Jan 29, 2017 9 min read

PITTSBURGH – The disappointment of a 36-17 loss at New England in the AFC Championship will linger through the offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That might not be a bad thing.

Though the Steelers fell short of their ultimate goal, they took another step forward in 2016, advancing one round farther into the postseason than they had the previous season.

For a team that included 23 players with three or fewer years of experience in the NFL, it was an important step.

“Hopefully, this is a learning game for guys to understand that this isn’t promised to anybody,” said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “Tomorrow’s not promised to any of us and just to make the playoffs isn’t enough to get to this championship game. A lot of guys have been in this league for a long time and haven’t been to any of these or have been to very few. So I hope that they understand the importance and relish the opportunity if it comes again.”

The Steelers opened the season 4-1, then stumbled through a four-game losing streak that included Roethlisberger missing a game because of a minor knee surgery. They then rattled off nine straight wins before running into the Patriots.

Roethlisberger raised some questions as to whether he would be a part of that move forward last week by mentioning on his weekly radio show on KDKA-FM he would need time to decide whether he would return next season.

All signs point to the franchise quarterback coming back for a 14th season at the age of 35. The Steelers’ window to return to the Super Bowl for a ninth time overall and fourth time with Roethlisberger at quarterback is narrowing.

The Steelers enter the offseason looking to hold onto the nucleus of a team that went 13-6, while adding what they hope will be the pieces that will help put them over the top.

But they do so with the knowledge that things never stay the same in the NFL from year to year.

“I won’t use 2017 as a continuation of 2016,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “I know that we have the makings of a really good football team, the makings of a world championship-caliber football team.

“But at the same time, utilize the experiences that we have had, for information in that development. That’s where there is carryover. We know more about guys over the course of this journey that we didn’t know about at the start of this journey. We will utilize that knowledge as we forecast the potential division of labor. But also, things that we need to add or subtract from a personnel standpoint.”

That will start with free agency. The Steelers have more salary cap space – around $40 million – than it has had at any time in its history. But they also have several key players among 14 potential unrestricted free agents.

Chief among those are running back Le’Veon Bell, inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and outside linebacker James Harrison.

Bell led the AFC in total yards from scrimmage, rushing for 1,268 yards and catching 75 passes for another 616 yards, despite missing three games while serving a suspension and another because of a coach’s decision. He was at his best in the second half of the season, setting a Steelers’ single-game rushing record in a win at Buffalo with 236 yards then breaking the team’s postseason single-game rushing record twice in the playoffs with 167 then 170 yards in wins over Miami and Kansas City.

But he was limited by a groin injury to 20 yards on six carries in the loss to the Patriots, meaning he has now been injured in each of his four NFL seasons and also is one-strike away in the NFL’s substance abuse program from at least a 10-game suspension.

The Steelers want the 24-year-old workhorse back but might need to place the franchise tag on him at a cost of an estimated $12.2 million for 2017 to give them time to work out a long-term deal and assure Bell won’t leave as a free agent.

Timmons, who will be 31 this year, made $8.75 million last season, leading the Steelers in tackles with 114 to go along with 2.5 sacks and a pair of interceptions.

He’d like to return and the Steelers would like him back, but whether they will do so with any kind of raise will be the question. A four-year deal worth $28 to $32-million could get it done.

Harrison, meanwhile, set the team record for career sacks in 2016. His five sacks in the regular season and 2.5 in the postseason led the team. He’ll be 39 in 2017 and was talked out of retirement three years ago.

But the Steelers would like him back and he’d like to return. Expect a one-year deal worth at least $5 million to be worked out. The Steelers will draft his eventual replacement, hoping to do a better job of that than they did with 2013 first-round pick Jarvis Jones, who is a free agent and unlikely to return.

The Steelers also must make a decision with backup running back DeAngelo Williams, who at 33 was the oldest player in the league at his position.

Williams had 75 carries for 276 yards and filled in admirably for Bell when needed, but the Steelers might want to go with a younger, cheaper backup and could make acquiring one in the draft a priority.

Backup quarterback also will be an issue. Landry Jones, a fourth-round draft pick in 2013, is headed for free agency. Though the Steelers added former Tennessee starter Zach Mettenberger at the end of training camp, they’d like to have Jones back.

Jones performed well in two starts this season, completing nearly 62 percent of his passes for 558 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions for a passer rating of 86.3. Given the state of quarterbacking around the NFL, he will get some interest on the open market.

Mettenberger is 0-10 as a starter in the NFL but has completed 60 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He is under contract for 2017 and would be a nice fallback option if Jones leaves.

Roethlisberger’s retirement talk could make drafting a quarterback a possibility, but with the Steelers picking 30th in the draft, doing so in the first round isn’t likely.

The Steelers could get an influx of talent on offense with the potential return of receiver Martavis Bryant and tight end Ladarius Green, the team’s biggest free agent acquisition last year, who had health issues.

Bryant was suspended for the season last March for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy and applied for reinstatement last week.

The Steelers might be wary of Bryant, but he’ll be given an opportunity to prove he’s capable of staying clean.

“A lot of those things have nothing to do with me,” said Tomlin. “I am hopeful for that reinstatement, but I am in a wait-and-see mentality, because a lot of those things are outside our control.”

Bryant has 76 receptions for 1,314 yards and 14 touchdowns in 21 career games and could be the biggest offseason addition for any team in the NFL.

Tomlin is in a similar situation with Green, who was limited to six games because of an offseason ankle surgery and a late-season concussion that kept him sidelined the final five weeks, including the playoffs.

Green was a factor when he played, catching 18 passes for 304 yards and a touchdown, but the Steelers must decide if they can move forward with a player who has had multiple concussions in the past two seasons.

“I don’t have an assessment, long term, of where he is,” said Tomlin. “I think that’s one of the chief medical decisions and questions that we have to have moving forward, in terms of guys getting an assessment of their overall health and what it means for 2017.”

Not having those two players and also receiver Markus Wheaton, who is a free agent, for most of this season affected the offense.

In the first eight games, Roethlisberger averaged 39 passes per game. He didn’t throw that many again until the loss at New England.

The goal was to average 30 points per game, but the Steelers leaned more on Bell’s running in the second half and it was a winning combination.

That was possible because the defense improved as the season wore on. The Steelers started three rookies on defense – cornerback Artie Burns, safety Sean Davis and nose tackle Javon Hargrave – for the first time since 1971, and the group got better as they became more comfortable.

Pittsburgh was 28th in total defense six weeks into the season. The Steelers rose to as high as eighth in Week 15 before finishing 12th.

The defense actually improved overall after losing defensive end Cam Heyward, arguably its best player. But inside linebacker Ryan Shazier stayed healthy and emerged as a force, earning his first trip to the Pro Bowl, and defensive end Stephon Tuitt took on a larger role.

The Steelers got outside linebacker Bud Dupree, a first-round pick in 2015, back late in the season and he paired with Harrison to provide a consistent pass rush from the outside.

The defense should continue to improve with more games. By season’s end, the Steelers were starting seven players on defense with three or fewer years of experience.

“There are questions to be answered in the future,” said Heyward. “I don’t know about windows closing or doors closing. Whoever is here, you’ve got to take advantage of your opportunities. This isn’t guaranteed. There are different adversities, different things that go on throughout the year. We all have to grow and get better.”