Mike's Beer Bar War Room: Which players deserve another contract?

The Steelers are in a bad place. You don’t tune into this series of articles for that information. You can figure that out on your own. Anyone with working eyeballs can figure that out after the Steelers' most embarrassing game of the year, a 30-13 drubbing in Indianapolis in which they were noncompetitive for the entire second half of play. Of course, this comes immediately after losing back-to-back games at home to the Cardinals and Patriots.

Could the Steelers turn things around and run the table at home against Cincinnati, and then on the road in Seattle and Baltimore? Sure, crazier things have happened with this league and with this specific organization. But, it is far more likely that the Steelers lose all three remaining games ending the 2023 season on a six-game losing streak rather than running the table with wins and going into the playoffs with wild momentum. 

It isn’t yet time to entirely go into full offseason mode quite yet, but you will see lists popping up all over the internet with the top upcoming players with expiring contracts ready to hit free agency after the season. A lot of those top free agents-to-be will be franchised or signed to extensions, but there will also be a lot of high-quality players cut on non-expiring contracts, as well as very useful players available for trade. The Steelers, obviously, should heavily explore all avenues to improve their roster to head into 2024. 

But let’s just start with the Steelers players that are set to become unrestricted free agents. When exploring those lists mentioned of top free agents to be around the NFL, you won’t find any Steelers' names on that list. That is a good thing. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible to part ways with some current players that are under contract for 2024 considering how this season has transpired, but the organization also has the ability to move on from plenty of players whose contracts are not expiring. And we will explore those options before long in this column, as well. 

So, yes, it is a good thing that the Steelers do not have top players with expiring contracts. Let's get into some of these players, grouped by position of who will be set to hit the free agent market. 

First off, Anthony McFarland and Chapelle Russell are restricted free agents, and Dylan Cook and Renell Wren are exclusive rights free agents. We will basically ignore those guys, as the Steelers hold all the power if those four are to return or not. And frankly, those players really aren’t all that consequential, although Cook is intriguing and someone that should absolutely be in training camp next year. 

But how about the unrestricted free agents? Mason Rudolph is the only quarterback, there isn’t a running back or tight end of note and Miles Boykin is the only wide receiver that qualifies. Surprisingly, there also isn’t an offensive lineman with an expiring contract. On the defensive line, Montravius Adams and Armon Watts both are up. Markus Golden is the only edge defender and Kwon Alexander is the only off-ball linebacker. In the secondary, the expiring deals are Miles Killebrew, Levi Wallace, James Pierre, Chandon Sullivan and Elijah Riley. 

Is there anyone listed here that you can’t live without? Will you be able to sleep at night if any of these 11 are playing elsewhere in 2024? I think we all know those answers, but let’s still dig in deeper. 

This isn’t a miraculous play by Wallace, but he did have some good moments in a Steelers uniform, including this two-interception performance in Week 3. But Wallace is aging and was clearly a subpar athlete even on his best day. The Steelers absolutely must upgrade at outside cornerback, as well as in the slot.

Rudolph is pretty much a stand-alone case. Throwing him into that disaster in Indianapolis accomplished nothing, but it does look as though Rudolph will start against the Bengals. Mitch Trubisky is far from a lock to be on this roster next season, so Rudolph could make a case to return in some sort of depth role at a similar price tag to what he is making now at a little over a million a year base salary. Or Rudolph could depart and backup somewhere else, but he does have some value to the Steelers.

Let’s lump Boykin, Killebrew and Pierre all together, as they are only core special teams players and nothing more. As was the case at safety on Sunday, you can break in case of emergency with any of these three to get you out of a game when beset with injuries. But Boykin, Pierre, and especially Killebrew, are valuable special teams players, something this organization rightfully values quite a bit, but nothing more. These three are third, fourth and fifth on the team in terms of special teams snap counts played and would be higher if they were contributors on the field goal protection team. Boykin and Pierre also are not on field goal block, but all three bring value on punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return, the core four special teams units. 

Killebrew is an elite punt blocker, having four in his Steelers career in less than two seasons. He also very well could be the Steelers' best core special teams player. He should strongly be considered for a new contract. 

Let’s also lump Adams, Watts and Golden together, all of whom have played quite well this year and should be considered to retain, but only at team-friendly prices. It would be great to retain Golden and one or both of the big men which would more or less eliminate the need for defensive front help this offseason, especially at the edge position with Golden and Nick Herbig behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. That isn’t to suggest that the Steelers should turn their nose up at an upgrade on defensive line with their 300 pounders, and they could also part ways with Larry Ogunjobi. Cam Heyward also is starting to look like a declining player. It would be great though to bring Adams, Watts and Golden back, but again, at minimal cost. In terms of base salary, none of those three made more than $2.5 million this past season, which is basically chump change. 

Golden isn’t a great player, but he has been more than serviceable as a valuable depth piece behind Watt and Highsmith. Herbig could surpass Golden going forward, but at the right price, it makes a lot of sense to retain Golden. 

Alexander is basically in the same boat as Adams, Watts and Golden. He isn’t special, but Alexander is valuable. And bringing him back to pair once again with Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts would be an adequate-or-better solution to the second level of the defense. That trio, when healthy, was quite effective and it would be great to eliminate an offseason need. This team will have plenty. 

Again, the Steelers could still draft a linebacker that falls to them in the draft if they re-signed Alexander, assuming he is healthy. They could also wait, as they did with Alexander, and find a veteran someone similar to him on the cheap late in the process. 

But how about this secondary? They all should go. Except for special teams value, which Wallace and Sullivan offer little, there is no reason to have any design on any of the upcoming free agents to play snaps next year in this secondary. In fact, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joey Porter Jr. are the foundations of this secondary going forward, and maybe the team can catch lightning in a bottle with talented youngsters Darius Rush or Cory Trice Jr., but other than that, the backend of the Steelers' defense needs a massive overhaul through free agency and the draft. 

The good news is the Steelers don’t have much in the way of free agents-to-be that they should really strain to retain. Everyone mentioned here is replaceable. The bad news is there is much more work to do to get this roster back to where it needs to be. More on that in coming weeks and months, folks.