About a year ago, I selected a team without lofty expectations at making a run at the Super Bowl as a dark horse, the Miami Dolphins. Did they win the Super Bowl? No. However, they did exceed expectations and established themselves as contenders for this season. They had an explosive 8 win and 3 loss start throughout their first 11 games before their drastic, injury plagued decline and barely snuck into the playoffs with a third-string rookie quarterback. Even then, they almost knocked off the highly regarded Buffalo Bills in the wild card round.
The point is that this piece you are about to read isn’t meant to serve as my pick to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Rather, it is intended for me to make note of a team that is being overlooked and has the potential to be just as good as any other contender in the NFL.
With all that being said, my pick this season is none other than the Mike Tomlin led Pittsburgh Steelers. As much as I hate to admit it, this team looks like a championship caliber team on paper. I would not be surprised if they won their division and made an impressive run in the postseason. They aren’t quite on the same level as the Chiefs, Bengals, or Bills yet, but that all depends on Kenny Pickett. Will he be able to make better decisions and will he be able to show up when it matters? Only time will tell.
Going back to how this team improved from last season, they had one of the best off-seasons in the league. Omar Khan and company had the best draft in the league and signed players in free agency who will make immediate impacts, such as Larry Ogunjobi, Keanu Neal, Cole Holcomb, and future Hall of Fame cornerback Patrick Peterson just to name some. They drafted Joey Porter, Keanu Benton, Broderick Jones, and Darnell Washington who were all top talents at their respective positions in this past draft. For the most part, those players were all on the defensive side of the ball, except for Jones and Washington who they drafted. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that they still have TJ Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alex Highsmith, and Cameron Heyward as the foundation on that top ranked defense.
The firepower that the team has on offense is the best it’s been since the Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown era in the mid-2010s. Although it wasn’t prioritized this offseason, they still have young stars in George Pickens, Dionte Johnson, Najee Harris, and Pat Freiermuth who were acquired in the draft the past couple of seasons and have all elevated this team’s offensive ability to put points on the board. As I mentioned earlier, the one question mark is Kenny Pickett. The now second year product out of the University of Pittsburgh demonstrated flashes of stardom but ultimately didn’t meet expectations. I am a firm believer in the 3 year rule for quarterbacks though. Most QBs don’t play at an elite level when they enter the league as a rookie. Peyton Manning, Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, and many others with high expectations had struggled for their first year or two and then became amongst the best at their craft in their third year in the league.
If Pickett can make the expected leap this season, then this team becomes elite and returns to being a top team in the NFL. If he doesn’t, the Steelers are still a middle of the pack team. With Mike Tomlin being in the driver's seat and being as consistent as he has been, I’m not worried that this team gets left out of the playoffs for a second straight season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are back and are looking to prove the critics wrong in the upcoming 2023-24 NFL season.
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