Maurkice Pouncey has retired, Matt Feiler just signed with the Chargers, and the Steelers might be looking to move on from Alejandro Villanueva, so Pittsburgh’s offensive line is going to look a lot different next year no matter what.
But not everybody is walking out the door, as the team has agreed to terms on a deal to retain tackle Zach Banner, Aditi Kinkhabwala of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a two-year, $9.5MM deal with a $3.25MM signing bonus, she reports. Not too shabby for a player with only two career starts under his belt.
A fourth-round pick of the Colts back in 2017, Banner was cut before ever playing in a game for Indy. He then had brief stints with the Browns and Panthers before landing with the Steelers. He only started one game in 2019, but played in 14 and played 22 percent of the offensive snaps.
Last offseason he won the job to be the Steelers’ new starting right tackle, but tore an ACL during their Week 1 win over the Giants. The team clearly believes in him, and it seems like they envision him winning the starting job again. Since his ACL tear came so early in the year, the USC product should be ready to go for the start of the 2021 season.
That’s a lot of money for a guy with no history of real playing time…
They are giving Banner that type money but cut Williams to save 4 million. I hope more moves are in the works.
Agreed. Seems weird.
They were needing OL and Banner had beaten out Okorafor. Okorafor played well in his stead. Hoping that would translate into Banner being a solid bookend to Okorafor