Professional sports teams are often referred to as businesses. When a player is traded, released, benched, acquired, or forced to start it is referred to as a business move that will ensure maximum profit (profit being wins, of course).
Players, coaches and GMs constantly validate and justify a team move by saying, "it's just business." However, the good GMs, team managers, owners and coaches realize that the 'business' moves often talked about are about more than one player here and one player there.
In order for teams to achieve long-term, constant success thay have to dig deeper. Teams must pay attention the entire depth chart and not just star players and popular positions.
When teams have players miss game time for various issues such as injury, performance drop off, or retirement thay have to already have a back-up plan in place. That's the difference between the league's elite and the league's scrubs.
Two Kinds of Depth
Depth, however, can mean two things. A team must have seasonal depth and yearly depth in order to stay successful over time.Obtaining one without the other can allow a team to earn wins in the present or in the future, but it will not allow the team to maintain success year in and year out.
In the course of a season players will get hurt or thier production will drop off and a team has to plug in a reserve to fill the spot temporarilly. A team might need that reserve to fill in for one game, a few games, or maybe the rest of the season. That is seasonal depth.
Throughout the course of years; players retire, leave via free agency, or veterans might lose a step. The well-managed teams foresee it coming and already have a developed, capable backup ready to step in and compete for years to come. That is yearly depth.
A team must account for short term and long term production problems and fixes if it is too stay competitive year in and year out.
Steelers Plug in the Holes
For example, yearly depth can mean a veteran team leader’s production falls off and the team inserts someone waiting for their turn and that reserve turns into the NFL’s Defensive MVP -Joey Porter leaves, undrafted free agent James Harrison steps in.
Or, a legendary future Hall of Famer retires and his pupil takes over and begins his own reign -Jerome Bettis leaves, undrafted free agent Willie Parker steps in.
Or, if the starting and back up runningbacks are lost for the season and a recently aqcuired role player holds down the spot admirably - Parker and Rashard Mendenhall are lost to injury and Mewelde Moore steps in.
It doesn’t always have to be about finding a gem in the rubble pile either. A team can release a steady, seven-year veteran because they have a third-year, first round draft pick capable of starting without production fall-off - Steelers release linebacker Larry Foote and f Lawrence Timmons suits up.
The Steelers find the perfect players to implement their schemes and if they have drop off at a position they generally have a player waiting to take over. The key to depth is the draft for the Steelers. Currently, 31 of the 63 players on the Steelers’s roster have been drafted by the team. 20 of the 31 drafted were obtained during or since the 2004 season.
They look to future and anticipate what they will need when they need it.
Anticipating Needs
For instance, in the 2009 Draft the Steelers shocked many by selecting a defensisve line players in the first round. Many expected an offensive line player due to the o-line's poor play last season and the defense's dominance.
However, the Steelers realized stopping the run is key to winning and their run-stuffing d-line was aging. Rather than chance losing key players to injury without capable backups, the team locked down a future replacement.
The o-line may have played poorly, but they are not aging beyond a possible fix so the Steelers went with what was more important for the long run rather than what the fans and pundits wanted.
The Steelers may not field more talented teams than the San Diego Chargers or the Dallas Cowboys, but they do win more because of depth on the roster. The Chargers lost linebacker Shawn Merriman and their defense collapsed. The Cowboys lost quarterback Tony Romo to injury for half the season and they tanked.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will always compete for division and conference titles because they have the strength in their roster to weather whatever storm may come their way. They do it by plugging in their holes with smart drafting and free agent signings.
Pittsburgh Steelers Style of Play
Pittsburgh Steelers Coaching History
Pittsburgh Steelers Winningest Franchise
