NFL Fantasy Preview: Pittsburgh Steelers

Minkah Fitzpatrick (Erik Drost, Wikimedia Commons)

In a 32-part series leading up to the start of the 2021 National Football League season, we will take a look at each NFL franchise from a fantasy perspective. The 27th team we will review is the Pittsburgh Steelers.

For decades, the foundation of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been their defense. Known as the Steel Curtain, Pittsburgh had a dominant defense in the 1970s, and has been instrumental in the 21st century in the Steelers’ overall team success. In 2020, the Steelers had the best defense in fantasy football, as their 232 fantasy points, were three more points than the Los Angeles Rams.

The Steelers defense from a year ago was led by free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick of Old Bridge, New Jersey, who not only led the Steelers in interceptions (four), but tackles (79) too. In being named to the Pro Bowl for the second time, Fitzpatrick even found the end zone in 2020, as he had a 33-yard pick six in a 38-7 Steelers win over the Cleveland Browns on October 18.

Now the Steelers fans will hope their defense remains at number one in 2021. The hope is that Pittsburgh will still be strong with the acquisitions of defensive end Melvin Ingram from the Los Angeles Chargers and linebacker Joe Schobert from the Jacksonville Jaguars  to counter the losses of linebacker Bud Dupree to the Tennessee Titans and cornerback Mike Hilton to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Steelers still have depth when not having the football, and remain one of the deepest defenses in the NFL. They remain number one in fantasy.

The offense meanwhile has question marks heading into 2021. Ben Roethlisberger was ordinary down the stretch after a hot start. At the end of the season, he completed 399 passes in 608 attempts for 3803 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The issue for Roethlisberger from a fantasy perspective is that he rarely runs with the football at age 39. Last season he only had 25 rushes for 11 yards. This is why Roethlisberger is only 15th in fantasy.

Roethlisberger has three respectable receivers in Canadian Chase Claypool, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Diontae Johnson. Claypool had 62 catches for 873 yards and nine touchdowns, Smith-Schuster had 97 catches for 831 yards and nine touchdowns, and Johnson had 88 catches for 923 yards and seven touchdowns. Due to the fact all three receivers have comparable statistics, they are all serious threats from a receiver perspective. Claypool is ranked 14th, Smith-Schuster is ranked 23rd, and Johnson is 33rd.

At tight end, Eric Ebron of Newark, New Jersey, had his first season with the Steelers in 2021 after four seasons with the Detroit Lions and two seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. In 15 games, Ebron had 56 catches for 558 yards and five touchdowns. Put Ebron is a TE2 for now, as he is ranked 11th.

Finally at running back, Najee Harris will be the Steelers number one back now with James Conner signing with the Arizona Cardinals. Harris was the Steelers first round pick in 2021 out of the University of Alabama. He is ranked 14th in fantasy, and is ranked this high because of the offensive weapons surrounding him, and the fact he is expected to get a lot of regular work throughout 2021.

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