Not All Steelers Reunions Are Always Meant To Be; Buyer Beware According to Steelers Insider

Pittsburgh Steelers analyst, Chris Carter, pointed out on his podcast, Locked On Steelers, that fans love a reunion. They love to bring former players back to the team, at times in spite of what they actually need. The Steelers seem to have done this more than any other NFL team. Players like James Harrison, Larry Foote, Plaxico Burress, and William Gay, just to name a few, all left and then returned.   

Carter says this season is no different and names two specific players that we keep hearing about: JuJu Smith-Schuster and Javon Hargrave. Smith-Schuster just finished his first season with the Kansas City Chiefs and a Super Bowl win. Hargrave was playing opposite of Smith-Schuster on the Philadelphia Eagles.

Carter cautions Steeler Nation about reunions and also names another former Steeler that isn't being mentioned as much, but is a better fit for the 2023 team.

Not All Steelers Reunions Are Meant to Happen

Javon Hargrave

Hargrave was a cap casualty for the Steelers in 2020 and was picked up by the Eagles where he has flourished. Hargrave is set to be a free agent and Carter says that the Steelers would need to balance the financial risks against the potential of re-signing him. 

"I think he's a real good, hard worker, he brings a lot to the table. But I think there's some tougher questions. This man had 11 sacks last year and that's awesome for an interior defensive lineman. But he also wasn't the best defender against the run at times. In many times he was, in fact, the guy that other teams ran at." 

Carter goes on to add that the 11 sacks would be enough to win over a lot of fans who would wax poetic about seeing him lined up across from Cam Heyward. But Carter doesn't believe that is the most prudent use of cap space with the issues the Steelers had on defense against the run last season:

"Do you really want to pay for a 30-year-old Javon Hargrave who cost the Eagles a $17.8 million cap hit last year? You've got to ask yourself, are you getting the best out of Javon Hargrave? Because $17.8 million takes you out of the running for a Cam Sutton, that limits any other free agent adds."

JuJu Smith-Schuster

The second former Steeler that Carter says keeps coming up on the reunion tour is Smith-Schuster. Carter says that the only way he should ever return to Pittsburgh is if he comes on a similar one-year contract as he had in KC.

"He only cost them $3.7 million against the cap. If you can get a veteran wide receiver, who comes in and catches balls over the middle and makes the tough, contested plays like JuJu Smith-Schuster does, I'll go for it. My only problem with that is why would JuJu Smith-Schuster want to leave Patrick Mahomes?"

He points out that Smith-Schuster has no history with Steelers QB Kenny Pickett and he just won a Super Bowl with Mahomes. It seems highly unlikely that he would even consider returning at this point in his career. ESPN has KC ranked #1 in the power rankings for 2023, which means that barring a disaster, they are very likely to make a run for another Lombardi. 

Mystery Reunion?

Carter reminds fans of his show that last year he predicted correctly that the Steelers would pursue Myles Jack, despite the fact that he was under contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now he has another prediction about a player who is under contract... drum roll please...

Bud Dupree.

"Dupree will be 30 years old next season and he will be a $20.2 million cap hit on the Tennessee Titans. As it stands right now, the Titans are $21.3 million over the cap, which means they need to create space. If they straight up cut Bud Dupree, they save about $9.3 million, gets them close to halfway of fixing that, and with Bud Dupree not exactly performing at a high rate for them."

Carter says he knows fans will question why the Steelers would sign someone who is already underperforming somewhere else. He likens it to how they brought back Harrison from the Bengals because Tennessee is using him the wrong way.  

"He's meant to be part of an overall group who can be really explosive and really athletic. You're not paying him $20 million a year, heck, I don't think you're paying him $10 million a year with the way he played. You can get him with a similar contract to the one you got Larry Ogunjobi $4-$8 millionish."

Carter says this gives the Steelers much-needed depth at the EDGE position and allows them to focus on the line in the draft.