What’s your definition of a ‘rebuild’?

[whatever]

I hear this term used all the time.
Is it a new gm, new HC, new qb, having to replace several good/great vets, is it replacing a majority of an oline or dline?
Does the team/ positions have to be recently good/great to be considered rebuilding?
I personally say were only in an oline rebuild last off season. If the moves made last year are the extent of the rebuild, it obviously didn’t pay off year one. I can only assume it will continue this year.
I feel 2 drafts and FA should be all that’s needed for next year.
I don’t see another ‘rebuild’ on our team.

[Northern_Blitz]

I think my definition would be pretty broad.

Something like a major change in personnel (players) or strategy (coaching / GM)? Mostly turnover of players.

I think we had to rebuild the D when Troy and company retired.

And then we had to try to rebuild again when we lost Shazier who we seemed to build a lot of the defensive game plan around.

In a way we've probably been kind of soft-rebuilding the O for a couple of years as Ben's game changed and we moved on from Bell and Brown (and the OL).

But losing the QB is probably the biggest kind of rebuild. Because that's probably the time when the team does the most soul searching / big changes.

I don't think you have to have been successful previously.

I think teams like the Browns and Bengals had multiple rebuilds without really being good.

But then you look at a team like the Pats. And for the entire Brady era, it never really seemed like they were rebuilding. Because Brady was so good and BB is great and building great defenses. Maybe they're kind of the genesis of idea of "reload" vs. "rebuild"? And we certainly were similar (with WRs at the very least) for most of Ben's career.

Maybe it's kind of like the Supreme Court's definition of porn: "I know it when I see it".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it

[WindyCitySteel]

Building team around youth, getting rid of older guys, accumulating picks and cap space.

[whisper]

Building team around youth, getting rid of older guys, accumulating picks and cap space.

That, mainly is it. Perhaps scraping old schemes and philosophies, but not necessarily. And unfortunately for us, that's not happening here.

[feltdizz]

Getting rid of old guys and old contracts.

Pouncey
Dupree
V Williams
V McDonald
DeCastro
AV

this year we are losing
Ben
JuJu????
Haden might be done too?

You dont lose the entire OL and rebuild it in one year. Just not possible. We had bodies but I think we are another year away from having a finished OL that stays together for multiple years.

but I think the main thing I think of when I hear rebuild is missing the playoffs or having a losing record.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

Rebuild is what you do when the majority of the people on your team are NOT the quality player that you could win a championship with. So you are open to replace the majority of the team minus a few parts....
Rebuild is what happened when Chuck Noll showed up in the late 60's and took Joe Greene with his first selection - and a whole slew of other guys over the next few years.
Rebuild is the cowboys making the Hershel Walker trade to get a ton of draft picks.

This team doesn't need a rebuild. There are some key positions that need to be replaced / improved (o-line, for example).

We'll have to see what happens with Tuitt and Alualu, but if those 2 are back with Heyward, the d-line is capable of a 'ship. The OLB are certainly 'ship quality. The team is an Avery Williamson away from being solid at ILB again. The secondary could use a CB, but wasn't as bad as i was afraid they would be. (Don't be shocked if the 1st rounder is a CB this year, considering Haden's age and price).

Just one man's opinion.

[T.Ferguson]

New coaches, new schemes, new players that fit those schemes/philosophy mixed in with some vets. Going forward without Ben I think with Tomlin as coach the Steelers will be in this weird purgatory of never really being bottom dwellers and never being that good either for various reasons including the team not really having much of an identity. That's why I honestly just don't get the focus on him never having a losing season, I mean in some ways that's a bad thing considering the team hasn't won a playoff game in 5 years now and it drafts late in rounds. Whenever I see QB talk revolving around getting a vet to come in and start it just seems pointless to me. The team needs a complete reboot.

[flippy]

IMO, a rebuild is scraping what you used to do and re-architecting the whole team.

New O, D, ST, and overall team philosophies that make you re-evaluate every player and every position and decide on bringing in a new type of player or adapting the system completely to better fit your talent.

A rebuild puts us on a whole new direction.

I don’t see changing a unit as a rebuild.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

I'd say a rebuild is when you realize that your core is not good enough to win and you start moving on from players with value, who were considered your key players, in order to start over.

[WindyCitySteel]

Getting rid of old guys and old contracts.

Pouncey
Dupree
V Williams
V McDonald
DeCastro
AV

this year we are losing
Ben
JuJu????
Haden might be done too?

You dont lose the entire OL and rebuild it in one year. Just not possible. We had bodies but I think we are another year away from having a finished OL that stays together for multiple years.

but I think the main thing I think of when I hear rebuild is missing the playoffs or having a losing record.

Dupree and Juju and Hilton weren't old, if they were rebuilding they would have signed all three and let guys like Haden and Alualu, possibly Heyward walk.

This team will be in sports purgatory until they get a new franchise QB, maybe a little worse in the QB heavy AFC.