewter.
Here’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Devin White taking a victory lap around Raymond James Stadium on a horse while holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Victory lap for @DevinWhite__40 ðŸ¤
A dream come true. pic.twitter.com/cjTXIQT7l1
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) February 11, 2021
And I was thinking that nothing could get better than the Bucs’ boat party. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if these guys might be the most fun Super Bowl winning team since the ’85 Bears.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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