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Though the season remains to be ongoing for just a few extra weeks, the Pittsburgh Steelers are sadly part of the vast majority of the league that’s already in progress with their offseason mode, making preparations for the 2021 season calendar, starting with preparations for signing gamers to futures contracts and issues of that nature.
As virtually all the time, one of many largest hurdles dealing with the crew this offseason shall be their wage cap scenario, a multi-pronged dialogue that entails who may retire, who is likely to be launched, who is likely to be restructured or prolonged, and so forth and so forth.
Having already begun the turnover a few years in the past, there figures to be much more change coming alongside the offensive line, with three of the 5 gamers who opened the common season as starters scheduled to be unrestricted free brokers.
Probably the most vital title in that group is left deal with Alejandro Villanueva, a two-time Professional Bowler who was maybe the Steelers’ finest lineman this yr—which isn’t essentially saying a lot. He’s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent for the primary time in his profession on the age of 32.
And in the event you heed the phrases of Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Put up-Gazette, you ought not anticipate his returning to the crew in 2021, after spending the majority of the previous six seasons because the blindside protector for Ben Roethlisberger.
In an article previewing the crew’s wage cap scenario for the upcoming season, the veteran beat author highlighted three pending free brokers specifically, with the left deal with being one and JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner being the opposite two.
“Villanueva, who has started 90 consecutive games since 2015 for the fourth-longest streak among offensive linemen in the league, will not be re-signed”, he wrote flatly, although he doesn’t in any approach provide a sign that that is something apart from hypothesis on his half.
Villanueva has been the most effective blindside protector the Steelers have had for a few years for the reason that days of Marvel Smith. Assuming that he departs in free company, the possible transfer can be for them to maneuver Chukwuma Okorafor from proper deal with to left deal with.
Okorafor competed with Zach Banner to open the season because the beginning proper deal with, however misplaced. Banner suffered a season-ending knee harm within the opener, nevertheless, and Okorafor stuffed in for the remainder of the season.
Banner can be scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, however with lower than one full begin beneath his belt and coming off of a torn ACL, it’s unlikely that he may have a lot of a sturdy market, making it an affordable prospect that he’s re-signed and begins at proper deal with.
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