NFL offseason wish list: Pittsburgh Steelers

Welcome to our fantasy football wish lists where we’re going through each NFL team and listing three things we’d love to see them do this offseason for fantasy reasons (but also real football reasons).

Has there ever been an offseason for a team like the one that’s looming for the Steelers? In the span of like three months, the Steelers are going to lose Le’Veon Bell and most likely Antonio Brown. That’s two possible Hall of Fame players—in Brown’s case it’s 100% happening—that you could keep happy and now have/are forcing their way off the team. Say what you want about Bell or Brown, but there has to be a lot of eyes directed at a Steelers organization that couldn’t, or maybe even didn’t want to, keep these guys happy. I understand the importance of a quarterback in today’s NFL, but picking Ben Roethlisberger over Antonio Brown seems like a dumb choice to me. But hey, what do I know.

Anyways, enough of my excitement over the dismantlement and complete chaos of the Steelers, here’s my fantasy wish list for them this offseason (since they always seem to produce fantasy studs).

Actually trade Antonio Brown

The fantasy world can’t deal with the Steelers causing another missed season from a top 5 guy at his position. Sure last year’s Bell absence led to the breakout of James Conner but fantasy is just much more fun when all the best guys are out there and playing. What I don’t want to see is the Steelers deciding that trading Brown actually isn’t the right thing to do, keep him and Brown chooses to sit out the year. I do not want that. So find a trade partner—of which there are a few—and ship his ass out so he’ll play in 2019. Thank you.

Sign Michael Crabtree

I definitely want the Steelers to sign a wide receiver once they trade away Antonio Brown. Obviously with Brown out, JuJu Smith-Schuster will be the new number one receiver in Pittsburgh, a role he’s proven he can certainly handle. But I want to make sure that there’s at least another option in the offense that prevents defenses from directing all their attention at JuJu, thus lowering his fantasy potential. Yes Crabtree isn’t anywhere close to AB but he’s the perfect level of veteran receiver to take some defensive focus from JuJu but won’t take a ton of targets from him. And let’s not overlook how much Crabtree might have left in the tank. He played 805 snaps last year and caught 54 balls for 607 yards and three touchdowns. Those aren’t bad numbers if you ask me. Putting him in Pittsburgh, where they just turn out fantasy worthy receivers, also helps his value AND he faces the Ravens twice a year, the team that released him. You know I love revenge narratives.

Sign Spencer Ware

The Steelers seem to have a nasty habit of running their running backs into the ground and then shockingly their backs get injured right around playoff time and that’s bad for both them and fantasy owners who would really like to have those running backs in the fantasy playoffs. Adding Ware would help take some of the load off Conner’s shoulders but more so, would give the Steelers a pass-catching back who averaged 12.7 yards per reception across his last two seasons. We know the Steelers offense loves to get their backs involved in the passing game and Ware would fit perfectly into their offense.