5 moves the Steelers must make for the offseason to be a successful one

Coming off a 12-4 year, the Pittsburgh Steelers entered the offseason facing the type of questions usually reserved for teams with a reversed record.

They have an alarming number of free agents and already are over a salary cap that is projected to decline in 2021. They have an aging and expensive quarterback, a suspect offensive line, a bottom-of-the-barrel running game and a secondary that could be ripped apart by free agency and cap casualties.

Here are five of the issues the Steelers must address in the offseason if they wish to repeat as AFC North champions:

1. Resolve uncertainty at quarterback

The first one is the most obvious. Ben Roethlisberger’s decision on whether he wants to return for an 18th season — and whether the Steelers want him back — needs to be determined before the Steelers can fill in pieces elsewhere.

If Roethlisberger comes back, the Steelers will enter the season with Mason Rudolph as the backup in the final year of his four-year rookie contract. Joshua Dobbs will be a free agent in March, and the Steelers haven’t made an effort to bring back “Duck” Hodges to compete for the No. 3 job. The identity of the third quarterback isn’t a high priority, but it’s a role that must be filled at some point.

The need for another arm will be magnified if Roethlisberger doesn’t return.

The Steelers would need to throw their support behind Rudolph in 2021, take a quarterback early in the draft or sign a veteran to compete for the starting job.

With the Steelers needing help at so many other positions on offense, drafting a quarterback at No. 24 overall or in the second round would seem unlikely.

Once the Roethlisberger decision is made, the Steelers can begin plotting for 2021 — and beyond.

2. Sign Zach Banner or Matt Feiler

With the Steelers expected to move on from Alejandro Villanueva, who will become a free agent if he doesn’t retire, they need to find someone to protect the quarterback’s blind side.

The logical solution is to keep the job in-house. Moving Chuks Okorafor from right tackle to left would solve that vacancy. That leaves an opening on the right side that Zach Banner or Matt Feiler could fill.

Both will become free agents in March. With two years of starting experience — one at right tackle, one at left guard — Feiler will command more on the open market and will be difficult to bring back.

Banner is the more viable option given he is coming off an ACL tear in the season opener. Banner wants to return to the Steelers and could be enticed to stay with the promise of regaining his right tackle job.

By addressing the right tackle position in March, the Steelers can use the draft to add a left tackle to compete immediately with Okorafor and take an interior lineman capable of playing guard and center. This is paramount because Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro are entering the final year of their contracts.

3. Use a high draft pick on a running back

Thirteen years ago, armed with the No. 23 overall pick, the Steelers drafted Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall when he fell from the middle of the first round.

Mendenhall had only two 1,000-yard seasons out of his six in the NFL. In 2013, the Steelers drafted his successor, Le’Veon Bell, in the second round.

Having gone three years without a 1,000-yard rusher and coming off a last-place NFL ranking, the Steelers need to grab a running back at No. 24 or when their turn arises in the second round. If the draft plays out the way it did in 2020, the Steelers could find their man on the second day.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the only running back taken in the first round, and he went on the final pick to Kansas City. The next day, DeAndre Swift and Jonathan Taylor were off the board by the time the Steelers drafted wide receiver Chase Claypool. Running backs Cam Akers and J.K. Dobbins went later and two prominent backs — Antonio Gibson and Zack Moss — were taken in the third round.

The Steelers can’t afford to wait until the third day of the draft to grab a starter.

4. Throw some money at Cam Sutton

The depth the Steelers enjoyed at cornerback is a luxury they probably won’t enjoy next season.

Starters Joe Haden and Steve Nelson carry salary-cap hits of $15.575 million and $14.42 million, respectively, making their contracts two of the five largest on the roster. That makes it feasible one could become a cap casualty.

With slot corner Mike Hilton hitting free agency, it puts a premium on the Steelers retaining Cam Sutton, who also will be an unrestricted free agent. The Steelers can’t afford to let both players leave, and they probably have a better chance of re-signing Sutton.

Although the Steelers gave Hilton a chance to become a starter, they also ignored his pleas for a multi-year contract when he was still an exclusive rights free agent and then a restricted free agent. With uber-agent Drew Rosenhaus as his representative, Hilton figures to command top dollar on the open market as a slot corner and might not be willing to give a hometown discount.

Sutton has never held a starting job long term, but he was invaluable as a jack-of-all trades defensive back this past season.

He could replace Hilton inside or one of the veterans outside if the Steelers trim either Haden or Nelson from the payroll.

5. Get some long-term business done

Securing a long-term contract for NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate T.J. Watt is a priority and with good reason.

Watt will be heading into his fifth NFL season, and the Steelers already picked up the option on his contract that, under the previous collective bargaining agreement, is worth about $10 million. Compared to his peers, Watt has a value about twice that amount, and it will be up to the two sides to reach a long-term deal that will keep the franchise’s best defensive player around.

With the Steelers’ precarious salary-cap situation, expect any deal to include a reduced base salary for 2021.

Another decision will be whether to offer the fifth-year option to 2018 first-round picks Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds. This would establish their salaries for 2022.

Fitzpatrick is a no-brainer. Edmunds, well, is not.

Under terms of the new CBA, the Steelers must meet a May 3 deadline to tender the fifth-year offers. While previous fifth-year options were guaranteed only for injury, the new CBA dictates that these options become automatically guaranteed at the time of the offer.

With Edmunds not having the same resume as Fitzpatrick, a two-time Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection, the Steelers might be wise to let their strong safety play out his rookie contract and use the money elsewhere.