During this time of the year, many organizations are looking at how to fix the issues they had in their prior season. The Steeler's biggest issue was their offensive line and running game in 2020. They ended up finishing dead last in the running game and that is not mainly their running back's fault. It is also their offensive line's fault why the running game completely fell apart in 2020. The offensive line did play well in regards to the pass-rush, but they were abysmal in the rushing game.
The Steelers finished the 2020 season ranking 31st as a run-blocking unit. Pro Football Focus ranked the Steelers offensive line 17th among 32 teams in the NFL because of how bad their run-blocking was. The only run-blocking offensive lineman on the Steelers that received a grade of 60.0 was Alejandro Villanueva (60.9). No team averaged fewer yards per run play (3.6) than the Steelers did in 2020 according to Pro Football Focus. This offensive line could use some younger players on the line coming into the 2021 season and one way the Steelers could do it is in the 2021 NFL draft.
There is no way the Steelers will fully fix their offensive line issues in the 2021 offseason, but to start getting on the right path they need to draft several offensive linemen and a premier running back in the 2021 draft. The biggest red flag right now in regards to the Pittsburgh Steelers is their offensive line. If Ben Roethlisberger goes down in 2021 you can kiss the Pittsburgh Steeler's season goodbye and quite possibly their 18-year veteran quarterback as well. The Steelers need to figure out how to keep Ben Roethlisberger upright as much as they can in 2021.
Roethlisberger has had to find out a way to get the football out much quicker than he has in prior football seasons and he has been doing it quite well. One of the reasons why Ben needs to get the ball out quickly is because each season he plays football from this point forward his escapability will decrease every single season and the Steelers would rather keep him safe in the pocket rather than having a 39-year old quarterback running around the football field.
Ben has lost his veteran center Maurkice Pouncey and the Steelers could walk into the 2021 season with BJ Finney as their starting center. They need to find youth badly on the offensive line. They missed out on a veteran starting center so they should look for one in the 2021 NFL draft. In fact, they need to find one because BJ Finney has injury issues. If he goes down the Steelers would only have J.C. Hassenauer. He was ok at playing center, but he is definitely not a starting center in the NFL.
They did add Rashaad Coward and Joe Haeg during the 2021 offseason who have played a combined 18 games over the past season, but the Steelers will need to find a way to fix their offensive line even more. This could be David DeCastro's final season with the Steelers and they will need to find younger guys to take over for their older veterans in the near future. I would expect the Steelers to at least take 2 offensive linemen in the NFL draft this season, but don't expect them to fix their full issues on the offensive line this season.