{"id":61663,"date":"2025-05-19T06:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T06:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/61663\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T06:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T06:09:15","slug":"bleacher-report-slams-steelers-draft-free-agency-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/61663\/","title":{"rendered":"Bleacher Report Slams Steelers\u2019 Draft, Free Agency Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bleacher Report<\/a> didn\u2019t hold back in its recent assessment of the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 offseason, delivering low grades across the board and raising serious concerns about the team\u2019s direction heading into 2025.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh earned an \u201cF\u201d for its free agency and trade activity and a \u201cC\u201d for its draft haul, landing them at No. 27 in Bleacher Report\u2019s overall offseason rankings. The critique centered heavily on how the Steelers addressed, or didn\u2019t address, the quarterback position.<\/p>\n

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One of the harshest takes came in response to the idea that Aaron Rodgers<\/a> could be the team\u2019s best-case scenario at quarterback.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if Rodgers agrees to start for the Steelers in 2025, that\u2019s not ideal,\u201d the article read. \u201cHe may have more left in the tank than he showed with the Jets last season, but he\u2019s still no long-term answer at the game\u2019s most important position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Steelers<\/p>\n

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin answering questions about 2025 draft class and offseason moving forward. \u2014 Ed Thompson\/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

The piece also took aim at the team\u2019s decision to move on from 26-year-old Justin Fields, who many believed could have been a developmental option for the future. On top of that, Pittsburgh passed on several chances to draft quarterbacks like Shedeur Sanders and Jalen Milroe, opting instead to address other needs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPittsburgh did bring back Mason Rudolph and take a sixth-round flier on Will Howard<\/a>,\u201d Bleacher Report noted. \u201cHowever, the Steelers had chances to retain Justin Fields or draft a quarterback early and passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the article did credit Pittsburgh for adding a few notable names, including wide receiver DK Metcalf, rookie running back Kaleb Johnson and defensive lineman Derrick Harmon, it framed them more as replacements than upgrades. The team essentially swapped Metcalf in for George Pickens, Johnson for Najee Harris, and Harmon for Larry Ogunjobi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to see Pittsburgh\u2019s roster being markedly better in 2025,\u201d the article said. \u201cRookies Derrick Harmon, Kaleb Johnson and Jack Sawyer all fit the Steelers\u2019 culture and can contribute immediately. However, the Steelers essentially replaced Ogunjobi with Harmon, Harris with Johnson and Pickens with Metcalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, there\u2019s still time for the front office to prove the critics wrong. Training camp battles haven\u2019t even started, and plenty can change once the pads come on. With OTAs around the corner and camp on the horizon, the spotlight is firmly on Mike Tomlin, and Omar Khan\u2019s, crew to show their offseason plan wasn\u2019t as misguided as some believe.<\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on Steelers Now<\/a>: Bleacher Report Slams Steelers\u2019 Draft, Free Agency Strategy<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bleacher Report didn\u2019t hold back in its recent assessment of the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 offseason, delivering low grades across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1586,8226,340,2870,9676,7,467,295,753,226,493,274,8662,560,4125,6,15,1256,57,17,2183],"class_list":{"0":"post-61663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-bleacher-report","10":"tag-derrick-harmon","11":"tag-dk-metcalf","12":"tag-ed-thompson","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-george-pickens","15":"tag-jack-sawyer","16":"tag-jalen-milroe","17":"tag-jets","18":"tag-justin-fields","19":"tag-kaleb-johnson","20":"tag-larry-ogunjobi","21":"tag-mason-rudolph","22":"tag-najee-harris","23":"tag-nfl","24":"tag-nfl-draft","25":"tag-omar-khan","26":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","27":"tag-shedeur-sanders","28":"tag-will-howard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114533011525256704","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}