2022 Pittsburgh Steelers Odds, Schedule, & Fantasy Football Team Preview
The 2022 NFL season is right around the corner! We continue our look at every NFL team with the Pittsburgh Steelers. A new era is starting in Pittsburgh, as Ben Roethlisberger will not be leading the team for the first time in 18 years. The stadium also has a new name, so Heinz Ketchup Field is no more. This feels like a team that is destined for regression, but you just never know what to expect in a competitive division.
Be sure to check out all the great sports betting, fantasy football, and DFS content available on RotoGrinders leading up to kickoff. We’ll be covering fantasy football for BestBall with Spike Week, rankings and projections, DFS preseason with RotoGrinders Premium, and RotoGrinders Premium and Sports betting at RG and ScoresAndOdds.
2022 Pittsburgh Steelers Schedule, Lines, and Best Bets
Projected Odds, derived & modified from data originally published by Sean Koerner here.
Win Total and Total Games Favored:
7.5 (100) / 6 Games Favored ( 0 Big Favorites / 2 Big Dogs)
The Steelers are projected for just 7.5 wins this year, which means the oddsmakers agree with the regression angle that I mentioned in the introduction. They have lost in the Wild Card playoff round in each of the past two seasons, but a playoff berth would definitely feel like a victory this year.
It all comes down to how you think the quarterback situation will play out, and I don’t have much confidence in either Mitchell Trubisky or rookie Kenny Pickett to lead an offense in a division where there are no “weak” teams. The defense is solid and there are strong skill players around whoever starts at QB, but quarterback play is simply too important in today’s NFL. Trubisky has yet to show that he can competently lead an above average NFL offense, and he is likely to open the year as the starter.
Favorite Bet – Steelers as lowest regular season scoring team +1200 on DraftKings
If the quarterback play doesn’t pan out, there is a path to this offense simply going into the tank. We know they are not going to play with a lot of pace, we know they are going to run the football, and we know they are going to rely on their defense. That’s going to mean a lot of low scoring games by today’s NFL standards. I certainly think there’s better than a 12-to-1 chance that this ends up being the worst offense in the league. That may seem like a stretch with the talent at RB/WR, but bad quarterback play can tank a whole team — and injuries to any of the other skill players would spell disaster.
Pittsburgh Steelers Props
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Favorite Prop: George Pickens Under 50.5 Receptions
Let’s pump the brakes on the Pickens love a little bit. First, this isn’t going to be an offense that throws for 350 yards per game, and Pickens also struggled a bit in college under a similar low-volume passing offense. Second, he is competing with the likes of Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and Pat Freiermuth for passing game targets. He’s going to be fourth on that list. I would consider 40 receptions and 500 yards to be a successful rookie season. He could develop into a very strong NFL receiver, but these numbers are inflated beyond what should be expected as a rookie in the context of this offense.
Pittsburgh Steelers Fantasy Football Projections
Team Rankings and Ratings
Offense Ranks:Rank 28/ Below Average Rush / Weak Pass/ Rank 22 Points For)
Defense Ranks:Rank 18/ Very Strong Rush / Strong pass / Rank 9 Points Allowed)
Opponent Strength – Rushing:6 difficult vs. rush. 4 soft vs. rush.
Opponent Strength – Passing:7 difficult vs. pass. 2 soft vs. pass.
It’s no surprise that the defense grades out better than the offense with this team. The Steelers have a fairly difficult schedule for their passing game this season, which is another reason to be somewhat sour on the projected production for the passing game weapons. The schedule is fairly neutral for the rushing attack. All told, it’s a mid-level schedule for the Steelers this year.
Schedule or not, I’m just not banking on this offense being anywhere close to average with Trubisky (or Pickett) running the show for a run-first team.
Pittsburgh Steelers Top Fantasy Football Plays & Picks
Noteworthy Depth Chart
QB: Mitchell Trubisky – Underdog Rank: 251 (ADP 225 / -10.36% ADP Gap)
RB: Najee Harris – Underdog Rank: 22 (ADP 10 / -54.55% ADP Gap)
RB: Benny Snell – Underdog Rank: Not Ranked
WR: Diontae Johnson – Underdog Rank: 38 (ADP 41 / 7.89% ADP Gap)
WR: Chase Claypool – Underdog Rank: 91 (ADP 105 / 15.38% ADP Gap)
WR: George Pickens – Underdog Rank: 210 (ADP 172 – -18.1% ADP Gap)
TE: Pat Freiermuth – Underdog Rank: 114 (ADP 126 / 10.53% ADP Gap)
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New Additions of Note: Mitchell Trubisky, QB // Kenny Pickett, QB // George Pickens, WR // Levi Wallace, CB
Departures of Note: Ben Roethlisberger, QB // JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR // Joe Haden, CB
Najee Harris will obviously get plenty of touches and deserves to be considered as one of the best running backs in fantasy football, but how efficient will he be if teams sell out to slow down the rushing attack? Still, it’s volume and opportunity that make him such a great fantasy asset. The bigger questions come with the passing game. How will a new quarterback fare under center? How will targets get spread around with the addition of Pickens and the loss of Smith-Schuster?
There are more questions than answers with this offense after Harris, and I will not be spending extra capital to be the one that takes a chance on Claypool or Johnson early in the year. There are better options out there. Tread carefully with this Pittsburgh group.
Image Credit: Imagn