When the Steelers released starting right guard David DeCastro for non-football-injury-related reasons Thursday afternoon, a torrent of questions was raised.
How did he get hurt? What’s the injury? Is he actually injured? Is this somehow money-related? Is he sick? Out of shape? Beat up? Worn down? Depressed that his buddies Maurkice Pouncey and Alejandro Villanueva are gone?
Is he going to retire? Why did he show up for one day of minicamp last week without practicing, then fail to participate the next two days?
On Day 1 of minicamp, coach Mike Tomlin grumbled at reporters, “If I thought injury circumstances or reasons why people were not participating were significant, I would share them with you, but I’m not going to address day-to-day-like things in this environment.”
Was Tomlin genuinely unaware that DeCastro’s situation was more than a “day-to-day” thing?
I doubt it.
For all of the yet-to-be answered questions that have emerged about DeCastro’s situation, they pale in comparison to a bigger one about the Steelers offensive line.
Is this group going to be at all functional in 2021? My initial response is no.
That’s not just because DeCastro is gone. 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.
But that doesn’t mean the Steelers have a better offensive line today than they did Thursday morning. DeCastro was still one of their two best guards heading into minicamp.
How do we know? Well, they drafted a guard out of Illinois in Kendrick Green in the third round and planned to make him a center. They drafted a tackle in Dan Moore Jr. out of Texas A&M, not a guard. They didn’t start talking to former Los Angeles Chargers guard Trai Turner about a free-agent deal until after minicamp.
Obviously, the Steelers were planning to keep DeCastro until last week. Despite slipping, he was still perceived to be one of their best five offensive linemen. Plus, with Pouncey retiring and Matt Feiler and Villanueva leaving via free agency, DeCastro was going to be their most experienced one as well.
Now, here’s what the Steelers have up front:
General manager Kevin Colbert signed Turner a few hours after DeCastro was released. Presumably, Turner will be the new right guard. He missed seven games with the Chargers last season because of injury and performed as one of the worst guards in the NFL when he did play, according to Pro Football Focus.
Like DeCastro, it appears Turner’s Pro Bowl days are in the rearview mirror. Keep in mind, the Steelers didn’t bother to keep Feiler, who was signed by the Chargers after they let Turner walk.
Left guard seems to be in decent shape with second-year player Kevin Dotson. He flashed potential as a rookie. But the coaching staff decided not to start him in the playoff game against the Cleveland Browns, going with Feiler, who had missed most of the last four games with an injury.
The right tackle, Zach Banner, is coming off ACL surgery and has one start with the team under his belt. Chuks Okorafor is making a position switch to be the left tackle. Center will be occupied by Green or B.J. Finney, who is returning after being released by the Seattle Seahawks and Cincinnati Bengals.
On top of all of this, the line will be learning a new system under offensive coordinator Matt Canada. The presumptive starting running back (Najee Harris) is a rookie. The offensive line coach (Adrian Klemm) is in his first year in that role. And tight end Eric Ebron enjoys blocking about as much as you enjoy watching him try to do it.
So how does that make you feel about how the offensive line will perform?
Let me rephrase that. How do you think that makes Ben Roethlisberger feel about how the offensive line will perform?
We can rationalize the reasons for DeCastro’s release as much as we want to make ourselves feel better about the decision. But the issue will soon be much less about “Why?” and much more about “Now what?”.
I bet we don’t like either answer.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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