Winners and Losers of Pittsburgh Steelers' Offseason so Far

The Pittsburgh Steelers have their mandatory minicamp this week, the final set of offseason practices for around a month, until training camp commences in late July.

The offseason has been a long and interesting one for the team, with the ultimate goal of the roster additions and subtractions being another No. 1 finish in the AFC North and a chance to reach the Super Bowl.

But the Steelers' offseason developments are not beneficial to everyone. For every player or person who has gained something from the past few months, someone else has seen something taken away.

With that in mind, here are the biggest winners and losers from Pittsburgh's 2017 offseason.

Winner: Antonio Brown

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A year ago, Steelers receiver Antonio Brown agreed to restructure the back end of his 2012 contract extension with the promise that a new, even more lucrative extension would be around the corner following the close of the 2016 season.

The Steelers kept their word, signing Brown to a four-year, $68 million deal in February that included $19 million in guaranteed money.

Brown has spent the last four years racking up no fewer than 1,284 receiving yards and combining for 43 touchdowns over that span. He also had 309 receiving yards and two scores in the Steelers' playoff run last year and has averaged 82.9 receiving yards per game over the course of his career.

There's no question the Steelers wanted to lock him down for the long term.

If played out to completion, the deal would have Brown in black and gold until 2022, when the receiver will be 33 years old. Granted, that is not guaranteed—rarely are non-rookie NFL contracts ever completely fulfilled—but it does mean that the Steelers have their No. 1 receiver position taken care of for as long as suits them.

And in the meanwhile, Brown finally gets the financial compensation and job security his high level of performance deserves.

Loser: Sammie Coates

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So far this offseason, the Steelers have added three wide receivers to the roster while only subtracting two. While that hurts every receiver who comes into 2017 on the lower end of the depth chart, it may affect no player more this year than 2015 third-round draft pick Sammie Coates.

Coates appeared in 14 games last year, but injuries—including two broken fingers and a groin injury that required offseason surgery—limited his effectiveness. He caught only 21 passes on 49 targets in the regular season, for 435 yards and two scores, and had two more catches in the playoffs for 34 yards.

Despite injuries limiting Markus Wheaton to three games and Martavis Bryant serving a season-long suspension, Coates' finger issues in particular kept him from meeting his full potential.

The mental toll they took, too, didn't help. Coates told Steelers.com: 

"You have to be able to not let it get in your head. Once you have one bad game, it kinda becomes a domino effect. You start letting it add on to the next game, the next game... I started thinking more about my fingers instead of just playing football."

Now, Bryant is back and has been joined by free-agent signing Justin Hunter and second-round draft pick JuJu Smith-Schuster. While this doesn't mean Coates is in danger of losing his roster spot altogether just yet, it may prove to be an uphill battle for him to be an integral part of Pittsburgh's passing game this year.

There are simply too many wideouts and only so much playing time; his struggles a year ago could lead to Coates being a reserve and not a starter in 2017.

Winner: Jesse James

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The Steelers chose to ignore the tight end position in the 2017 NFL draft and release veteran Ladarius Green after his health failed to warrant continuing to pay him on the four-year, $20 million deal they inked him to a year ago.

That means, barring the emergence of fellow tight ends Xavier Grimble, Scott Orndoff or someone else, the starting job this year belongs solely to Jesse James, the Steelers' 2015 fifth-round draft pick.

James had only started two games prior to the 2016 season, but Green's numerous injuries—including an ankle problem early in the year, a history of concussions while with the San Diego (now-Los Angeles) Chargers and a late-season concussion with Pittsburgh—led James to starting 13 times in the regular season and all three games in the postseason.

In those 16 contests, James had 71 total receptions for 475 yards and three scores; this year, he should be even more involved in the team's passing game.

While it may not have been the Steelers' first-choice solution to their tight end problems, James is now afforded a starting job he was never guaranteed when he came aboard two years ago.

His rookie deal expires following the 2018 season, but a strong showing in 2017 could earn him a considerable sum via a contract extension next offseason.

James now has a chance to showcase his talents in a situation where he need not be too worried about someone trying to take his roster spot out from under him.

Loser: Alejandro Villanueva

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Typically, an NFL player on track for a large and long-term payday likes to retain as much leverage as possible heading into any potential negotiations. But Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva decided to forego such leverage.

Though Villanueva has yet to sign his $615,000 exclusive-rights free-agent tender for the 2017 season—a nod to his desire to get a new contract in place soon—he also chose to sign a waiver in order to participate in the team's OTAs this spring.

The waiver would entitle him to around the same amount of cash for 2017 should he suffer an injury during the Steelers' offseason program. But Villanueva's unwillingness to completely sit out in protest does weaken his position in a summer when Pittsburgh is not just trying to establish stability at left tackle but also lock down running back Le'Veon Bell and defensive end Stephon Tuitt to long-term deals.

Further, without a new deal in place prior to the start of the 2017 season, Villanueva will become a restricted free agent in 2018, with the Steelers retaining control of his rights.

Though Spotrac estimates that Villanueva's per-year salary average would be $6.7 million, the Steelers could keep him on board until 2019 at a far lower price tag via using a first-round restricted free-agent tender on him next spring.

While it's a testament to Villanueva's work ethic and loyalty to his teammates that he'd be willing to participate in practices without a stable financial situation beneath him, the game of "polite chicken" he's playing with the Steelers could end up costing him millions in earnings.

For a tackle who gave up just 4.5 sacks a year ago and ranked 24th among all tackles in the league, according to Pro Football Focus last year, Villanueva has every reason to bet more on himself than he is currently.

Winner: Vince Williams

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Linebacker Vince Williams has been with the Steelers since 2013, and the former sixth-round pick is now finding himself in a situation few players drafted so late ever experience—being an uncontested starter.

It's not the first time, though. Williams ended up starting 11 games as a rookie as an inside linebacker when the player he was supposed to be backing up, Lawrence Timmons, was kicked to the outside as a response to an injury suffered by James Harrison. That year, he had 53 combined tackles but, as such a green player, he wasn't much help in either the pass rush or in defending passes.

Though his three subsequent seasons resulted in just six starts, Williams appeared in every game—both as a linebacker on defense as well as on special teams. And his solid performances doing both earned him a three-year, $5.5 million deal in 2016.

A season later, he's now starting in place of Timmons and has become a more versatile weapon on defense than anyone had imagined.

Few teams might have had the luxury of moving on from a long-term starter like Timmons, but the Steelers knew what they had in Williams. And the player is more than appreciative.

Per Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Williams said:

"I'm humbled because we had an opportunity to get some more linebackers in free agency. We had an opportunity to draft a first-round linebacker and we didn't. That shows that the organization has a lot of confidence in me. That's the first time I've felt that way."

As long as Williams can repay that confidence with starting-caliber play this season, then the Steelers' eschewing top rookie and free-agent interior linebackers during the offseason will turn out to be a wise move.

It could also catapult Williams' salary; he's set to earn a maximum of $2.5 million in 2017 and again in 2018, but a contract extension could be in the cards if he proves not to just be serviceable but irreplaceable inside the linebacking corps next to Ryan Shazier.

Loser: William Gay

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A season ago, William Gay went from a starter on the outside to the Steelers' slot cornerback, thanks to the emergence of rookie Artie Burns.

And though Gay had 58 combined tackles on the year, an interception and seven passes defensed, there is no guarantee that he will reprise the role he took on to close out the 2016 season in 2017. 

A combination of the Steelers moving to more man-to-man coverage in the secondary and the arrivals of new faces at cornerback could result in the 32-year-old being the odd player out in his 11th season in the NFL.

Senquez Golson, back on the field after injuries kept him off it for the first two years of his career, free-agent signing Coty Sensabaugh and rookies Cameron Sutton and Brian Allen are all trying to beat Gay out for playing time.

And the Steelers' seeming predilection for getting younger on defense as a whole also points to Gay's time being up sooner than later unless he can significantly outwork his competition this summer.

Gay is still under contract through the 2018 season and is set to make just over $2.6 million this year. His level of experience—and the fact that the Steelers may still need his particular skill set in six defensive backs situations and when they do employ zone coverage—could help him stick on the roster once the waves of cuts come later in this summer.

But should Gay stick around, it's more likely in a reserve and situational capacity rather than the every-game starter he was from 2011 through 2015.

Winner: Ben Roethlisberger

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A season ago, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger did an impressive job of making do.

While he did have one of the league's best offensive lines protecting him—to the point where he was sacked on a career-low 3.2 percent of his dropbacks—the skill-position players he spent most of the year throwing to were not entirely the group the team had envisioned.

Receiver Martavis Bryant spent the entire season under suspension. Running back Le'Veon Bell—who beyond being capable of a 1,000-plus yard rushing season at any given moment is also a top passing target for Roethlisberger—missed the first three games of the year thanks to a suspension of his own.

Receiver Markus Wheaton, who has since left in free agency, appeared in only three games thanks to injuries. And injuries also limited 2015 Round 3 draft pick Sammie Coates to a catch rate of 42.9 percent. Little-known players such as Cobi Hamilton, Eli Rogers and DeMarcus Ayers thus had to pick up the slack on the offensive side of the ball.

But now, everything seems to be coming up Roethlisberger, just over a year removed from his four-year, $87.4 million contract extension that will likely make the quarterback a Steeler for life.

Bell is healthy and not facing any disciplinary action. Though Bryant's reinstatement is of a conditional nature, all signs are pointing to him meeting those conditions and being able to play this year. Coates' health is on the rebound. Antonio Brown remains the fulcrum of the after-catch-heavy passing game.

The team also added veteran Justin Hunter and rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster during the offseason, rounding out an impressive group of potential targets for Roethlisberger's passes this year.

Few NFL quarterbacks have reason to feel as good as Roethlisberger heading into the 2017 season. With such a strong line, powerful running game, a smorgasboard of potential receivers to choose from as targets and a coaching staff that believes in him, this should be one of his most productive years.

Loser: Late-Season Sleep

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The Steelers are featured in prime-time games five times during the 2017 regular season, a testament to not only the far reach of their fanbase but their continued success in the AFC North and the NFL as a whole.

However, those five games are all lumped together late in the year, meaning that fans will have to adjust their sleep schedules accordingly in order to keep up.

The late-night run begins in late October, a Week 8 contest against the Detroit Lions and continues in Weeks 11, 12, 13 and 14 when the Steelers face the Tennessee Titans, Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, respectively.

That run could continue into Week 15, when the Steelers host defending Super Bowl champions (and their betters in last year's AFC Championship game) the New England Patriots. If the league chooses to flex that game into prime time, that will be five straight weeks in which Eastern time zone Steelers fans, in particular, may have some foggy mornings to face.

There are silver linings to all this national attention, of course. For one, those far-flung Steelers fans around the nation have more opportunities to conveniently watch their favorite team. Another is that all of these games are taking place in the crucial late-season theatre, when playoff seeding begins to reveal itself and where the Steelers have been known to shine.

But afternoon or early-evening naps may be advisable for anyone trying to catch Pittsburgh's stretch of nationally televised matches this season. Late nights are guaranteed to be ahead.