The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for the 2024 regular season, but before the real games begin, the team has to head to training camp back at Saint Vincent College in order to fine tune their skills. As we here at SCN prepare you for the start of camp, we give you a series called “30 Scenarios in 30 Days” which gives you a Steelers scenario every day leading up to the start of camp.

It is simple how it works. We provide you the scenario, reasons why it will or won’t happen, and then our prediction for what we think will take place.

Let’s get to the scenario…

Scenario: The Steelers will have an offensive player make the Pro Bowl

Why it will happen: The Steelers are on the cusp of an unprecedented streak. After the last two seasons without an offensive player making the Pro Bowl, the Steelers have not gone three consecutive years with no offensive selections since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger. The Steelers have gone two consecutive years without an offensive player making the Pro Bowl before with the most recent being in 1999 and 2000. The Steelers also had a two-year streak in 1990 and 1991 as well as 1970 and 1971.

While knowing the history is important, it’s also that the Steelers have a number of candidates on offense who could make the Pro Bowl this season. Najee Harris made the Pro Bowl previously in 2021 and new Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson has been selected to the Pro Bowl nine times in his 12-year career. The Steelers also have a number of other candidates on the offense whether it be George Pickens, Pat Freiermuth, or a standout on the offensive line. After having two seasons of an inept offense, the Steelers should hopefully be back on track to have at least one player stand out enough to be selected to the Pro Bowl.

Why it won’t happen: It doesn’t matter that the Steelers haven’t had a player selected since 2021. Going three years in a row without a selection to the Pro Bowl on offense would go to show how inept the unit has been in recent years. But with the Steelers spending the second lowest amount on offense in terms of the salary cap, it makes sense that they don’t have the quality of player to achieve the notoriety.

Additionally, being selected to the Pro Bowl comes from a combination of voting by fans, players, and coaches. One of the key elements to being selected is name recognition. Oftentimes it takes a player more than one year of stellar play before they are selected to the Pro Bowl, particularly when I come to offensive linemen. The Steelers offense is likely to need seasons of actually producing before someone can crack into the Pro Bowl lineup.

Prediction: The big thing to remember about the Pro Bowl is that there are enough players selected in each conference to fill out both a starting lineup and reserves. Additionally, if a player is not playing in what is now the “Pro Bowl Games“ there are others who will then replace them. This could be due to injury or due to being one of the two teams in the Super Bowl. If it came down to having to say the Steelers would have a Pro Bowl player on offense selected originally before the alternates are used to fill-in, something that is required when looking at contract issues such as fifth-year options, I would possibly lean towards not having someone selected. But with the potential of also having a player filled in as a reserve, even though it does not happen as much as before since they’re not playing an actual game, I think the Steelers could break the trend and have someone make the team. If I were to guess who, my top candidates would be Najee Harris or George Pickens.

Miss a scenario? Check out yesterday’s scenario below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for training camp.

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