It has been confirmed recently that Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, Matt Canada will be staying in the Steel City and continue his role on the coaching staff, much to the chagrin of many fans in Steeler Nation. However, if you look all around the NFL, something is very obvious: there are already 10 vacancies at the offensive coordinator role, and there is a good chance that that number will get higher before it gets lower. With so many openings for OC, there are some reasons for the Steelers to not want to have to go on the search for one themselves.
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Why the amount of open OC spots matters for the Steelers
With all the offensive coordinator vacancies, the Steelers know that the pool of available coaches will drain very quickly. There are definitely some people looking for an OC role with a team that are much more qualified than Canada, but there's no guarantee that any of them will come to Pittsburgh over some of these other teams.
The Los Angeles Chargers have a young and explosive offense, and all they need now is the right hand to guide them. Potential OC candidates are salivating at the chance to run that talented offense. Once the New York Jets find a new quarterback, that will also most likely be a great offense, and OC candidates know that. The Jets, Chargers, and other OC-needy teams will be in a bidding war to get the top candidates, and Pittsburgh doesn't win those kinds of wars with teams.
If the Steelers can't get the top OC prospects, they'll have to look elsewhere to find a replacement for Canada. Do they really want to try some of these coaches that got fired after the 2022 season? The only one that looks enticing is Frank Reich, but he is currently interviewing to be the head coach of some teams.
Nathaniel Hackett's OC reputation comes more from Aaron Rodgers being Aaron Rodgers and less of Hackett actually developing that core. None of the OC's that just got fired look good, as guys like Todd Downing and Greg Roman have been known to run too few plays, the same exact issue that plagues Matt Canada. Every fired OC has their own major problems, and it becomes a guessing game of who's problems are worse.
There's also the possibility that more teams will lose their offensive coordinator, leading to more competition for a quality coaching prospect. Kellen Moore is regularly talked about as a head coach candidate, and if he does get hired, the Dallas Cowboys will suddenly be in contention for a new OC. The same could be said of Eric Bienimy, although his hype has died down quite a bit. Shane Steichen has started to gain some traction after helping develop Jalen Hurts into a high-end QB for the Philadelphia Eagles. Just because everyone that would be fired is already fired, doesn't mean that more vacancies will pop up.
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It also helps that rookie quarterback, Kenny Pickett has already said that he trusts in Canada, while starting guard Kevin Dotson recently came out and said that the team started buying into his system during the bye week. Despite being heavily flawed and having questions on when his contract officially ends, the Steelers have decided that keeping Matt Canada is a better option than getting into some heavy competition with the other 10 teams, and potentially more, for a new offensive coordinator. Whether that ends up being the right decision or not will be determined by the upcoming 2023 season.
What do you think about the Steelers sticking with Matt Canada with many other teams getting rid of their offensive coordinators? Let us know in the comments.
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