“Losing David DeCastro has end-of-an-era vibe for Steelers”: The era, though, has been a losing one with no Super Bowls, no AFC crowns

David DeCastro: Tribune-Review

… David DeCastro was a class act, a leader, and a three-time All-Pro.

The release of three-time All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowler David DeCastro shocked many Pittsburgh Steeler fans. 

It should not have. 

What now worries them is that the entire offensive line from 2020 is now gone.  Two of them were first-round draft picks and served as the foundation of the OL for the past decade, earning All-Pro and Pro-Bowl honors. 

What we should not forget while listening to the praise for 65 percenter Mike Tomlin is that it has been a losing decade. Only three playoff wins in those ten years.

Again, Mark Madden places it in perspective.

2021 OL “might be the NFL’s worst”

Madden writes for the Tribune-Review that this has an “end-of-an-era vibe” for Tomlin and his offensive rag-a-muffins. After drafting a running back that they are calling a future hall-of-famer, the Steelers did not even draft an offensive lineman in the first or second rounds. 

Mike Tomlin is not worried. 

Mark Madden says that Steeler fans should be,

In a little over a year, the Steelers lost their entire offensive line: DeCastro, Matt Feiler, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey and Alejandro Villanueva are all ex- of this parish.

Replacing them is a unit that very seriously might be the NFL’s worst.

Right tackle Zach Banner has started twice on his NFL career and got cut by 0-16 Cleveland.

B.J. Finney rarely got on the field during his initial tenure with the Steelers. Now he starts at center unless his job is usurped by Kendrick Green, a mere third-round pick.

Chuks Okorafor was mediocre at right tackle last season. Now he moves to the cauldron of left tackle, the line’s most important position. Uh-oh.

Trai Turner got signed to replace DeCastro at right guard. Turner is similar to DeCastro: His best days may be behind him, and he’s wracked by injury. 

Turner missed seven games last season, his only campaign with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Second-year left guard Kevin Dotson might be the Steelers most reliable offensive lineman. That indicts the group more than it compliments Dotson.

Adrian Klemm is the offensive line coach. He’s in his first year as a head position coach in the NFL.

Matt Canada is in his first season as an offensive coordinator in the NFL.

The offensive line has zero depth.

Mark Madden, “Losing David DeCastro has a end-of-an-era 

vibe for Steelers,” Tribune-Review, June 25, 2021

Pouncey and DeCastro had slipped

Maurkice Pouncey retired after the Steelers’ first-round debacle with the Cleveland Browns, one in which they fell behind 28-0 after one quarter to a team that had not won a playoff game in what seemed like eons.

His first snap flew over the QB’s head into the end zone, where the Browns grabbed it for a 7-0 lead less than 20 seconds into the game — or it seemed like it. 

DeCastro has been injured over the past few years, as Pouncey has. Offensive linemen do not have the longevity of the skilled players. 

However, as his physical skills have slipped — an ankle problem may have been the rationale for the Steelers signing a woeful replacement — he was also critical of the team’s constant drama over the past few years. Nobody criticizes Tomlin, even obliquely, without paying a price. 

A “functional” line in 2021? No way

Madden’s fellow TribLive columnist said as much today, that while DeCastro had indeed slipped and the media has not really looked seriously at his and Pouncey’s woes the last two seasons, that the Steelers were more interested in salary cap space than in putting together a more functional line,

Let’s be honest (because in evaluating DeCastro recently, perhaps we haven’t been), DeCastro’s play slipped last year. Maybe that started back in 2019.

As ESPN sports analytics writer Seth Walder points out, DeCastro’s 2020 ranking among qualifying guards was 43 out of 70 in run blocking win rate. He was 37 out of 67 in pass blocking win rate.

We can blame DeCastro’s knee, oblique, hand and ankle problems if we want. But it is clear the Steelers didn’t feel comfortable about something physically or mentally or emotionally with DeCastro to keep him for the final year of his contract.

Remember, this is the same guy who publicly bemoaned how much he hated playing through the covid-19 restrictions during the 2020 season, was critical of the team’s fade in 2018 and was publicly displeased with how the group overlooked the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2017. It’s possible the team sensed his burnout even more than he did.

Regardless, the front office clearly wasn’t cutting the All-Pro version of DeCastro from a few years ago. They were cutting an average guard to save $8.75 million in salary cap space.

Tim Benz, “Worry about why David DeCastro was released later; worry about what 

remains of the Steelers’ offensive line,” Tribune-Review, June 25, 2021

End of a woeful era by Steeler standards

As Mark Madden notes, Madden had an excellent career in his nine seasons. His team did not during those years, and he hammers the leader who claims that the past decade was nothing short of wonderful,

Even at low ebb, DeCastro would have provided a fulcrum and leadership for the Steelers line. Now, it feels like starting over. In fact, it is.

DeCastro had an excellent nine-year career: Two first-team All-Pro selections and six Pro Bowls. DeCastro tried to lead, was a true pro, and always acquitted himself well.

But DeCastro didn’t win anything. Or even come close, really.

DeCastro’s Steelers won three playoff games in his nine seasons. The best they did was a 19-point loss to New England in the AFC championship game that followed the 2016 schedule.

DeCastro gave 100%. But the Steelers’ whole wasn’t nearly equal to the sum of the parts. They had talent to do far better, but underachieved.

That reflects on coaching when it’s allowed to.

DeCastro’s loss also feels bigger than it really is because it has an end-of-an-era vibe.

A bunch of good offensive linemen came and went. Skill-position stalwarts like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, too. James Harrison, Heath Miller and Troy Polamalu finished their time as Steelers during DeCastro’s tenure. Ryan Shazier’s promising career got sadly cut short. 

The Steelers had five Pro Bowlers last season: DeCastro, Pouncey, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt. DeCastro blocked for a big part of Roethlisberger’s prime.

But the Steelers accomplished virtually nothing on DeCastro’s watch besides prop up coach Mike Tomlin’s “never had a losing season” nonsense.

Mark Madden, Tribune-Review, June 25, 2021

Conclusion

That “never had a losing season” mantra may end this year. With the division improving significantly, and if the Ravens return to their 2019 potential, the Steelers could be mired in third place — or lower — if the OL does not improve. 

And with a team that implodes at the end of a season like it did after a misleading 11-0 start [against teams with a 37 percent winning record] in 2020, things might be brutal for the Steelers this year. 

I have been wrong before with this team, and they will always be my team. However, my prediction that the Steelers may not return to a Super Bowl until 2034 still stands — though I will probably not be around to see it.