Things are rather cyclical in the NFL, at least in the last decade or so.
During that time, things an emphasis on the running game and the usage of fullbacks and nose tackles seemingly disappeared as teams gravitated more towards the run-and-gun style of offense that has become rather popular in the game today — at all levels.
However, things are starting to swing back towards the old-school style of football, placing a greater emphasis on the play in the trenches on both sides of the football.
That is especially true for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have rebuilt the offensive line and are aiming to play bully ball moving forward under head coach Mike Tomlin. They’ve also placed an emphasis on finding a true nose tackle once again, especially with the position becoming rather important again for teams aiming to stop the run.
Pittsburgh brought veterans Breiden Fehoko and Armon Watts via free agency and selected rookie Keeanu Benton in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft in hopes of finding that true nose tackle for defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, who has placed a significant emphasis on finding those ever-elusive big men.
“Well, I think it is [important] and it isn’t because you got a lot of teams in AFC playing three-four defense, but the thing you look for in a three-four defense is a big athletic middle stack. So a guy who can rush the pass and do all those things you want a guy to do and a guy who is stout enough to play against the run,” Dunbar said to reporters Tuesday ahead of the first mandatory minicamp practice of the offseason, via audio provided by the Steelers’ PR department. “And that’s the thing. But he’s[Fehoko] absolutely right about, you know, you don’t know you need one until you need one, you know?
“‘Cause big guys are hard to find, man. And I used to have a coach [who] used to tell me big guys are like pretty women. Everybody wants one but there’s not a lot of them out there. But it’s a good problem and we got some big, good bodies that we can put in that A-gap.”
In recent years, the Steelers have struggled to stop the run and have placed more of an emphasis back on size and strength, especially on the interior.
While the game has changed a bit from the old-school, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust mentality into the more spread out, high-flying league we see today, there’s still great value in a run-stopping nose tackle. Things are cyclical in the NFL, and the running game is coming back en vogue. Even if the nose tackle has less positional value than others, it’s still an important one in Pittsburgh.
Along with Fehoko, Watts and Benton, the Steelers have Montravius Adams at the position, so they certainly have the size and the skill sets that Dunbar is looking for at the position.
Though Pittsburgh will be in sub-package defense quite a bit once again in 2023, having those options at the nose tackle position in base 3-4 will be huge when the Steelers need to go heavy in the trenches against those power rushing attacks that have given them fits in recent seasons.
