Steelers Season Rests Solely On Ben Roethlisberger's Health

• The Pittsburgh Steelers made a valiant effort after losing Ben Roethlisberger to injury last season; however, their hopes in 2020 are inherently tied to Roethlisberger coming back healthy.

• Despite Roethlisberger’s recent health, Pittsburgh didn’t bring in a proven veteran to serve as a backup.

• It’s still unclear who Pittsburgh’s number-two wide receiver behind JuJu Smith-Schuster will be, putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback position to carry the passing game.

• Concerns about Pittsburgh’s rushing attack linger after a disappointing 2019 season.

Depth At Quarterback

Ben Roethlisberger is confident he’ll be fully recovered and able to play in 2020, which is good news for the Steelers. Despite Roethlisberger’s health, Pittsburgh failed to make an upgrade in the quarterback room during the offseason with several veterans being available. On top of that, plenty of capable rookies fell to the later rounds of the draft. Instead, the Steelers will stick with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges as the backup quarterbacks on the roster, even though neither was good enough to get the Steelers to the playoffs last season.

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Wide Out Depth Behind JuJu

Last season, the Steelers failed to find a bonafide number-two wide receiver behind JuJu Smith-Schuster. James Washington had some flashes, as did Diontae Johnson, but neither did enough to make teams pay for honing in on Smith-Schuster. In fairness, the Steelers have added tight end Eric Ebron this offseason and drafted former Notre Dame wide receiver Chase Claypool. With no proven number-two receiver, all of the pressure is on Roethlisberger to elevate the performance of his receivers. If Roethlisberger isn’t at the top of his game, the Pittsburgh passing attack will suffer dramatically because of the uncertainty at the wide receiver position.

Rushers Were Plodders Last Season

It was bad enough to lose Roethlisberger to injury last season, and to add insult to injury, the Pittsburgh rushing attack couldn’t step up and carry the load. The Steelers finished the 2019 season 29th in the NFL in rushing. The blame can’t possibly fall entirely on James Conner and Benny Snell, who both failed to reach the 500-yard plateau. Without a viable passing attack, it was easy for opposing defenses to focus on stopping the run. Of course, if Roethlisberger isn’t fully healthy, it will be a similar case in 2020 and the Pittsburgh offense will continue to sputter.

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