Mar 18, 2022 4 min read

There was a pretty good portion – or ,at least, a very vocal minority – of Steelers fans who thought the team was simply going to sit on its hands in free agency.

The reason? The Steelers had no interest in trading for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson.

That was last weekend.

This weekend? A lot of people are now singing the praises of general manager Kevin Colbert.

The Steelers were more active in free agency than they have ever been. Of course, when you actually have $30 million in salary cap space available and can create another $13 million by releasing linebacker Joe Schobert and offensive tackle Zach Banner, the world is practically your oyster.

And Colbert had been busy plucking pearls out of the free-agent waters.

The first big move was to add quarterback Mitch Trubisky on a two-year, $16.25-million contract.

Later in the week, the Steelers signed offensive linemen James Daniels, formerly of the Chicago Bears and Mason Cole (Minnesota Vikings), cornerback Levi Wallace (Buffalo Bills) and linebacker Myles Jack after he was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars in a cost-cutting move.

That came along with re-signing offensive tackle Chuks Okorafor and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon.

The non-quarterback signings are big. But it will be the addition of Trubisky that will make or break this offseason for the Steelers and Colbert, who will retire after the draft at the end of April.

The move comes with very little risk.

If the 27-year-old Trubisky doesn’t work out, the Steelers didn’t break the bank to sign him. And they can easily release him after this season.

They’ll also likely be in prime position to select a potential quarterback of the future in 2023.

If Trubisky works out, the Steelers will have found a potential long-term quarterback at a low cost. After all, Trubisky was the second-overall pick in the 2017 draft, taken before the Kansas City Chiefs selected Patrick Mahomes 10th and the Houston Texans took Watson at No. 12.

For that, the Steelers gave up no draft picks. And they could still take a quarterback with the 20th pick in this draft, if that’s where the value happens to be.

• With all of the free-agent additions in the AFC West, many are saying all four teams will make the playoffs in 2022.

That seems doubtful. Somebody in that division is going to lose four, or even five, games within the division. The AFC West also matches up with the NFC West this season, a division that includes the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers, a chic pick to win the Super Bowl, and the Arizona Cardinals, who also were a playoff team in 2021. Only the Seattle Seahawks look weak in that division.

• This free agent period was classic Colbert. As he does almost every year, he’s filling the roster with starter-caliber players at all of the Steelers’ empty spots so that if they had to line up and play a game the week before the draft they would have capable starters at every position.

The only difference this year is that he’s been shopping at a higher-quality store than usual.

Salary cap space is a good thing.

The Steelers will be capable of taking the best player available at any position in the draft. And they won’t have to move up to go get anyone – unless the value is just so good they can’t resist.

It doesn’t always work out that way, but most years this is exactly what Colbert does.

• The good news is that Major League Baseball teams are now at spring training, in Florida and Arizona, preparing for the season.

The bad news is that the latest work stoppage did not result in a salary cap.

So, we’ll see more of the same in Major League Baseball. The rich get richer and the small-market teams will continue to serve as feeder teams for them.

• The best thing about what Colbert did was that none of the signings he’s made this offseason are longer than three seasons. Most are for only two.

Many were concerned that Colbert would be saddling the team’s next GM with a roster that the latter didn’t have any hand in making. Most of the signings the Steelers made can be moved on from rather painlessly next season, if the team so chooses.

And if they like the player, they can easily extend his contract.