The Steelers made uncharacteristically bold moves this offseason in a bid to keep the contention window open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The usually passive Steelers swung a big trade<\/a> for elite wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, giving the team the true No. 1 target that has been missing for years. As a result, mercurial receiver George Pickens was shipped to the Cowboys.<\/p>\n The biggest storyline, however, was the addition of future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers to play quarterback. The veteran ended his disappointing two-year run with the New York Jets this offseason, and will look to recapture his previous magic now on his third team.\u00a0<\/p>\n But, is betting on a 41-year-old quarterback to be elite the smartest strategy? Also, will the offseason trades for Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey, and Jonnu Smith<\/a> pan out? It’s a complete unknown at this point, and as a result, Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report<\/a> has the Steelers as one of the teams with the biggest boom-or-bust potential in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regarding the Steelers and their 2025 “boom” scenario, Gagnon offered the following:\u00a0<\/p>\n Boom:\u00a0An inspired Aaron Rodgers finds some of his old magic in his swan song, developing a rapport with DK Metcalf while a defense with plenty of top-end talent holds things down for a surprise AFC North champion.<\/p>\n On the flip side, Gagnon offered the following regarding a “bust” scenario:<\/p>\n Bust:\u00a0A 41-year-old Rodgers confirms he lost it several years ago, establishes no chemistry with Metcalf (who is also adjusting to a whole new scene), and a roster low on depth talent produces a losing record for the first time in the Mike Tomlin era.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both of Gagnon’s scenarios make some sense. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Rodgers find immediate success with Metcalf and an elite head coach in Mike Tomlin.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, it’s also not hard to imagine Rodgers being washed, and Metcalf not being a perfect fit in his new home.\u00a0<\/p>\n To finish things off, Gagnon offered his prediction for the team, and it’s not the most optimistic outlook.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There’s still enough talent and experience here for the Steelers to post a winning record, but 9-8 is their ceiling,” declared Gagnon. “And for a ninth consecutive year, they fail to win a playoff game.”<\/p>\n Only time will tell whether Gagnon is correct in his assessment. One would have to think the entire organization would be upset if the team ends with a 9-8 record after all of the investment that was sunk in this offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Steelers made uncharacteristically bold moves this offseason in a bid to keep the contention window open.\u00a0 The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-68281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}