The Pittsburgh Steelers are desperately trying to find the spark on offense that has been missing from the franchise since the days of Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown.
So this offseason, the organization went out and added two starting level quarterbacks with the acquisitions of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
Neither QB has impressed in limited regular season action, but the Steelers brass is hoping the addition of OC Arthur Smith will help propel an offense that was stagnant the last few seasons under former OC Matt Canada.
While the Pittsburgh Steelers were attached to trade talks involving Brandon Aiyuk, as of now there hasn’t been a deal signed.
The 49ers star set career-highs of 1,342 receiving yards and 17.9 yards per reception in 2023. He also had 75 catches and 7 touchdowns.
Acquiring Aiyuk, though, wouldn’t just be costly from a draft capital perspective. Spotrac projected Aiyuk to be worth about $96.1 million on a 4-year contract. Such a deal would give the 26-year-old receiver an average annual salary north of $24 million
With just weeks before the regular season opener against the Falcons, Pittsburgh is going to have to rely on a young group of pass catchers for whoever is named the starting QB.
The team traded Dionte Johnson to the Carolina Panthers and with Wilson and Fields fighting for the starting QB spot on a new team in 2024, it will be critical to surround him with as many weapons as possible to set the offense up for success.
While the Pittsburgh Steelers have signed Van Jefferson and added Quez Watkins since trading away Johnson, those two wideouts combined for only 351 receiving yards during 2023
Pittsburgh Steelers Center Nate Herbig Suffers Torn Rotator Cuff, Could Miss Entire Season
Herbig signed a two-year contract with the Steelers on March 16, 2023 and played in all 17 regular season games last season, mostly on special teams. He started Week 4 in a 30-6 loss on the road to the Houston Texans and Week 5 in a 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens at home, playing 100% snaps in both of them at guard.
Herbig’s had a long journey to land with the Pittsburgh Steelers but has thrived since joining the franchise.
He started out in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, playing three seasons for them from 2019-21. He played in two games as a rookie in 2019, but increased it dramatically to 15 games in 2020, starting 12 of them. He finished his tenure with the Eagles with 16 appearances in 2022 and five starts.
Herbig spent the 2022 season with the New York Jets after the claimed him off waives and he started in all 11 games he played in.
He played for Stanford in college from 2016-18, earning First Team All-Pac 12 honors as a sophomore in 2017 and Second Team All-Pac 12 honors as a junior in 2018. He chose to forgo his senior season and went undrafted in 2019.
Now, it looks like the Steelers are going to have to turn to rookie Zach Frazier as their starting center.
The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Frazier with the No. 51 overall pick in the Second Round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of West Virginia and he’ll have his chance to show his talents in his first season in the league.
