Ahead of the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Eagles made a splash in the offseason, signing CBs Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Nnamdi Asomugha, DL Jason Babin and WR Steve Smith, among others. After a 10-6 campaign the prior season, backup QB Vince Young dubbed the 2011 Eagles the “Dream Team.” It was anything but a dream, as Philadelphia went 8-8 in what wound up being Andy Reid’s penultimate season in Philadelphia.

With the Pittsburgh Steelers adding stars like DK Metcalf, Aaron Rodgers and now Jalen Ramsey along with Jonnu Smith in a blockbuster trade, ESPN’s Dan Graziano thinks the Steelers could wind up with a similar fate.

After Evan Cohen compared this Steelers team to the Patriots at the end of Bill Belichick’s career when the team started to spend big money in free agency on First Take, Graziano said a better comparison would be that Eagles team that ended in disaster.

“The better parallel would be Philadelphia in Andy Reid’s last year, when they went out and got all sort of stars, like Nnamdi Asomugha, the dream team. Now, we were sitting there in the offseason thinking their roster was better. If the Steelers are going all-in, I just don’t know how much they’ve improved their team this offseason.”

In acquiring Ramsey and Smith, the Steelers gave up Minkah Fitzpatrick, opening a hole at safety. There are also questions about Rodgers, entering his age-41 season and coming off a disappointing 5-12 campaign that led to his release from the New York Jets. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that things don’t work out and the Steelers don’t wind up being a better team.

But it’s hard to see them be worse than last year, a 10-7 team that lost their final five games, including their Wild Card Round playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens. The receiver room with Metcalf should be better, the defense should be better with the additions of Ramsey and Darius Slay even with losing Fitzpatrick, and Rodgers should be an upgrade at quarterback.

It’s certainly been a unique offseason for the Steelers, with the team making a number of high-profile moves that we don’t usually see out of them. But just because it’s been uncharacteristic doesn’t mean it’s not going to work out as it did with the Patriots and the Eagles. I have reservations about trading Fitzpatrick despite him not making as many splash plays over the past two seasons, but adding Ramsey gives the Steelers a very impressive cornerback trio and a lot of defensive flexibility.

Adding Smith gives the team another weapon for Rodgers to utilize, and I think the offense as a whole should be better under Rodgers. It’s been an offseason I never thought I’d see out of the Steelers, but they know that they’re a team in limbo right now.

No playoff wins since 2016 and Rodgers only in town for one season means the team has to push their chips to the middle of the table to compete this season. There’s a chance that it doesn’t work out, but the odds are a lot higher that the Steelers see themselves improve in 2025 thanks to the aggression of Omar Khan and the front office this offseason.