The Pittsburgh Steelers were busy this offseason, retooling and reshaping the roster to plug holes and begin forming the group into Mike McCarthy\u2019s vision. Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., cornerback Jamel Dean, and safety Jaquan Brisker were the headline additions. Pittman through trade, the others through free agency. Mark Kaboly thinks a different Steelers free agent could prove to be the shrewdest addition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Sebastian Joseph-Day\u2019s gonna be one of the surprising signings of the offseason,\u201d Kaboly said during a Wednesday appearance on 93.7 The Fan.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Kaboly made the comments in reference to Pittsburgh\u2019s strength along the defensive line. Cam Heyward returns as he continues holding off Father Time. Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black could surge in their second seasons. Joseph-Day won\u2019t start but could become a key contributor rotating in throughout each game.<\/p>\n A veteran with entering his eighth year with more than 100 games, his ceiling is low, but his floor is high. A no-nonsense run stuffer who can play up and down the line. Early in his career, he worked as a nose tackle\/one-tech while Aaron Donald dominated at three tech for the Los Angeles Rams. In recent years, Joseph-Day has played more defensive tackle and end. In April, our Clayton Eckert pointed to his impressive advanced data.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n In Pittsburgh, he could play either. If Keeanu Benton kicks out to play more tackle\/end, Joseph-Day might rotate with Black at nose tackle. If Benton stays put, Joseph-Day will filter in behind Heyward and Harmon.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh\u2019s run defense hasn\u2019t been strong enough the past two years. It\u2019s the foundation of every successful unit since the 1970s. Adding Joseph-Day will help correct that as will the Steelers\u2019 strong depth throughout their defensive line room. Kaboly talked up Harmon and Black and what new defensive line coach Domata Peko can offer to accelerate their development.<\/p>\n The Steelers have found defensive gems the past two free agency cycles. Strong safety DeShon Elliott in 2024 and cornerback Brandin Echols in 2025. Joseph-Day could be 2026\u2019s version.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t take long for the unit to be tested as the Steelers face Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson in Week 1. He\u2019s coming off back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons. Pittsburgh held him to just 68 yards and less than 4 yards per carry to open 2024 but he\u2019s a better back today than he was two years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers were busy this offseason, retooling and reshaping the roster to plug holes and begin forming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[15353,3792,349,1321,235525,99,3795],"class_list":["post-738249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-mark-kaboly","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sebastian-joseph-day","tag-sports","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}