Today is March 27th which means there is less than a month until the NFL Draft and free agency is winding down. The Pittsburgh Steelers have made a lot of changes to the roster this offseason, some new additions and some losses. Here is what you can expect from the 2024 Steelers.
Pittsburgh Steelers 2024 Roster
A couple of the moves the Steelers made in free agency were trading away wide receiver Dionte Johnson along with signing Russell Wilson and trading for Justin Feilds. There will be lots of new faces in the Steelers offense in 2024. Other additions the Steelers made were adding wide receivers, Quez Watkins and Van Jefferson.
Currently, the Steelers have a hole at receiver after the departure of Johnson. Expect one of three things to fill the gap. They could still sign a top free agent like Tyler Boyd, they could just select a top receiver in the draft, or they could use a committee of guys behind George Pickens.
For this experiment, we are going to say they are just going to use a committee behind Pickens as that is how it looks as of right now. One position that the Pittsburgh Steelers have not changed is running back, it looks like the duo of Haris and Warren will be back in 2024.
Running Backs
In 2023, the Pittsburgh Steelers running back duo combined for over 1,800 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. Expect both of their roles to increase slightly in 2024. Hopefully, Warren can get a few more touches than he did in 2023. Harris and Warren should combine for over 2,000 yards and over 15 touchdowns if they both stay healthy. If Harris can get to 1,200 yards next season, there isn’t a world where Warren has less than 800.
Russell Wilson
As of right now, it looks like Wilson will be the starter for Pittsburgh in Week 1. With the addition of Justin Fields, there will likely be a competition in training camp and preseason, but it seems that Wilson is in the lead already. In 15 games last season, the former Bronco threw for over 3,000 yards, good for top 20 in the league. He also threw 26 touchdowns with only eight interceptions. The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to have a new offensive scheme as well with the hiring of Arthur Smith. Smith’s offense focuses more on the run game and play action.
This will help Wilson with long plays and deep shots, but maybe not as many yards. Therefore, if Wilson plays the entire season, he will throw for around 3,400 yards and 28 touchdowns. Hopefully, the play action will also help with fewer turnovers.
Steelers Wide Receivers
With mediocre quarterback play in 2023, Pickens was still able to accumulate over 1,100 yards. With the exit of Johnson and not having much competition, Pickens is due for a massive season in 2024. Expect that he will rack up around 1,300 yards and hopefully more than eight touchdowns. It would be great to see the Pittsburgh Steelers use more of Pat Freiermuth. With not as many weapons, “Muth” should be able to post around 600 yards and a couple of touchdowns as well
With the rest of the receiving room being mainly just deep-threat gadget guys, I expect them to all get around the same amount of playing time. Calvin Austin will see the field the most and hopefully, he can haul in some big-time play and get to around 500 yards receiving to go along with a couple of touchdowns.
As for Quez Watkins and Van Jefferson, either one of them could put up over 500 yards but, at the same time, one could see them only having 150 yards. Purely because of his size, Expect Jefferson to get more targets than Watkins. The two of them combined should be able to account for around 500 yards and a few touchdowns.
If everything goes according to plan for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, they should be a top-10 offense in the league and maybe they can even win a playoff game. If you are looking for more on the Pittsburgh Steelers follow me on X @ChaseGrimm28. If you are just looking for more football content in general check out more from Gridiron Heroics.