Former Steelers LB Arthur Moats Ranks The Best And Worst Position Groups Headed Into 2023

The Pittsburgh Steelers made serious improvements last season and had what appears to be a fantastic offseason. The team has been receiving "A" grades for free agency moves and draft selections from almost every media outlet. The time to grade the draft or grade free agency is done and now it is time to start looking at position groups as a whole. 

That's exactly what former Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats does on the most recent episode of his podcast, The Arthur Moats Show. Moats and his co-host Deke offered their opinion on the best and worst position groups. 

Moats said this wasn't an easy task, he literally wrote almost every position group down as the "best." Likewise, there are so many strong groups it was hard to come up with a group that is the "worst."

The Steelers Best Position Group

Ultimately Moats says he feels the Steelers' strongest group is the outside linebackers. He said it is really all about how good Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt are, but now even more with the addition of strong depth.  

"I might be biased because that is my position group, but one is DPOY (Defensive Player of the Year) and one gave me 14.5 (sacks)."

Deke agrees and says that it is a solid argument to say Watt is the best defensive player in the league in 2023, as it appears Aaron Donald is on the back end of his career. 

Depth was an area that was exposed as a weakness when Watt was out with an injury in 2022. They had Jamir Jones and Malik Reed as depth and neither was able to be as helpful as they should have been. This left Highsmith to carry the load on his own, but it also meant that he took all the attention from the defense. He was frequently double-teamed so they could minimize his impact. 

Moats asks Deke how he compares the outside linebackers, who are in the prime of their career, to the wide receivers room, which was another of his top groups. They both agree that while the receiver's room is stacked with potential, we just haven't seen all of that talent equal production yet. Deke notes that we have not seen George Pickens do as a receiver what Watt has at EDGE.

"We haven't seen them do what Highsmith has done," said Moats. "Because Highsmith at 14.5 would essentially be the 1,000 or 1,100-yard mark for the wide receiver. TJ's DPOY would be like if this dude came out here and led the league in receiving yards." 

He continues to compare the outside linebackers to other position groups that he feels are very strong. Deke points out that Moats has been high on all of the players in that group, even when other people weren't. 

"I was really back and forth with this one. I love 'Muth [Pat Freiermuth] and you still got Connor Heyward, Zach Gentry, and Darnell Washington. But my one knock is that, Highsmith and TJ, they're both already proven and for the most part healthy, whereas with 'Muth, we know what he's coming off in terms of the double concussions, still very productive, but I wouldn't say he surpassed Alex Highsmith. And they still don't have a TJ Watt in that room." 

Moats says that we really saw it last season when Watt was hurt, that group is just critical to the success of the team. It is too easy for opponents to exploit you if you are missing strong outside linebackers. 

"I love our outside linebackers. It's a position of impact. If they were just two interior d-tackles, or they were just two guards, it's harder to talk about it like that. But they play the position where you can literally take over the game," added Moats.

The Steelers Worst Position Group

This is a little trickier since they both agree that the whole team has been upgraded and improved, but Moats goes with inside linebacker. The Steelers cleaned house on the inside,  letting Devin Bush, Myles Jack, and Robert Spillane leave. They added Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts who join Mark Robinson and Tae Crowder. But Moats says there was internal debate. 

"I go back and forth between slot corner and my third inside linebacker because I keep telling myself if the answer for slot corner is Keanu Neal, then what's my answer for third inside linebackers? And if my answer for third inside linebacker is Keanu, then what is my answer for slot corner? If I'm gonna put Pat P [Peterson] in there, I'm taking something from my outside corner spot because Pat P is our best outside corner currently on the roster." 

He adds that as he works through of all these scenarios in his mind, he has to consider the depth at each position and how they stack up against the competition. Moats says by doing that, he's able to narrow it down to one group that is slightly worse than the other. 

"Because it is a passing league, Chandon Sullivan is more equipped for the passing situation, so at least I have the guy slotted for what teams are gonna do predominantly at that position. So I would say our weakest position is inside linebacker because of that void right there."

What do you think? What do you view as our strongest position group? The weakest? Do you agree or disagree with Moats' assessment of the two groups? Click to comment below. 

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