With the season looming and the starters unlikely to play much in the fourth preseason game, it is time to start making 2016 projections. The Steelers are a team that should have real candidates for league-wide awards as they enter this upcoming season. With that said, if the awards were just given to Steelers players, who would be the choices for the 2016 NFL season?
Pittsburgh Steelers 2016 Superlatives
MVP: Ben Roethlisberger
The MVP of the Steelers should definitely be Ben Roethlisberger. According to Bovada, he actually has the second-best odds to win the MVP in the NFL. Antonio Brown obviously deserves praise and will get it, but the small stretch of time in which Roethlisberger missed last season showed that with Roethlisberger for 16 games, the Steelers are a better team. In the last 16 games that Brown and Roethlisberger played together, Brown has 152 catches, 2,039 yards. In Browns last 16 games played overall, 12 with Roethlisberger included he has 136 catches and 1,834. Small differences but it show that his arm does make a difference.
Offensive Players of the Year: Antonio Brown
That all said, Brown could easily be in the MVP discussion, and could just as easily be the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year. As mentioned, Brown had received for over 2,000 yards in his last 16 games played with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger. As weird as it sounds it almost expected to come into the year thinking he will break the record for most receiving yards in one season in 2016. The Steelers offense will be the show well this year, and both Roethlisberger and Brown deserve honors.
Defensive Player of the Year: Cameron Heyward
Stephon Tuitt is a sleeper who may be able to emerge as the superior defender in the Steelers defense. However, as he enters year three, he has yet to show the consistency of play that Heyward has been able to sustain. Mike Mitchell and Ryan Shazier are other sleepers for the award. While Heyward is currently nursing an ankle injury, he claims to be ready for the start of the season. Last season he led the team in sacks, and could see an increase with a bit of a defensive scheme change.
Rookie of the Year: Javon Hargrave
Hargrave and Sean Davis are likely to see the most snaps as rookies this season. Hargrave really has looked the part in his early preseason play. He is going to get to sub in and play at full speed in pass rushing situations. With that, he should be able to provide a decent number of sacks this season. The third round pick should end up a starter at some point this season which should make a real impact on a defensive line that will be the strength of the unit.
Comeback Player of the Year: Le’Veon Bell
The Steelers have discussed and have played in five wide receiver sets this preseason, and in those have spread Bell out as a wide receiver. This is a nice way to get him the ball in open space, away from defensive lineman. It is also a way to increase a role for DeAngelo Williams. If five of Bell’s carries turned into five passing targets it would not hurt. In the long run, it may be something that can keep Bell healthy. Coming back from major knee surgery two years in a row, there is another legitimate case here that Bell could be on the short list for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Assistant Coach of the Year: Keith Butler
Obviously, we will look over Mike Tomlin as the only head coach and go for the Assistant Coach of the Year. Last year Butler took over for Dick LeBeau in a move that did not go over well with Steelers Nation. However, Butler took a defense that rated 30th in weighted DVOA and turned it into the 11th best unit last season.
This season the Steelers drafted for defense, they trimmed some fat and with the second year of Butler having his own defensive scheme the team unit should be on the rise. Butler is shifting the defense into a more modern unit and is playing to a passing league with multiple safeties and more versatile defenders on the field. The defense is the major question entering the season and if Butler is able to provide the scheme to give the team a band-aid, he is more than deserving of the award.
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