The Pittsburgh Steelers had Super Bowl aspirations going into the season but given how their year ended, it’s clear they are a long ways away from being a contender. At one point in the season, Pittsburgh was 7-2-1 but they ended up dropping four of their final six contests to miss the playoffs. Worse yet, star receiver Antonio Brown was benched in Week 17 after having a rift with the team. As we move into the offseason, the oddsmakers at BetDSI have posted lines on whether or not the Steelers will make some major changes:
Will Antonio Brown be on Steelers’ roster in Week 1 of 2019 reg. season
Yes +100
No -130
Will Ben Roethlisberger be on Steelers’ roster in Week 1 of 2019 reg. season
Yes -800
No +500
Will Mike Tomlin be head coach of the Steelers in Week 1 of 2019 reg. season
Yes -1000
No +600
Starting with Tomlin, it’s unlikely the Steelers get rid of him. While he does make a number of questionable calls — some that cost the team a shot at the playoffs — this is a franchise that likes continuity. More importantly, they can do a lot worse than Tomlin. While they finished 9-6-1 this year, they won 13 games last year, 11, 10 and 11 before that. The Steelers haven’t had a losing season under Tomlin and a lot of franchises would crave that kind of success.
Related: NFL Betting Guide
However, the question as to whether or not the team’s biggest stars return is up in the air. The odds indicate that Big Ben is heavily favored to return, but remember that this is a man who considered retiring from football last season. He’s been contemplating that for a couple of years now. He’ll be 37 in a few months and will probably return, but it’s not a 100 percent lock.
Making matters worse is his reported run-in with Brown, who apparently got heated with him and threw a football in his direction. Brown is becoming a headache for this team as he’s now had several outbursts. In Tomlin’s outgoing press conference, he did say that at some point Brown becomes more of a liability than an asset, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the Steelers looked to move on from him. Originally, it was reported that trading Brown would be a big challenge because of his salary cap hit but upon further review, the Steelers are able to maneuver the cap with minimal ramifications if they want to make a move. On Twitter, Brown has been flirting with other teams as members of the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers have mentioned him and he’s been welcoming in his responses. There’s no question that Brown is a stud receiver but the Steelers do have Juju Smith-Schuster and have replaced “star” wideouts before. At one point, people thought they were crazy for letting Santonio Holmes go, not re-signing Mike Wallace and even Emmanuel Sanders. The Steelers have been fine every time.
The best scenario is that the Steelers keep Brown, but given that it looks like he’s a malcontent and given that he has a massive salary, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Steelers moved on from him. He’s the mostly likely to go and if he does, that only increases the chances of Big Ben returning.
