The facts are these:
• The Steelers have a far tougher schedule in 2015, No. 1 in the NFL, actually. What worked to get them to 11-5 last season won’t be good enough this season.
• The Steelers have a terrific offense, maybe the league’s most dynamic, and could be a legit Super Bowl contender with even a mediocre defense. They don’t have that.
• The Steelers have money. They have cap room.
• The Steelers have done next to nothing in terms of acquiring outside talent to address either of two vacancies — and they describe outside linebacker and cornerback the same way — since the season ended, even as they saw Jason Worilds retire and Brice McCain sign elsewhere.
• The Steelers have now waited long enough that neither position could reasonably be upgraded through free agency, so they’ll have to wait for the draft. And neither position could be upgraded immediately through the draft. That’s not realistic.
So all of this is worth applauding … why exactly?
To this point in the offseason, the Steelers’ management has been utterly derelict in duty as it relates to making their defense viable and doing all they can to take advantage of a superior offense. And I can’t begin to understand why.