The Pittsburgh Steelers have a clear strategy and objective for 2026 and beyond, but their plan to compete in 2025 seems half-baked at best. Looking at free agency, the draft, and the trades that have taken place, it’s difficult to identify too many positions where the Steelers have clearly gotten better. With a disastrous end to the 2024 season and a difficult schedule in 2025, that could spell big trouble.
According to [Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25194797-2025-offseason-report-cards-every-nfl-team), the Steelers offseason has earned them a ‘D’ grade with only one team having a worse offseason than them.
“The Steelers have never experienced a losing season under head coach Mike Tomlin. That’s unlikely to change in 2025, but it doesn’t feel like Pittsburgh is poised to be a Super Bowl contender either,” Knox wrote. “Even if Rodgers agrees to start for the Steelers in 2025, that’s not ideal. He may have more left in the tank than he showed with the Jets last season, but he’s still no long-term answer at the game’s most important position. And the Steelers, it would seem, don’t really have one.”
With Rodgers, the Steelers are betting on the best of several bad options. Once they were unable to retain Justin Fields, it became clear that Rodgers was their only hope at a semi competitive option for the 2025 season. With an aging core of veteran defenders, punting to 2026 wasn’t an option. It never really is for the Steelers and their organizational philosophy.
To make up their overall ‘D’ grade, Knox gave them an ‘F’ for free agency and trades and a ‘C’ for the draft.
Omar Khan admitted that the compensatory pick system [heavily influenced the team’s free agency decisions](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/03/possibility-of-gaining-compensatory-picks-influenced-steelers-offseason-decisions/) to maximize their 2026 draft capital. That’s why their biggest splash signing was 34-year-old CB Darius Slay who was cut from his previous team and thus does not count against the comp pick system. The Steelers absolutely had the cash to make a splashy signing, but it would have offset the loss of Dan Moore Jr. and robbed them of a third-round pick next year.
It’s hard to knock the team too much for putting together a cohesive strategy to acquire a franchise quarterback in the draft, but that is still far from a guarantee. And there is no denying that the post Ben Roethlisberger era has been a complete disaster with the primes of multiple great careers wasted in mediocrity.
The George Pickens trade was just the latest example of the Steelers straddling the line between wanting to be competitive in 2025 and loading up on draft picks for 2026. Why even bother with trying to sign Rodgers if they aren’t doing everything possible to maximize the talent for 2025? There are many who would prefer to see Mason Rudolph or Will Howard get an opportunity in 2025.
In order to really improve in 2025, the Steelers need Aaron Rodgers to bounce back better than he ever did in New York. They would also need the offensive line investments to finally start paying off, and some pretty significant rookie contributions from Derrick Harmon and Kaleb Johnson. It’s not impossible, but that is counting on a lot of things to go right.
For an organization that always tries to compete in the current season, this is as close to punting on a year as I can ever remember.