The Steelers Should Steal This Upcoming Free Agent Away From the Ravens After the 2020 Season

After a season filled with injuries and controversy, the Pittsburgh Steelers missed the playoffs in 2019 with an 8-8 record. Worse yet, they watched the Baltimore Ravens win the AFC North and take the No. 1 seed.

The Ravens are already projected to be the best team in the AFC next year. If the Steelers want to start chipping away at the Ravens' supremacy, they could start by signing away one of their free agents in the 2021 offseason. Making a bold move for All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley would be an obvious way to achieve that.

Ronnie Stanley said he definitely wants to get paid what he's worth, but "at the end of the day, I don't think money is the most important thing to me."
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) May 27, 2020

After a sterling campaign that saw him pave the way for Lamar Jackson's MVP season, Ronnie Stanley can make a good claim to be the best left tackle in the NFL. After Laremy Tunsil's mega-deal with the Houston Texans, the 26-year-old Stanley is set for a massive payday in 2021 that should make him the highest-paid offensive lineman in football.

The Ravens don't want to give up on Stanley, who is rightly seen as a cornerstone of the franchise, but they are looking at some cap issues down the road if they give Stanley a massive deal. The Ravens are nearly capped out as it is, and key player like Lamar Jackson and Matthew Judon are set to receive huge deals soon.

The Steelers should consider using this jersey concept ?https://t.co/skACxZROjo
— The Duel (@TheDuelSports) May 27, 2020

So, where does Stanley fit in for Pittsburgh? The Steelers' starting left tackle, Alejandro Villanueva, will be 32 when his contract expires in 2021. Stanley would slot in immediately to replace Villanueva and provide a huge impact for the Steelers' offense. The Ravens, obviously, would be badly hit by this move.

Of course, the elephant in the room is that the Steelers will likely need Ben Roethlisberger to retire to make this work. Roethlisberger is already eating up a huge portion of the Steelers' cap space with a $68 million deal that expires in 2022, even after restructuring the contract. However, after suffering a season-ending elbow injury in 2019, we'll have no idea what the 38-year-old Roethlisberger has left in the tank.

Diontae Johnson is very excited to get to catch passes from Ben Roethlisberger - something he rarely has had a chance to do yet in the pros pic.twitter.com/4QPuxJGxrF
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) May 27, 2020

Rumors of Roethlisberger's retirement have already been swirling, and it's very likely that he'll make a decision based on his early performance in 2020. If the Steelers do lose their long-time franchise quarterback, signing Ronnie Stanley away from the Ravens would be a shocking and effective move.

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Tristan Jung is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Tristan Jung also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username tristan1117. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.