It can’t be Pittsburgh head manager Omar Khan announce a key player leav…….

Minkah Fitzpatrick #39 of the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

Minkah Fitzpatrick #39 of the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /

The Pittsburgh Steelers have some players they will lean on heavily in 2022, but here are the best on their roster entering the new season.

 

There’s simply no way the Steelers earn a 9-7-1 record during 2021 without the help of their stars. If you remove T.J. Watt alone from the equation, the results yielded could have been much worse. Advanced statistics show that Pittsburgh simply wasn’t very good on either side of the ball last year, but stars have the ability to control the game at times.

 

Every year before the start of the season, I like to take a stab at predicting who the best players will be for the Pittsburgh Steelers. For these rankings, I don’t factor in positional value; rather, I rank them with respect to how good they are at their positions.

 

For the purposes of making things interesting, I didn’t include special teams players, so Chris Boswell isn’t on the list. I would also like to name Pat Freiermuth and Myles Jack as my honorable mentions who just missed the top five this year. Here are my Steelers rankings for the upcoming season:

 

Steelers player rankings ahead of in 2022:

5. Najee Harris

Najee Harris isn’t yet the star running back that fans want him to be. However, he’s better than his efficiency stats would indicate. While I still don’t stand behind Pittsburgh’s decision to spend valuable first-round draft capital on running backs, it’s clear that Harris is talented.

 

Sadly, it has yet to equate to efficiency on the field, and he ranked just 35th in DVOA among running backs in 2021, according to Football Outsiders. Still, I think Najee will take that second-year leap and prove to be one of the better running backs in the league. He just needs to get a little more help from his offensive line.

 

4. Diontae Johnson

For some reason or another, many fans have a love-hate relationship with Diontae Johnson. What more could you ask for in a former third-round pick? Though Johnson has been inconsistent with drop issues in the past, his drop rate was lower than starts like Cooper Kupp, Justin Jefferson, and Tyreek Hill last season.

 

Johnson is coming off a career year and recently earned a massive new contract extension. Assuming is still the most highly targeted player on the team and the target quality improves even a little, he could be considered a better player than he was in 2021.

 

3. Minkah Fitzpatrick

Statistically, Minkah Fitzpatrick didn’t have the season fans had hoped for in 2021. After two phenomenal campaigns in 2019 and 2020 in which he earned consecutive First-Team All-Pro honors, Fitzpatrick came back down to earth a bit last year.

 

Still, the film certainly wasn’t bad. By the end of the year, he was making one big pass breakup after another. Fitzpatrick has instincts, athleticism, and ball skills. With respect to his position, I would fully expect him to be a top-three player on the Steelers roster in 2022.

 

2. Cameron Heyward

Father Time isn’t catching up to Cameron Heyward anytime soon. At 32 years old last season, Heyward was still an All-Pro player and many considered him to be second in the NFL at his position only to the legendary Aaron Donald.

 

Even though Heyward is now 33, He looks like he’s in peak condition, and he has admitted vocally that he doesn’t plan on calling it quits anytime soon. Heyward has been one of the most consistent defenders in the league for five straight years now, and there’s no reason to have him any lower than this on a list of the best Steelers in 2022.

 

1. T.J. Watt

Despite the injuries that plagued his 2021 season, T.J. Watt stands in a league of his own as the reigning Defensive Player of the Year continues to build on his Hall of Fame resume. When Watt is healthy, I would argue that there’s not a sole on defense outside of maybe just Aaron Donald who is on the same level as him.

 

Watt’s impact on each game is undeniable. He’s the engine that runs this team and is coming off a record-setting season despite missing two games and leaving contests early with injuries multiple in 2021. In a healthy season, there might not be a non-quarterback in the league quite as valuable to their tea

m as this man is to the Steelers.