If there has been one principal complaint about the Steelers of the past few years, it is that their offense had become too much about finesse. They've been more willing to throw the ball than run, and that was never more apparent than in 2020 when they finished 32nd -- dead last -- in the NFL in rushing.
They had lost their way.
Art Rooney II proclaimed in his displeasure at that fact both in words and in actions. Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett paid the price for it with their jobs, replaced by Matt Canada and Adrian Klemm.
And just in case that wasn't enough, Rooney said after, "I think everybody in the building agrees that you can't finish 32nd in the league in running and feel you're going to have a successful season."
That's what the 2021 NFL Draft was all about. From first-round pick Najee Harris, a big, bruising running back, to fourth-round pick Dan Moore Jr, a massive offensive tackle, and tight end Pat Freiermuth and center Kendrick Green in between, the Steelers were all about fixing their running game.
"It weighed in big-time," Klemm said of adding players with a run-first mentality. "I’m not going to sit here and act like that’s hasn’t been a concern here. We want to improve our run game and we want to get guys on our team that can thrive in what we’re going to do schematically."
Whether or not that happens immediately, we won't know for sure until September. But the Steelers didn't just provide lip service to being better running the ball. They went all-in on improving it.
Harris, who was largely the draft's consensus No. 1 running back, gives the Steelers a presence in the backfield. He can run the ball. He can catch it. He immediately takes a running back room that has been if not the worst in the league, then among the worst in the league, to at least being league average, if not better.
And while the line certainly needed an influx of talent -- and it got it -- fixing that running back room had to take precedent.
That said, the offensive players the Steelers selected with their first four picks are all more accustomed to being the hammer rather than the nail.
"I think that play demeanor that you mentioned is something that we always covet, at least the time period I've been here," Mike Tomlin said. "I think it's a component of football that's time tested, supersedes all trends and things of that nature. I don't know if that was a new discussion or new discovery for us."
It might not be a new discovery for the Steelers, but it's certainly a mentality to which they need to resubscribe.
• After going all offensive players with their first four picks -- the first time the Steelers have done that since 1984 -- the next four picks were all on the defensive side of things, including the team making a surprise trade to get an additional pick, a fifth-round selection used on Wisconsin defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk.
That run on defensive players included second fourth-round selection linebacker Buddy Johnson of Texas A&M, Loudermilk in the fifth round, outside linebacker Quincy Roche in the sixth round and defensive back Tre Norwood of Oklahoma in the seventh.
Outside of Norwood, who is more of a finesse corner, the other three defensive players carry that same theme as the offensive ones selected ahead of them. They're more accustomed to being the hammer than the nail. They like to hit -- a lot.
"Hopefully, these guys will make us a better team," Kevin Colbert said of the team's draft. "As we mentioned when we opened up, we think we'll be better. As Coach alluded to, the new work will start on Monday, not with this group because they can't come in quite yet. We hope we've added people on both sides, interior, offensive and defensive linemen. We really added people at every level at positions that we really wanted to add to. Again, we'll wait and see how much they can do for us."
Being physical is a big part of that.
• The trade to acquire Loudermilk was one that seems to be the one that has many fans' dander up the most. He wasn't a player talked about much by many of the draft analysts, largely because they apparently didn't see him how the Steelers see him -- as a true 3-4 defensive end.
"When you talk about the size of Loudermilk, that was one of the things that was really intriguing to us," Tomlin said. "Also intriguing to us is that he's got a lot of experience in a very similar scheme defensively. It wasn't a lot of guesswork. Much like when we were looking at T.J. Watt, when he came out of Wisconsin, it was an easy evaluation because all the things that he did at Wisconsin, whether it was play anywhere from a five to the interior parts of their formation structure, we'll be asking him to do similar things."
The Steelers also have a good relationship with the staff at Wisconsin, led by former Pitt coach Paul Chryst. They trusted the assessment of that staff of Loudermilk, a 6-foot-6, 274-pound defensive lineman who can easily get his weight up into the 290-pound range.
The cost of that was a fourth-round pick in 2022, when the Steelers expect to get at least one and potentially two compensatory selections.
"We just wanted to get back into that fifth round this year, especially when a guy like Isaiahh was available," Colbert said. "Loudermilk played in 3-4 defense, has the length and athleticism that you like. He's played techniques that he'll continue to be taught here. That was really exciting to be able to trade back into that round, and get a guy like Isaiahh."
It also puts the rest of the defensive line room on notice. When you have spent a sixth-round pick on Isaiah Buggs as the Steelers did in 2019 and a seventh-round pick as they did in 2020 on Carlos Davis, the team trading a future pick on a fifth-round pick at the same position tells those players they had better elevate their game. Same goes for Chris Wormley, whom the team used fifth-round pick to acquire last year.
The Steelers only typically keep six -- at most -- seven defensive linemen on their active roster. There's a good chance that if the team traded a fourth-round pick in 2022 to move up to get Loudermilk, it really likes him. He's making the roster, as are Cam Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu.
The rest will be in a battle at training camp.
• The Steelers finished off their draft by taking punter Pressley Harvin of Georgia Tech.
The team re-signed Jordan Berry this offseason. But they did try to replace him last season, signing veteran Dustin Colquitt before realizing he wasn't an upgrade and releasing him to bring Berry back.
Now, a seventh-round draft pick isn't guaranteed to make the roster, but Harvin has a big leg -- he averaged nearly 48 yards per punt in 2020 -- and he's younger and cheaper. That doesn't bode well for Berry, who is set to make $1.09 million in 2021.
• The Steelers might have more faith in young cornerbacks Justin Layne and James Pierre -- at least more so than fans. There were multiple times when they could have selected players at the position, but instead passed on cornerback to fill another need.
The Steelers did add Norwood, who is more of a slot safety, in the seventh round and cornerbacks Shakur Brown of Michigan State, another potential slot player, and Mark Gilbert of Duke. Brown and Gilbert were undrafted players signed after the draft.
That's not exactly addressing the position.
"Really everything because we knew there was certain amounts of depth at all the different positions. We just had to wait it out," Colbert said.
There was depth at the cornerback position in this draft. But it also wouldn't be surprising to see the Steelers now add a veteran player there, as well, at some point.
• So, how did the Steelers do in this draft? We won't know for a while. It looks good for the most part on paper. But the game isn't played on paper.
Harris is an immediate impact player. Freiermuth should be, as well. Green could be a starter at center sooner rather than later, while some of the defensive players will help out immediately on special teams while they learn and provide depth.
So the Steelers helped themselves.
"Our bottom line is we think we're a better team today than we were yesterday," Colbert said. "That's always the goal coming out of this process."
OK. The Steelers did that. They're markedly better at running back and tight end. They have more depth at the very least on the offensive line and at linebacker.
• What this draft really does is set things up well for 2022, when the Steelers likely will be breaking in a new quarterback.
There's nothing like a running game and a reliable tight end to make things easy on a young quarterback. And even if the Steelers go the veteran quarterback route, that player will appreciate having a potential star at running back and a reliable tight end.
• Harris and Freiermuth on their own make the offense much more difficult to defend.
Think about a package on the field that includes Harris, Freiermuth, Chase Claypool, Eric Ebron and JuJu Smith-Schuster or Diontae Johnson. Looks like a run-heavy package, right? Defenses should counter with a base package.
But if they go with a base package against that grouping, the Steelers have the talent on the field to beat them in the passing game. Go to a nickel or dime look against that package and Harris will make them pay on the ground.
All too often in recent years because of the unavailability of James Conner, opponents knew whether the Steelers were going to run or pass the ball based on the personnel they had on the field.
Now, they're a lot more unpredictable.
• The nice thing about Harris is that he's equally comfortable running out of a gap or zone scheme. According to Pro Football Focus, the Crimson Tide ran him 123 times in a zone scheme in 2020 and 128 times in a power scheme.
Now, according to that site's metrics, Harris was better in the zone scheme, where he could pick his hole on the move, but he can do both.
Both Green and Moore come for more zone-style blocking schemes. Perhaps the Steelers, who have used concepts from both, are going to shift to a heavier zone style under Canada.
I wrote before the draft that this would be a big weekend for Canada as the Steelers start to implement more of his style. And while we didn't get a chance to talk to Canada this weekend, the team's actions speak louder than words.
• Next up for this rookie class will be rookie minicamp in a couple of weeks. Here's hoping that will be more open and we get a chance to talk to some of these guys in person.
We can all dream, can we not?