After a string of mediocre seasons in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ brass made a point of being aggressive during the NFL offseason to upgrade the roster on both sides of the football.
Even though the Steelers made much more of an effort to upgrade the offense, especially at the quarterback position, bringing in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields while trading Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles, the team still made some noise with on defense.
One of those moves happened recently when the team re-signed linebacker Markus Golden to a contract, but the renewed partnership doesn’t seem like it was meant to be.
According to Mike DeFabo of The Athletic, the Steelers placed Golden on the Reserve/Retired List, with the 33-year-old announcing he’s retiring.
The Steelers looked like they shored up their OLB depth a week ago when they signed Markus Golden. Today they have placed him on the Reserve/Retired List, the team announced.
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) August 9, 2024
Golden spent most of his time and best years in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals before time with the New York Giants and last season with the Steelers.
During the 2023 campaign, Golden played 16 games off the bench, recording one pass defensed, one fumble recovery, four sacks and 20 total tackles.
Although losing Golden to retirement isn’t like losing T.J. Watt, his absence will be felt by head coach Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff, who are hoping to have a solid year in 2024 and become a force to be reckoned with in the AFC once again.
It will be an interesting season for Pittsburgh, which could result in drastic changes if things don’t go as planned.
NEXT:
Louis Riddick Has A Strong Belief About Steelers’ Week 1 QB Starter
