Steelers' Arthur Moats And Terence Garvin Discuss Who Will Be The Most Improved And Surprise Us In 2023

The Pittsburgh Steelers made significant improvements during the 2022 season, including on defense. It is easy to blame all of the defensive weaknesses on the fact that T.J. Watt was injured for the majority of the year. However, a team cannot solely rely on the participation of one player. 

One good thing about both the struggles and improvements of last season's defensive unit is that it helped expose their weaknesses, allowing the team to utilize the offseason to shore up those areas. While not everyone agreed with the players that were let go initially, like Cam Sutton and Terrell Edmunds. Eventually, as new players were added and the draft passed, the masterplan of what General Manager Omar Khan was trying to do has been better revealed. 

The Steelers made several key additions this offseason, including re-signing Damontae Kazee and Larry Ogunjobi. They also added veterans Patrick Peterson, Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, Keanu Neal, and Breiden Fehoko. During the 2023 NFL Draft, they were fortunate to fill in some other gaps with Joey Porter Jr, Keeanu Benton, Nick Herbig, and Cory Trice Jr. 

It certainly feels like this group has what it takes to be great. While it is important to keep everyone, including Watt healthy, they also have to focus on how to create more pressure and avoid getting beaten deep. 

Steelers' Moats And Garvin Discuss Who Shine The Brightest In 2023

Former Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats now hosts a podcast called The Arthur Moats Experience. On a recent episode, his teammate Terence Garvin, also a former linebacker, joined him. One of the topics they discussed was who they are most excited to see in 2023 and who they think will surprise them by being most improved. 

Both are looking forward to seeing the linebackers and how they perform. While the position is not only one they both played, it is also one that has undergone the biggest change in the middle. With the newer additions, it will be interesting to see who rises to the top. 

"I want to see who takes over, who's out there running and hitting, who's the cover guy. We definitely need some answers," says Garvin.

Moats agrees and feels that there were a lot of questions left unanswered at the end of last season. He says that even with OTA's having recently wrapped up, there are still questions left unanswered. 

"When we talked about the combo of Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts, we never saw them together during OTAs. It was Elandon and Mark Robinson, so we're gonna have to see in terms of health, or whatever it was why they were holding Cole out of the team stuff. What does that look like when he's paired next to Elandon? Does it look better than when Elandon was paired next to Mark?"

Garvin adds that he is very excited to see Mark Robinson play. He adds that he is a big fan of the way he plays the game. How physical Robinson is, is something that has been talked about quite a bit.     

While Moats says that he can always talk about the linebackers, that is easy for them, but there are others that he feels will potentially shine this year. One of those players is Porter Jr. Moats is looking forward to some training camp matchups. He wants to see Porter Jr. vs George Pickens and Calvin Austin III. He thinks Porter has the potential to really blow minds. 

"He's one of the ones for me I really want to know more on. I'm not worried about the physicality, I know he's going to tackle, but I'm not worried about him executing the X's and O's. I just want to know can you stand up versus elite talent receivers like George Pickens? Can you handle scary speed like a Calvin?"

He said that he has another player that he really wants to see in 2023 as well, the safety Kazee. The Steelers are blessed to have Minkah Fitzpatrick at free safety, but now that they let Edmunds go, they really need to see if Kazee can step up. Moats notes that while Kazee is good in coverage, there are other areas that are question marks. Will he stand up and surprise us this season?

"I want to see, can you truly be the Edmunds role. If Minkah is doing the Minkah stuff, somebody got to do the Edmunds stuff. I wanna see you do it every single time. Because with Edmunds, it was every single time. Because if you can't, then I got questions." 

It's the "Pittsburgh Way" according to Garvin, the team demands that you give it your all - body and soul. What will break first, your will or your body? That's a real conversation when it comes to playing football in Pittsburgh. The only question is which players will surprise us or be improved in 2023. 

Which player do you think will surprise us in 2023? Who do you think will be most improved? What match-up are you most eager to see? Click to comment below. 

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