Big Name Defensive Free Agent Connected To Steelers

Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers having the most expensive defense in the league in 2024, there were some significant challenges. The players themselves reported that there were communication issues, which all contributed to them losing their final four regular season games, and their Wild Card contest in the playoffs. It indicates that the Steelers aren't as close to a Super Bowl win as many fans thought they were. 

This has many fans demanding that the team just go ahead and trade their best players, like TJ Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick, while they still have value. However, most insiders say this will never happen. They see Watt as a one-helmet player, like his teammate Cameron Heyward wants to be. Head Coach Mike Tomlin has expressed regrets in the past over not getting some of his best players Super Bowl rings, and now Heyward, who is 35, is certainly playing on borrowed time. 

The Steelers are expected to use a significant amount of their 2025 draft capital on bolstering the defense, including the defensive line. Former Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats thinks that talent is really the area where they are lacking. On his podcast, The Arthur Moats Experience, he recently said that the Steelers need to look at boosting their defense in various ways. That includes picking up solid players in free agency, not just in the draft. 

"That's why you've heard me talking about Milton Williams a lot more," explained Moats. "I'm looking at it, and I'm like, that's a dude we should target in free agency if we want to have just a different approach come the draft where we don't feel like we want to go D-line early on.  You go get you a proven guy like Milton Williams, a proven Super Bowl champ who obviously had production in the big game as well. Now you're bringing in pedigree, and you're bringing in leadership, you're bringing in youth as well because he's a young guy, and you got a chance to get younger and more talent, but also have a guy that's there to be Keeanu Benton's long-term running mate."

Milton Williams was a third-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021 and has proven to be invaluable. He is widely considered Philadelphia's second-best defensive lineman to Josh Sweat. The defensive tackle is only 25 and was a major reason Patrick Mahomes' effectiveness was limited during the Super Bowl. His success has him projected to get paid quite well. Spotrac predicts approximately $12 million a year.

Williams is a defensive x-factor, the total package: young, talented, versatile, big-bodied, but yet agile and quick. Heyward didn't appear to be ready to retire in 2024, which was good because there were also questions about Benton's ability to take over. Williams could provide the talent that the trenches were sorely missing. 

Steelers Could Already Have The Most Important Building Block

While the Steelers aren't where they want to be, they have already started building the kind of team they need to return to winning Super Bowls. The most important part of a rebuilding process is the person you choose to be the architect. The Steelers chose Andy Weidl to assist General Manager Omar Khan. 

Weidl worked for the Eagles before coming to Pittsburgh and is a major reason they made it to and won a Super Bowl. During his time with Philadelphia, he helped build their team from the trenches up, and it is why they were the team that was able to take down a dynasty. 

Since Weidl was hired in Philadelphia in 2016, they have been to three Super Bowls and now have won two. They didn't do it by trading up for a top-five pick in the draft or by nabbing all the flashiest names in free agency. They built the trenches, allowing their offense to find a balanced rhythm, and made their defense unyielding.