Mark Madden's Hot Take: Taylor Lewan is not Steelers' answer at left tackle

The Pittsburgh Steelers need a left tackle.

Dan Moore Jr. was serviceable this past season, making improvement on his rookie year. He has started all 33 games at left tackle since he was drafted in the fourth round in 2022. But Moore might help more moving to guard or being a versatile backup.

Regardless, the Steelers don’t need Taylor Lewan.

Lewan has been lobbying the Steelers for employment. He got cut this past Wednesday after nine seasons at left tackle with Tennessee.

Lewan made Pro Bowls from 2016-18 but played only 20 of 49 games over the last three seasons because of injury. That includes just two in 2022 because of knee issues.

Lewan is 31. His durability is in question.

But the Steelers also don’t need Lewan because he’s a showbiz narcissist who talks too much. (He’s got a podcast. Of course.)

Lewan also has a beef with Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt after hitting him low and spitting on him.

The Steelers are finally rid of gratuitous me-first types after the departures of receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool.

Smith-Schuster won a Super Bowl with Kansas City but showed his true colors afterward by ridiculing Philadelphia’s James Bradberry on Twitter. Bradberry held Smith-Schuster on a crucial fourth-quarter play.

The Steelers’ culture deteriorated during the Antonio Brown/Le’Veon Bell era.

The Toxic Twins made me hate the Steelers thanks to their rampant selfishness, and they never won a thing. The Steelers became hideously unlikable. Smith-Schuster and Claypool carried that mantle, albeit to a lesser degree.

Lewan is a jerk. He served a four-game suspension for PEDs. He previously pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly. Lewan, while playing college football at Michigan, was accused of threatening to sexually assault a woman who was accusing another Michigan player of sexual assault (He denied making the threat).

The Steelers used to be different and pride themselves on being different. Now the franchise just pretends to be different.

But the Steelers don’t need Lewan. Not on the field, nor his shenanigans.

Perhaps I’m just old. A lot of young fans like that bro/frat boy/Barstool Sports vibe, that nonstop bellicosity.

But I’m reminded of what a retiring Troy Polamalu said on my radio program when I asked him about his departure from the Steelers compared to him first joining the Steelers:

“When I first stepped into that clubhouse, I looked around and saw men. Now all I see are little boys,” he said.

Polamalu was a real Steeler. So is Cameron Heyward, one of the breed’s last.

Lewan isn’t. Not even close. (Lewan has also said he won’t play for less than $10 million on a one-year contract. That makes declining all the easier.)