Getty A breakout NFL star from the 2022 season "would be a good option for head coach Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The offseason is under three weeks old, but there’s already been a lot of chatter about the Pittsburgh Steelers signing inside linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.
Unlike other insiders, The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly didn’t rule out the Steelers signing Edmunds. But he seemed more enthusiastic about the possibility of signing a different defender who is coming off a breakout season — Washington Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne.
“Payne has ties with Steelers defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, who coached Payne for two years at Alabama,” Kaboly wrote in response to a mailbag question on January 23. “If they decide to move on from Larry Ogunjobi, yeah, Payne would be a good option.
“He’s young (25), played at a big-time school and is on his second contract — everything the Steelers look for in a free agent.”
Payne broke out with 11.5 sacks, 64 combined tackles, including 18 tackles for loss, 20 quarterback hits and 5 pass defenses during 2022. All of those were career highs.
He had just 14.5 sacks in his first four NFL seasons.
How Payne Would Fit Along Steelers Defensive Line
Defensive line could be considered Pittsburgh’s most underrated need this offseason.
As of January 26, the Steelers only have six defensive linemen on the roster for next season. Of those six linemen, just two of them have started more than five games in their career.
Cameron Heyward is obviously the best and most experienced member of Pittsburgh’s defensive line. But he turns 34 in May, so the Steelers can’t count on him remaining an elite player for too much longer.
In addition to Ogunjobi, Chris Wormley and Tyson Alualu are set to be free agents.
As Kaboly wrote, adding Payne would offset the loss of Ogunjobi. Actually, it would be an upgrade.
Ogunjobi had a strong 2022 season with 48 combine tackles, including 7 for loss and 11 quarterback hits. But he had just 1.5 sacks. Ogunjobi’s 8.5 sacks over the past two seasons doesn’t even match what Payne did in 2022, and that’s taking into account Ogunjobi’s career-high 7.0 sacks in 2021.
Steelers More Interested in Re-Signing Ogunjobi?
Of course, there’s one obvious drawback to replacing Ogunjobi with Payne — cost.
Spotrac projected Payne to have a market value of $97.4 million on a five-year contract whereas Spotrac estimated Ogunjobi’s value to be a little less than $7 million on a two-year deal.
Sacks are an important defensive stat, so a 26-year-old coming off a year with double-digit sacks is going to cost a lot. Ogunjobi, though, could be a bargain because he isn’t a sack artist and will be 29 before next season.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac predicted in a mailbag response on January 25 that the Steelers will make cornerback Cam Sutton and Ogunjobi their priorities to re-sign. After that, Dulac also projected the Steelers to be interested in re-signing safety Terrell Edmunds.
If that happens, Steelers fans can probably rule out the team being interested in Payne for two reasons. One, they likely won’t be able to fit him under the salary cap after re-signing those three players.
Secondly, Kaboly seemed to imply that the Steelers will only be interested in Payne if Ogunjobi doesn’t return.
NFL free agency officially begins on March 15.