Pittsburgh

Steelers brass should focus on defense in free agency

PITTSBURGH — The 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers will have a vastly different look and that will start to reveal itself Wednesday at 4 p.m. as free agency officially will commence.

Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell are the big name departures for the Steelers and no matter how they found themselves out of Pittsburgh, they will leave a massive hole for the offense in terms of production.

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The duo accounted for 44.8% of the Steelers offense since 2014. Those numbers are staggering.

JuJu Smith-Schuster tweeted "I'm ready" once it was made public the Steelers traded Brown to the Raiders, and while that is the right attitude to have, his production, without Brown on the opposite side of the field is a complete unknown. It's hard to quantify how Brown's presence impacts how defenses lined up against the Steelers. Don't be surprised if the Steelers are in the market to add a wide receiver through free agency.

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Le'Veon Bell didn't play last season, however James Conner hasn't proven he can produce through a 16-game season, year after year. Again, this is another area that's an unknown for the Steelers.

Even with the departures of Brown and Bell, the Steelers main focus will and should be on the defense. GM Kevin Colbert has yet to find a capable replacement at inside linebacker for Ryan Shazier. John Bostic is serviceable, but not a game changer.

I'd also expect the Steelers to target a cornerback to play opposite Joe Haden. Artie Burns will be given the opportunity to compete for his starting position he lost midway through last season, however the team won't count on him.

This is going to be one of the more intriguing off-seasons in franchise history with so many questions to be answered. How will things shake out? What will the Steelers identity be? We'll begin to find out starting Wednesday at 4pm ET.

2018 PITTSBURGH STEELERS (9-6-1)

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: Le'Veon Bell, Jesse James, Jordan Berry, Anthony Chickillo, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Daniel McCullers, Ryan Shazier, Justin Hunter, Coty Sensabaugh, Stevan Ridley, L.J. Fort, Nate Behre, Eli Rogers, LT Walton

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: B.J. Finney, Xavier Grimble

AVAILABLE SALARY CAP SPACE (approximately): $11 million