The 2023 season just ended with the Kansas City Chiefs being named the Super Bowl 58 champions over the San Francisco 49ers, and people are already looking ahead to 2024. How exactly do they do that? What are they doing before the start of the new league year, free agency and the 2024 NFL Draft?

Well, they are looking at offseason to-do lists, where teams stand with their own free agents and positions of need to rank where teams are heading into the 2024 league year. The folks at ESPN just put together their way-too-early Power Rankings, and they were interesting, to say the least.

Where do the Steelers rank among the entire league? Where do they rank among the teams who call the AFC North home? Let’s take a look…

Early 2024 Power Rankings

1. Baltimore Ravens
2. Kansas City Chiefs
3. San Francisco 49ers
4. Detroit Lions
5. Buffalo Bills
6. Miami Dolphins
7. Dallas Cowboys
8. Philadelphia Eagles
9. Houston Texans
10. Green Bay Packers
…
18. Pittsburgh Steelers

Offseason in three words: Find a quarterback

Maybe that quarterback is Kenny Pickett. Maybe it’s Mason Rudolph. Maybe it’s a player who isn’t in the building yet. Figuring that out is the key to the Steelers’ success in 2024.

When he wasn’t injured, Pickett seemingly regressed in his second season with six touchdowns to four interceptions and a 38.4 QBR in 12 starts, but a new offensive coordinator (Arthur Smith) could go a long way to developing the 2022 first-round pick. With a 71.4 QBR, Rudolph turned in the best quarterback play with his late-season starts but has a relatively small sample size as a starter. The Steelers could add via free agency or through the draft. Whatever the team decides, it will set the tone for the rest of the offseason.

How about the AFC North rankings? Let’s take a look:

AFC North

1. Baltimore Ravens
11. Cleveland Browns
13. Cincinnati Bengals
18. Pittsburgh Steelers

What do you think of these rankings? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes on the Steelers.