AFC North Notes: Steelers, Powers, Wills

The Steelers are not expected to re-sign offensive linemen Dan Moore and James Daniels after the 2024 season, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pat McAfee Show.

Moore is in the final year of his rookie contract with 58 career starts at left tackle for the Steelers, a solid return for the fourth-round pick used to draft him in 2021. However, he allowed at least seven sacks in each of his first three seasons, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), and Pittsburgh used first-round draft picks on tackles in 2023 and 2024, signaling a desire to upgrade at the position. Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu primarily played left tackle in college, giving the Steelers multiple options to take over on the blindside in 2025.

Daniels started just four games at guard this year before tearing his Achilles, which will likely end his tenure in Pittsburgh. Daniels signed a three-year, $26.5MM contract with the Steelers in 2022 and largely played well over the last three years. However, the seven-year veteran will be looking to cash in on the massive increase in the guard market. Pittsburgh may not be inclined to spend so much at guard after drafting Zach Frazier and Mason McCormick this past year, especially with T.J. Watt and George Pickens in line for extensions at more expensive positions.

• Browns left tackle Jedrick Wills said on Monday that his recent benching “was pretty shocking,” per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. “I made a business decision not to play after the Bengals game going into that Ravens game because I was injured,” explained Wills. He hyperextended his right knee on the first play against the Bengals in Week 7 and managed to finish the game but “couldn’t really bend” his knee the following day. He sat out Week 8 against the Ravens and was subsequently benched for Dawand Jones. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said that “business decision” was a “poor choice of words” by Wills, though it would not affect whether or not he would play again this year, per Cabot. Stefanski also hinted that Willis’ 2023 injury is still hampering him. “I wouldn’t categorize it as a setback,” said Stefanski, per The Athletic’s Zac Jackson. “It hasn’t recovered how quickly he would want it to…it’s been a tough rehab for him.” Wills opted for surgery last year to repair his torn MCL – in the same knee he hyperextended recently – and did not debut until Week 3 this year. Wills is currently in the final year of his rookie contract, and his health issues may complicate extension negotiations with the Browns.
• Broncos left guard Ben Powers confirmed he didn’t receive an offer to re-sign with the Ravens when he hit free agency in 2023, according to Chris Thomasson of The Denver Gazette. “I didn’t hear from them,” said Powers, who signed with the Broncos on a four-year, $52MM deal and returned to Baltimore for the first time in Week 9. However, the sixth-year guard didn’t hold it against Baltimore, saying that he “kind of understood their situation. That was the offseason they were handling [Lamar Jackson‘s] contract, so I kind of anticipated it.”
• Steelers offensive line coach Pat Meyer will be expected to develop his group of young blockers over the next few seasons as Pittsburgh figures out a long-term plan at quarterback. Meyer in his third year with the team after Shaun Sarrett was fired after the 2020 season and his successor, Adrian Klemm, left for Oregon before the end of 2021. His departure was related to tensions with then-offensive coordinator Matt Canada, per Kaboly. The Steelers then fired Canada in November 2023, the franchise’s first in-season coaching change since 1941.