Tim Benz: Steelers employing 'greed is good' approach to roster construction at just the right time

The Steelers’ newest player signing is the latest example of their Gordon Gekko approach to roster construction in 2023.
Greed is good.
Get as much as you can, while you can.
Since the Steelers’ salary cap spreadsheet is blessed with starters at quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, running back and left tackle all on entry-level contracts, that time is now.
So the franchise has spent the offseason filling up the rest of the roster with as many veteran options as possible. The most recent piece of evidence was Thursday’s signing of free agent defensive back Desmond King II.
During the offseason, the Steelers signed Patrick Peterson and Keanu Neal to bolster the secondary. They also extended the contract of Damontae Kazee, drafted Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr., and signed Chandon Sullivan.
Yet they went out and signed King as a free agent last week after he was released by the Houston Texans. King gives head coach Mike Tomlin a third option at slot corner (along with Sullivan and Elijah Riley) and another backup outside to Porter, Peterson and Levi Wallace if necessary.
“You can never have enough,” assistant general manager Andy Weidl said during a training camp news conference last month. “Corners. You got three. You need four. You have four. You need five. You can never have enough. Depth is a luxury to have.”
That actually sounded more like George Clooney in “Ocean’s 11” than Michael Douglas in “Wall Street.” But you get the point.
“You think we need one more? You think we need one more. Alright. We’ll get one more.”
It wasn’t just the secondary where the Steelers employed that approach. They loaded up along the offensive line. Despite returning all five starters from last year, the front office saw an opportunity to upgrade the quality and depth of that unit. So they signed and/or drafted Isaac Seumalo, Nate Herbig, Broderick Jones, Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook.
A problem spot for years, the franchise attempted to fix the troublesome inside linebacker position as well. Elandon Roberts, Kwon Alexander, Cole Holcomb, Nick Kwiatkoski and Tanner Muse were all veterans brought in from other teams to help address that need. Roberts, Alexander and Holcomb all made the roster along with second-year player Mark Robinson.
But it’s not just the hope of creating depth in case of injury that’s appealing to the Steelers. It’s the hope of building a roster that can be flexible in its deployment week to week. A byproduct of layering the roster with quality NFL depth is giving Tomlin and his coaching staff options in terms of how they want to deploy those players on a game-to-game basis.
It’s now a depth chart that’s malleable enough to be game plan specific weekly, as opposed to one that simply hopes to fill holes when necessary.
“We had a vision of what we wanted the roster to look like this year and how we were going to win football games,” Khan said before the team’s first training camp practice. “I can say every week in this league brings a different challenge, and you have to win football games. Every week, it’s a different way. You might win (by) scoring 12 points. Sometimes you might need to score 40 points. I’m confident we can win either way.”
Now Tomlin and company appear to have the tools to do exactly that.
If they are facing a run-heavy team like Cleveland or Baltimore, load up with a rotation of Roberts, Holcomb and Robinson at inside linebacker. Play Neal as a thumper at strong safety a bit more than Kazee, and have Sullivan mix it up at the line of scrimmage at nickelback. Plus they still have run-plugging nose tackle Breiden Fehoko on the practice squad if something happens to starter Montravius Adams or intriguing rookie Keeanu Benton.
If they are facing a pass-oriented team, that could mean more reps for Alexander and Kazee to patrol the middle of the defense at the second and third levels, with Riley and King II getting more snaps at nickel. Not to mention the likes of Isaiahh Loudermilk and Armon Watts joining Benton and Adams as relief for Cam Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi along the defensive front in pass-rush situations.
On the edges, Nick Herbig and Markus Golden could each add more quality snaps spelling T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith than what they got out of Malik Reed and the multiple other options they attempted to use at outside linebacker a year ago.
On offense, rookie Darnell Washington now poses more of a blocking and pass-catching threat than Zach Gentry may have in 2022 whenever the Steelers went with a second tight end on the field alongside Pat Freiermuth. With Jones (as an eligible tight end) and Washington, they can now even trot out an ultra-heavy jumbo package if they feel confident in grinding down a lighter team’s defense.
Acquiring Allen Robinson II gives offensive coordinator Matt Canada the option of deploying a big slot wide receiver when the unit has a three-wide option on the field. Or he can stick with a traditional quick and shifty guy in that role with either Calvin Austin III or Gunner Olszewski. It all depends on what defensive players are deemed the most likely to exploit on a weekly basis.
“There’s an attention in the match-up component of the game today that you cannot deny,” Tomlin said during training camp. “Things trend and things move in the game. The situational match-up component is big and getting bigger by the minute. You’d better position yourself to play that game with depth and depth with various skill sets.”
That appears to be what the Steelers have done with the roster as it approaches Sunday’s regular-season opener against the San Francisco 49ers.
Greed is good. And the Steelers appear to be much improved as a result of being greedy heading into 2023.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.