ORLANDO, Fla. -- The additions by the Steelers of safety Morgan Burnett and linebacker Jon Bostic appear to make them a better team than the one that took the field Jan. 14 in the playoffs against Jacksonville, but they aren't taking a wait-and-see approach with the two free agent signings made last week.
Speaking on the first day of the NFL meetings here Sunday, Kevin Colbert said he was pleased the team found replacements for injured linebacker Ryan Shazier and released safety Mike Mitchell, but he's not ready to declare his work done at either position. In fact, he said nothing has changed with the team's draft strategy.
"Anything we did, we always prefaced it with it won’t change the draft strategy," Colbert said. "That is unfolding as we go through this thing every day, as well. It won’t change anything. Obviously, we have different people on the team now, but we’re still preparing offensively, defensively and special teams evaluations to see how we can best improve."
Improving the team's defense this offseason was a priority after the unit faltered down the stretch when Shazier suffered a catastrophic injury in early December at Cincinnati. Without the Pro Bowl linebacker in the lineup, Pittsburgh's defense wasn't nearly as potent, a point driven home in the playoffs, when the Steelers allowed 45 points in a season-ending loss to Jacksonville.
The additions of Bostic, 27, and Burnett, 29, which were made in the second wave of free agency, could help that. Missed tackles were an issue for the team throughout the season, even when Shazier was playing, and both are considered strong in that area.
Where they fit into the grand scheme of things, however, remains to be seen and could be dependent on what happens in the draft at the end of April.
Bostic has bounced around the league since being selected in the second round of the 2013 draft by Chicago. The Steelers will be his fifth team. But he also is coming off his best season after recording 97 tackles last season for Indianapolis.
"He put together his best season last year. But he’s a young veteran," Colbert said of Bostic, who signed a two-year, $4 million deal. "That’s always encouraging. Beyond 2018, it’s hard to project anything other than he’s a young player and will still have years beyond 2018. We think he’ll be able to help us. Where he fits in beyond this season, it’s hard to predict. I can’t tell you where he’ll fit this season."
What they hope is he'll be a three-down linebacker capable of playing the pass as well as the run. Bostic played in Indianapolis' nickel and dime packages last season but the Steelers are only projecting those kind of things for him at this point after signing him last week.
"I think he has the physical abilities to do it," Colbert said. "We think he has the mental abilities to do it. But until we get him in meetings and practices, we won’t know that for sure."
Colbert also is unsure of exactly where Burnett will fit into the defense, though he has a much more proven track record than Bostic.
Burnett lined up at both strong and free safety in his eight seasons in Green Bay, while also playing some slot cornerback and nickel and dime linebacker.
The Steelers signed Burnett to a three-year deal to essentially replace Mitchell, released two weeks ago along with William Gay and Robert Golden. But Colbert said whether Burnett will be the strong or free safety with the Steelers depends on how he and current strong safety Sean Davis mesh together.
"We can take a guy like Morgan Burnett and insert him into the defense with Sean Davis," Colbert said. "I think there’s versatility with him, as well. Once we get to know Morgan and what he can bring to our team, I think that versatility will be valuable as the coaches see throughout the offseason and training camp what he can do and what positions.
"They both have that interchangeability. When you add someone from the outside, you don’t want to peg them into a certain hole. We know Morgan Burnett from film evaluation and study. Until you put him on your team and practice field, you don’t know how they’ll fit."
Wherever they line up and regardless of what their roles are, at the very least, the two add bodies at key positions of need for the Steelers. And given the team's salary cap issues heading into free agency -- the Steelers had to release Mitchell, Gay and Golden to get into compliance with the cap -- they likely represent the biggest moves the Steelers will make this offseason outside of the draft.
Though Colbert wouldn't say the Steelers are done in free agency if another player the team likes comes on the market, the cap situation is tight. The Steelers won't need to do anything else to sign their draft picks, but making any other moves could require a corresponding cut.
It made for some nervous days for fans early in the free agency process. But the Steelers were confident they would get capable players if they stuck to their plan and waited for the initial wave of signings to pass.
"We knew going into this, obviously, we weren’t going to be big players early because we had to terminate three players just to get into compliance with the cap," Colbert said. "We knew we couldn’t be players. The market is usually higher. We’ve done it before when we had the room. This year we didn’t. We just sit back and be comfortable with what we’re doing and just hope we’re not missing anything. But in all honesty, we couldn’t have reacted to the market at that point anyway."