The Pittsburgh Steelers don't seem to be done adding from the free agency market. After a wild offseason of additions, the team is reportedly re-signing quarterback, Mason Rudolph and also hosted linebacker, Kwon Alexander for a visit on Monday night. No news has come in on that front as of Tuesday afternoon, but if you like to read into cryptic tweets and 'things of that nature,' look no further than what happened between Pittsburgh's new defensive lineman, Breiden Fehoko and free agent pass rusher, Kyle Van Noy on Sunday.
First, let's take a look at the depth chart. Behind TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith, the Steelers are still pretty light on the outside. Rookie, Nick Herbig and Quincy Roche round out the rest of the room. Pittsburgh could still be looking for a more experienced and established pass rusher to join the room in order to allow Herbig the option to ease into things at the professional level.
Now, let's jump to the great thing that is Twitter speculation. Van Noy an Fehoko played together in Los Angeles throughout the 2022 season. The linebacker, who has experience on the outside and inside during his nine-year NFL career, may have dropped a hint to his former teammate.
So what does three simple emojis mean? Well, maybe nothing. The two could have just been talking outside of social media and it led to this post. Or, on the other hand, the Steelers are in desperate need of a versatile linebacker and Van Noy is stirring the pot on social media because he has been in contact with Pittsburgh's front office.
Van Noy has had a very consistent last several seasons. He has five or more sacks in every season except 2018 when he was listed as a middle linebacker for the New England Patriots. The Steelers have not hid their interest in adding some extra depth and after not coming to an agreement with Bud Dupree and nothing yet happening with the Alexander, who's to say that Van Noy isn't in talks with Pittsburgh?
Van Noy has played 128 games throughout his NFL career and played in four different cities. After a one-year stint in Los Angeles, he could be looking for a multi-year contract. That's something the Steelers are typically fond of and one of the reasons Dupree decided to go to play for the Atlanta Falcons instead. It would be refreshing for the entire team to add another veteran with his kind of experience to the locker room.
Van Noy has won two Super Bowls and that kind of winning mentality could be extremely valuable for a younger group of core players. If he is interested in playing with Fehoko again and coming to Pittsburgh, the belief of it being a near-perfect match is not far off. The possibility of this happening is, of course, simply being based off of a single tweet.
Steelers Could Use The Help And Depth Within Linebacker Room
Van Noy has experience playing at all different linebacker positions. He could step in at any of them if an injury were to happen and that's a great commodity that doesn't necessarily exist until Herbig is potentially molded to play all over the place. Let's play along with his tweet to Fehoko and assume he wants to don the black and gold. It wouldn't be a bad idea for the Steelers to welcome him with open arms.
Would you want Van Noy to jump onto Pittsburgh's depth chart?
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