The Steelers' offensive line very tangibly improved down the stretch in 2022. However, that didn't stop Omar Khan and Co. from overhauling things up front.
While the future of Kevin Dotson and Dan Moore Jr. in the starting five is much more clouded now that Nate Herbig, Isaac Seumalo and Broderick Jones have been added to the mix, the only focus with this group doesn't have to be about who's winning what job.
"I've been able to play on some other teams. I'm going into my sixth year now. Every year there's turnover," Mason Cole told me during the first week of OTAs. "Some years, there's a lot of turnover. Some years, there's not a whole lot of turnover. But, every year there's going to be turnover. For what we want to do as a team, I think it was inevitable there was going to be change somewhere."
The Steelers certainly have higher expectations for 2023 than 9-8 and missing the playoffs. Khan led the franchise through its most active offseason in terms of free agency to address holes throughout the roster. And, despite lauding the offensive line's growth during the 7-2 finish to the 2022 season, he knew the offensive line needed more.
That doesn't just come down to performance. After all, the Steelers averaged more than 146 yards on the ground during the final nine games of the season, and the starting five of Moore, Dotson, Cole, James Daniels and Chukwuma Okorafor were a significant reason for that drastic improvement. In turn, that gave Kenny Pickett a better chance to navigate his way through learning on the fly as a rookie, and him becoming a much more efficient passer while the running game thrived wasn't a coincidence.
However, of all the ways the 2022 Steelers were unlucky -- highlighted by T.J. Watt's injuries that sidelined him for seven games and hampered him for much more than that -- they were extremely lucky when it came to the health of the offensive line. All of the previously mentioned five starters made every single start for all 17 games.
"That's rare," Cole said.
Indeed. Khan knew lightning isn't going to strike twice in the same place. He knew that if the offensive line was going to improve in 2023, even taking into account of the growth that happened last season, that improvement was going to have to come with some quality additions.
"That's the thing. In the NFL, you not only need a good line, but you need depth in that line," Cole said. "Injuries are inevitable. Hopefully not, but that's the nature of this game. And, in the position we play, it's going to happen. Having depth in that room is super important -- not only for guys getting banged up in the season, but depth in the room makes everybody better. The guy in front of you, the guy behind you, the guy behind them -- it makes everybody better. It just elevates the game of the whole room. Competition and depth is never a bad thing."
Despite some warranted concerns from Dotson and Moore about losing their jobs to Seumalo and Jones, respectively, this group has to grow together if true growth is to take place in 2023. We've seen players, such as Mitch Trubisky, that are in that same locker room that had their starting jobs taken from them and turn around and become stout supporters of the player that took their job. And, as Cole alluded to, both Moore and Dotson will get their chance for playing time this season, whether it be through injury and/or performance.
Cole, who was obviously part of last year's group, empathizes with the guys who may have their jobs taken. However, as always, there's a bigger picture here.
"That's just the nature of the business," Cole said. "You just take the punches and roll with it. Can't let it affect your day, no matter what position you're in. You've just gotta put your head down and work. We've gotta grow as a whole, not just the five that were here last year. But, the whole room has to grow together."
As the de facto leader of last year's group, Cole's words carry a certain weight. And, he has the perspective that the newcomers don't. He knows exactly how bad things were on offense in the first half of last season. He was there, for lack of a better term, for the "come to Jesus" talk that took place during the bye week.
The good thing that came from that is the existing group believes in the scheme and understands how to hold each other accountable. When it comes to the new guys, it'll be much easier to articulate what to do and what not to do. After all, only Seumalo has seemingly supplanted Dotson thus far. Sure, the expectation is Jones will ultimately start at left tackle instead of Moore. But during OTAs, the time in which the foundation for the upcoming season is laid, there's still more than enough continuity there.
No matter what happens, the growing pains that last year's group endured were corrected midseason. There's a whole new challenge that awaits this year's group.
"The big thing is keeping those things corrected going into this year," Cole said. "There's still a ton of work to do. We're still trying to do new things. It's easy to think we finished on a high note, so we'll start on a high note. That's not always the case. The work still has to be done. There are new guys everywhere on this offense. There's a lot of work to do between now and the first game in September."
