Tannebaum/Banner rank Steelers offensive weapons near bottom of the league
As the month June arrives heading into the slowest news period of the NFL season, pundits from all over will get their fifteen minutes in the spotlight by having hot takes that are surely targeted as clickbait.
One such recent piece flew across my radar this week, as the The 33rd Team, which comprises former NFL GMs Mike Tannenbaum and Joe Banner, created tiers of their Best Offensive Weapon Groups in the NFL 2022.
Typically, I look at these articles, roll my eyes, and move on – but much like Pro Football Focus disparaging the good name of DPOY T.J. Watt last season (they still had him as their fourth-best edge rusher) the combo over at 33rd Team doesn’t disappoint by similarly dumping on Steelers Nation.
The rankings group teams together in tiers from one to seven based on their skill position players only: that is the receivers, running backs, and tight ends. No quarterbacks.
I would be the first to admit that quarterback could drop the Steelers down some fictional charts as their situation is far from settled, but to see Pittsburgh ranked behind so many teams was a bit appalling to say the least.
For this exercise the article lists the following Steelers players for consideration in the ratings:
- Najee Harris
- Benny Snell Jr
- Diontae Johnson
- Chase Claypool
- George Pickens
- Pat Freiermuth
- Zach Gentry
The Jets and Jaguars?
Beating around the bush, Tannebaum and Banner felt that this group was part of Tier 5 of 7. That doesn’t seem all too bad until you consider who they were grouped in with: The New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars.
According to the article, this group is labeled as:
Tier 5 consists of the teams lacking true star talent at multiple position groups. Mostly, these players are effective at their given job, but are lackluster in multiple categories of star power, depth, consistency, health, and distributed talent. These teams have a multitude of young talent that could rise in the ranks, but it has not been seen yet.
That sounds like a fair assessment if we’re talking about the Jets with rookie Breece Hall or the Jaguars paying a boatload of money for relatively unproven Christian Kirk. But when you boil down the groups, it’s hard to justify that Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth are inconsistent or have health concerns.
In fact, Harris, along with Diontae Johnson, were both named to the Pro Bowl last season. Harris rushed for 1,205 yards which was fourth-best in the league. Johnson was sixth in receptions and tenth in yards: which puts him into a “top ten” category simply based on statistics.
Chase Claypool finished 35th in receiving yards, which also firmly places him into the WR2 conversation.
As for the others, sure, there could be question marks – George Pickens is a rookie, and are the Steelers ever relying on Snell or Gentry in their offense like other teams manage to spread the workload? No, of course not.
Still, there’s plenty of argument’s sake all over the list, aside from lumping the Steelers in with the Jaguars (James Robinson, Travis Etienne, Marvin Jones, Christian Kirk, Laviska Shenault Jr, Evan Engram, Dan Arnold) and Jets (Breece Hall, Michael Carter, Elijah Moore, Garrett Wilson, Corey Davis, CJ Uzomah, Tyler Conklin.)
You Ranked Who, Where?
You won’t get much controversy from me listing the Bengals or Raiders (who added Davante Adams) in the top group – but the Miami Dolphins? I’m sorry, but Chase Edmonds and Raheem Mostert would be lucky to combine for as many scrimmage yards as Najee Harris will likely gain by his lonesome in 2022.
Somehow the New Orleans Saints (Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram, Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Chris Olave, Taysom Hill, Adam Trautman) were dropped into Tier 2 while other questionable teams were lumped in with them as well. (Don’t get me started on the Bills run game or the Panthers “depth” being in this tier!)
The Detroit Lions landed in Tier 3 with the oft-injured D’Andre Swift, non-superstar Amon-Ra St Brown and an unproven rookie as well in WR Jameson Williams. There’s even decent disrespect given to the Chargers and Chiefs in this level.
Tier 4, one ahead of the Steelers, features the Arizona Cardinals with fragile RB James Conner, suspended DeAndre Hopkins, and aging AJ Green. The Washington Commanders even slide into this category with the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers.
The Packers might be lacking proven receiver talent for QB Aaron Rodgers, but Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon represent a nice one-two punch much like Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt with the Browns. (Honestly, I thought this group might place Cleveland a bit higher.)
Who Ranked Lower?
The Colts and Titans were relegated below the Steelers despite having two of the best backs in all of football in Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor, while the Baltimore Ravens were heavily disrespected by being lumped into the last group alongside the Texans, Falcons, Patriots, Bears, and Giants. (Yikes!)
Final Thoughts
So you’re probably wondering: where would I put the Steelers on this list?
Tier 5 is interesting, but it’s only because of the dynamic of “depth” being courted in this opinion piece. I don’t think anyone is going to argue that Benny Snell belongs in a group ranked ahead of Kareem Hunt as an RB2 or Zach Gentry as a TE2 ahead of… wait a second. Some of these teams don’t even have a second tight end listed!
Okay, so when you’re trying to be objective, how do you do so without being biased? It’s difficult, but I honestly believe some of these rankings could use a readjustment.
The Steelers group is at least competitive with the Browns – one has two dynamic backs, while the other has the better group of receivers. Also, if 33rd Team feels that the Chargers, Seahawks and Chiefs are in Tier 3, maybe Pittsburgh is at best one more tier higher.
I just don’t like them being grouped with the Jets and Jaguars.
And let’s be honest: some of these groups are just okay too. The Dallas Cowboys (Ezekiel Elliot, Tony Pollard, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, James Washington, Dalton Schultz, Jake Ferguson) in Tier 3 don’t strike me as definitively better either.
The last two Super Bowl Champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Leonard Fournette, Giovani Bernard, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Russell Gage Jr, Cameron Brate, Cade Otton) and Los Angeles Rams (Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson, Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson, Van Jefferson, Tyler Higbee, Kendall Blanton) aren’t considered the best of the best either.
Nope. That’s reserved for the Miami Dolphins… and that’s part of the fun of these offseason lists.
The 33rd Team may want to reevaluate their “proven” or “star” evaluations for these comparisons. Very few tight ends are superstars in the NFL, which means that TE2 shouldn’t even be considered. (Can you even name some of the TE1’s?!)
I can live with RB2 or WR3 to balance out the rankings, but in the very end, the entire list is mostly bunk and I feel like the Steelers (and even Ravens and Patriots) rankings are simply designed to get more eyeballs on their work.
If that was the goal, good job. You got me.
