I really hope defense still wins championships.

The Steelers’ players will have today off before returning to the practice field tomorrow at 1:55 eastern, the first padded practice of the season. With a small break in the action, I figured now would be a great time to pass out some flowers.

Does the sun seem to be shining a little brighter today? Did you wake up feeling like your problems are a little less important? Like suddenly everything is going to be ok? Football season is back, and the stairway to seven begins, yet again, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

It’s true that the sheer amount of information available to fans and coaches has grown exponentially in the last decade alone, which I think is excellent for the game of football. With that being said, it is sometimes O.K. to overlook what the numbers tell you if your eyeballs are telling you a different story. As is the case with Mr. Patrick Queen. 

News broke earlier this afternoon that the Steelers and T.J. Watt agreed to a three-year contract extension that includes $108M guaranteed, tying him to the team through the 2028 season. Woosah Steelers Nation.

Perhaps he will be asked to play some outside corner for us, especially when Slay and/or JPJ come off the field. Perhaps he will be asked to play a ton outside. Either way, he’s still an extremely capable cover corner, so I’m not worried about it. Here’s him (above) going step-for-step with DK Metcalf with basically no safety help. Geno Smith looked that way, too, but didn’t like what he saw. If you put your average corner in that exact same situation, Geno Smith is throwing that ball and giving DK a chance. This, however, is Jalen Ramsey. 

We could very well look back on this move (really, all the moves we’ve made this offseason) as necessary to preserve the culture as we build around our recent and future draft picks. Also, if you asked me this morning what the team’s biggest needs were, I would’ve said NB, QB, WR. You can go ahead and check NB off that list, for now.

Probably the biggest soundbite that came out of this Aaron Rodgers Tuesday came when Boston Connor asked if this would be Aaron Rodgers last year in the NFL, to which he responded: “Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is it. Ya know, that’s why we just did a one-year deal.”

Alexander was Grady Brown’s assistant with the Steelers in 2022 and 2023, before pursuing an opportunity with the Raiders in 2024. He will return to the Steelers for the 2025 season in a familiar capacity, but with some added responsibility.