Window is still open
Super Bowl is prime reason for the moves
After an offseason of big moves and big contracts designed to “put the pieces of the puzzle” together, Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II said he is looking forward to how his team responds after a disappointing end to the 2018 season and doesn’t think the window of opportunity for returning to the Super Bowl is closing fast.
In fact, one of the offseasonmoves was designed to make sure that doesn’t happen any time soon— signing Ben Roethlisberger to a new three-year, $80 million contract that will keep him with the Steelers through the 2021 season.
In a sit-down interview with the Pittsburgh PostGazette, Rooney said signing Roethlisberger and extending the contract of coach Mike Tomlin through the 2021 season were the two biggest moves the Steelers made in an offseason in which the team brought in at least two new starters for the defense and took steps tomove on from the ouster of receiver Antonio Brown.
“Thoseare two pieces of thepuzzle we wanted to address this offseason, and I’m happy we were able to doit,” Rooney said at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
That is saying a lot, considering the seven months since the end of the 2018 playoff-absentseason were filled with tumultuous developments, difficult decisions, big spending and a dramatic draft-day movement.
Towit:
• The Steelers elected not to use a transition tag on former All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell after he sat out the 2018 season, letting him become a free agent.
• Trading Brown, the most productive receiver
in any six-year period in NFL history, to the Oakland Raiders after his insubordinate and bizarre behavior fractured his relationship withthe team.
• Signing cornerback Steve Nelson to a five-year, $27.5 million contract, the largest freeagent deal they have awarded, giving them a starter to pair opposite Joe Haden. “Cornerback is a key position in today’s NFL. To have the ability to sign someone like Steven is something we were hoping to have chance to do,” Rooneysaid.
• Signing a pair of veterans in free agency — hybrid linebacker Mark Barron and wide receiver Donte Moncrief — who will play significant roles this season.
• Giving up a second-round draft choice and a third-round pick in 2020 to move up 10 spots and take Devin Bush with the 10th overall selection to address the biggest hole in their defense. Rooney: “Trading up in the first round to get into the top 10, your chances of doing that year in and yearout are not that great. We felt fortunate we were able to do that.”
Rooney said the moves were made to improve the team after a 9-6-1 season in which the Steelers lost four of their final six games and missed the playoffs, not because the team is fearful the window of getting back to the Super Bowl is closing because of Roe th li sb er ger’ s advancing age (37).
“I really don’t look at it that way,” Rooney said. “First of all, Ben could play into his 40s. As we sit here today, there’s no reason to think he can’t do that. Physically, if he wants to do that, he’ll be able to do it. It will really be up to him how long he wants to stay at it here.
“I don’t look at it like there’s a window closing. I look it like everyyear there’s an opportunity and you put the puzzle every year, put the best pieces together
you can every And in this day and age, every year really
is a little different. You don’t always have the continuity you had in the ‘70s when you had 20- some guys who played in all four Super Bowls. That doesn’t happen
much these days. “Every year is a new and you put the pieces together. as we sit here, I like the pieces we have on the chessboard right now.”
To that end, the Steelers will need some of those to make up for the departures of Belland Brown.
Rooney is confident his team will do that, if they haven’t already.
“I’d say we moved on from Le’Veon last year,” he said. He never played a down for us last year so I don’t really feel we’re movingon from him at this point. We feel good about where we are with James (Conner) and some of the younger running backs we have, and the same thing on the receiver side.
“We feel good about JuJu (Smith-Schuster) and glad we signed Donte Moncrief, and now some of the other younger receivers are going to have to step up. We’re looking forward to see how theyall come together.”
Rooney said the one area the Steelers need to improve from last season is the kicking game, where Chris Boswell tied for the league lead with seven missed field goals (13 of 20) and missed more extra points (5) than any kicker with at least 20 attempts. Because of that, the Steelers delayed a $2 million roster bonus Boswell was due in mid-March until after the final preseason game, waiting to see if his problemshave been corrected.
“We need to be better in the kicking game, that’s an easy one,” Rooneysaid.
“Beyond that, we hope everyone is going to try to be better. It looks like we’ll have two or three new starters on defense. How that unit comes together will be important. I like the pieces we have there,but there are guys who have never played together who will haveto learn how to play together, specifically in the middle. Early on, that will be an important piece to see how all that comes together.”