Like a number of the team's moves that have largely flown under the radar, even among Steelers fans, the re-signing of offensive tackle Calvin Anderson earlier this week was an important one for the team.
Anderson, 29, isn't a star. In fact, in his previous five seasons, he's started just 14 games. But he's also appeared in 50 career games.
More importantly, he's a natural left tackle, and he fills a valuable spot on the team's roster.
As currently constructed, the Steelers' starting offensive line in 2025 is projected to be Broderick Jones at left tackle with Troy Fautanu on the right side, Isaac Seumalo and Mason McCormick at the guard spots and Zach Frazier at center.
But, particularly at tackle, those are projections.
Jones has made 27 starts in his first two NFL seasons, but the majority of his playing time has come at right tackle. Jones has lined up at left tackle for 122 offensive snaps, all of which came in his rookie season.
Fautanu, meanwhile, appeared in just one game as a rookie in 2024 before being lost for the season to knee injury. And that game was played at right tackle.
Both Jones and Fautanu played left tackle in college. But they don't have much, if any, playing on the left side in the NFL.
That's why when asked about his starting offensive line recently at the NFL meetings, head coach Mike Tomlin wasn't about to anoint that group in its entirety as the starters.
"I feel like we have some guys that are certainly capable of the role," Tomlin said. "But to say that as I sit here today, would be untrue. I don't know who I'm going to end up with or who I'm going to be in position to consider."
In other words, Tomlin is going to make that group earn it.
And who knows what will be available in the draft or who might become available in free agency?
Can Anderson push any of the tackles? His history shows that probably isn't the case. But, what he can do is fill an important role as the team's swing tackle, a role he played last season.
That takes the necessity of the Steelers having to tackle an offensive tackle in the draft off the board. That is important, as it opens up their draft board.
With Anderson back in the fold, he joins Jones, Fautanu, Spencer Anderson, Dylan Cook and Doug Nester on the roster as tackle-capable players. But Anderson's primary experience in games has come at guard, while Cook and Nester have yet to appear in a regular season game.
"Our goal is always to put ourselves in a position where we don't have to take a guy at a specific position," Steelers GM Omar Khan told Steelers.com recently. "And I feel like we've added some key pieces to what we're trying to accomplish. And this draft is, there's some really good players in this draft that can help us at various positions. We've been working hard at trying to make sure we set our board right, and there's more work to come."
Does Anderson's signing preclude the Steelers from taking an offensive tackle in the draft? Certainly not. But what it does do is ensure that if they don't take a tackle in the draft, it's not the end of the world.
• It's understandable that every visit the Steelers make with a draft-eligible quarterback is big news. After all, the team currently doesn't have a long-term answer at that position.
The team is doing its due diligence at the position.
But simply because they are doing their due diligence doesn't mean they're absolutely taking a quarterback early in the draft no matter what. They're unlikely to reach on a player simply because they don't have a long-term answer at the position.
Given that the quarterbacks they've spoken to thus far at the Scouting Combine, various pro days and pre-draft visits have been players expected to selected in the first round to those expected to be selections on the third day of the draft, it doesn't seem the Steelers are necessarily centered on taking one at any one specific round. It seems more about doing their homework if someone happens to be available in a certain spot.
Regardless of whether the Steelers acquire another veteran quarterback or not – and they will acquire someone – they will take four quarterbacks to training camp in late July. And right now, they only have two – Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson – on the roster.
• Speculation regarding social media posts of players draws plenty of hits for those that choose to try to guess what a player meant by posting this picture or that phrase.
More often than not, they're completely wrong in their conjecture.
Earlier this week, a post on Instagram by Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt that led to plenty of people making guesses as to what it was Watt was referring for a post in which it showed him in a Steelers uniform giving the peace sign.
It could mean any number of things. But some speculated that it means Watt wants out of Pittsburgh since he's heading into the final year of his contract.
When asked about it at the end of the 2024 season, Watt said, "I want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, you guys know that. I don't want to leave this place. I want to be a part of the solution. I put so much into it here. I've seen so many guys, I mean, I want to help Cam Heyward get to where we need to get. I want to be part of the solution. I don't want to leave this place. I love the people here, and that goes beyond the coaches. It's the fan base. It's the people, the community, and we owe it to them to get it right, and I want to be part of the solution, not leave here and go somewhere else. That's not my intention at all."
When asked about a contract extension with Watt at the league meetings just a couple of weeks ago, Khan wasn't coy.
"I'll just say that I'm very hopeful that T.J. will finish his career as a Steeler," he said.
Tomlin made a similar statement when asked about signing Watt to an extension.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast Pittonline@iheartmedia.com
"I'm sure that is our mindset, certainly," Tomlin said.
So, Watt wants to be a member of the Steelers, and the Steelers want that to happen, as well.
When both sides want something to happen, it usually gets done.
It might not be tomorrow. It might not even be next week or next month. In the past, the Steelers have worked out those kind of contract extensions in the days leading up to or even early in training camp.
In other words, don't believe the speculation. Trust what the parties involved had to say.
• With less than two weeks remaining before the 2025 NFL Draft, no picks in the first round have been traded. That's something that hasn't happened this late in the process since 1993, though the Giants didn't have their pick in the first round that year because they had given it up to select quarterback Dave Brown in the 1992 supplemental draft.
In the 1993 Draft, that situation changed less than a week before the draft took place as Kansas City sent its first-round pick to the 49ers for quarterback Joe Montana.
That kicked off what wound up being a flurry of trades, as 11 picks ended up changing hands in the first round of that draft.
Does that mean something similar will happen this year? Certainly not. Each draft is its own animal. But simply because no picks have been dealt at this point doesn't mean none will get moved once the draft begins.
• This year's draft is considered to be lacking in true blue-chip prospects who would be sure first-round draft picks in any given year. But it is deep, especially at edge rusher, defensive tackle and running back.
Interestingly enough, the Steelers appear to be ready to head into the draft needing to upgrade their roster on the defensive line and at linebacker.
Who says the team doesn't have a plan?
Just because the Steelers aren't announcing to the world what their long-term plans happen to be at quarterback or running back or defensive end doesn't mean they don't have one.
After all, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to announce any such plans to the world.
What we do know is that the Steelers have set themselves up to acquire four additional compensatory picks in 2025, the earliest being projected in the third round.
"That's obviously been something we've been taking into consideration," Khan said.
That's not an accident. That's called a plan.
