The Pittsburgh Steelers face a monumental next seven days. Just two weeks ago, the Steelers were 4-1 with a chance to open up a commanding lead in the AFC North with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Fans wanted the Steelers to be aggressive in the trade market to bolster their offense.
Since then, the Steelers have dropped two straight, largely in part to a historically bad defense. And on Sunday, they face the top team in the AFC, the Indianapolis Colts. Then, the NFL trade deadline is only two days later. The Steelers are 4-3, and 4-4 is a real possibility. Should they try to be aggressive in the trade market in an attempt to right the ship?
“The Steelers have always had the mentality we’re going to go for it. We’re going to do everything we can to help our football team,” insider Ray Fittipaldo said Tuesday on The North Shore Drive podcast. “Art Rooney II has had that, and it’s always been that way with his GM and his head coach. At what point, though, do you look and see what’s happening, you’re getting older on defense, and things probably aren’t going to improve there. What point do you say, if you’re Omar Khan or if you’re Andy Weidl, ‘Hey listen, maybe we ought to pull back here. Let’s save those picks, and let’s go all-in on the draft and let’s try to rebuild this football team from the ground up?'”
The Steelers have always been “all-in” on the 2025 season. That’s why they waited for QB Aaron Rodgers. It’s why they signed CB Darius Slay and traded for CB Jalen Ramsey and TE Jonnu Smith. But the results on the defensive side of the ball are underwhelming, to say the least. Former Steelers S Ryan Clark called the Steelers’ defense the “patsy” of the NFL. It’s one that allowed the league’s worst rushing offense, the Bengals, to run for a season-high 142 yards.
Ironically, the Steelers’ offense has been mostly good. It hasn’t been a dominant, but it’s been good enough to win multiple games. The Steelers score 25 points per game, 11th-best in the NFL.
The question is are the Steelers’ defensive issues fixable? Fittipaldo thinks they need to switch up how they play coverage. But is that something they can do midseason? They’ve already had their bye week. And they’ve got the best team in the AFC up next.
So, should the Steelers pivot to looking at bolstering the defense via trade? That’s the idea NFL insider Dan Graziano pitched Tuesday. The question then becomes if there is anyone who would be worth trading for to fix the issues.
Which brings us back to this: Should the Steelers simply stand pat at the trade deadline? It would be an implicit admission that the idea of going all-in this year failed. But is there anything that they could do to fix the issues that are holding this team back? Most people would love a true No. 2 wide receiver to complement DK Metcalf. But that’s not holding the team back right now. Would the pick(s) necessary for making that move be better served to help in next year’s draft?
That’s the question that general manager Omar Khan has to wrestle with. And Fittipaldo says that head coach Mike Tomlin will want Khan to exhaust every option to make the team better right now.
But can the Steelers be good enough to focus on the trade market for it to be worth it? Or is it time for the Steelers to embrace the youth movement that they’ve already begun in the last two drafts?
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