Sexy signings – the Steelers rarely make any during the NFL’s annual spring free agent frenzy.
- Such was the case in March 2020.
Sure, tight Eric Ebron was intriguing, but not so much that Steelers fans immediately declared the team the favorite to win Super Bowl LV.
No, like most offseason
s, the Steelers concentrated on adding role players and depth pieces during the 2020 free agent period. One such depth piece was Stefen Wisniewski, a veteran interior lineman with position flexibility. That’s right, according to Pro Football Reference, Wisniewski has started 103 games during a nine-year career that began in 2011 when he was a second-round pick out of Penn State by the Oakland Raiders. Stefen Wisniewski started 61 games in four seasons with Oakland–including 45 at center and 16 at left guard.
The Steelers 2020 free agent Stefen Wisniewski. Photo Credit: Steelers.com
Since leaving Oakland following the 2014 season, Wisniewski, 31, has bounced around the league a bit–including stops in Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Kansas City. But despite evolving into a journeyman lineman, Wisniewski has managed to start 52 games since 2015.
Wisniewski was also a starter for the Eagles in their Super Bowl LII victory over the Patriots following the 2017 season. Wisniewski signed with the Chiefs prior to the 2019 season, and even though he only started two games during the regular season, he was named a starter for Kansas City’s Super Bowl LIV victory over the 49ers.
- What’s this all mean?
It means that Steelers fans should take comfort in the fact that the team has a player like Wisniewski as their primary backup at both guard and center.
That should be especially comforting heading into Pittsburgh’s Week 1 match-up against the Giants. Why? Because David DeCastro, the Steelers decorated veteran right guard, has been dealing with some sort of injury all throughout training camp and wasn’t able to go during the Steelers last day of padded training camp practices on Friday.
But if DeCastro can’t go against the Giants, it says here that the team will be just fine with the veteran Wisniewski at right guard. Is this to say he’s anywhere near the player DeCastro is? No, of course not. DeCastro is this era’s Alan Faneca. He’ll be no worse than a borderline Hall of Fame guard the moment he becomes eligible after retirement.
If the Steelers had to be without DeCastro for an extended period of time, there’s no doubt the drop-off in play would eventually prove to be detrimental. But for a game or three? This is why you sign players like Wisniewski. This is why you go out and get veterans with position flexibility. This is why those sexy free agent signings that garner the huge headlines aren’t always the ones that prove to be the most fruitful during the course of the regular season.
Nobody cares all that much about free agent depth until it’s needed. Here we are, the season is about to start, and the Steelers might be in need of some valuable free agent depth along the offensive line.
Stefen Wisniewski has never looked sexier.
