Historically, when you talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers defense it starts with the defensive line. The Steel Curtain defenses of the ’70s first comes to mind, but even in the past 20 years Pittsburgh has had dominant forces up front such as Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, and now Cameron Heyward. But Heyward has a partner up front in Larry Ogunjobi, and this offseason Ogunjobi is healthy. Because of that Heyward thinks he’s in for a big year.
Heyward met with the media today via a video posted to Steelers.com, and voiced his confidence in Ogunjobi.
“Larry’s going to eat a lot more this year,” Heyward said.
Ogunjobi certainly didn’t play poorly last season as he was a big reason for the team’s improved run defense from 2021, but he didn’t put up great numbers. After coming off a season-ending foot injury in the playoffs with the Cincinnati Bengals, which limited his ability to train and practice last offseason, Ogunjobi’s numbers took a hit.
In 2021 with the Bengals, Ogunjobi played excellently, tallying seven sacks, 49 tackles, and 12 tackles for a loss. Last season, battling through injury in both the offseason and regular season, Ogunjobi had only 1.5 sacks, 48 tackles, and 7 tackles for a loss. Ogunjobi certainly had a big impact on the Steelers’ defense, but his sack numbers were low. In fact, they were the second lowest of his career after his rookie year when he only had one sack.
Heyward clearly doesn’t think he will have a low sack number again as he thinks Ogunjobi will “eat.” Ogunjobi is clearly a good player and there is a reason why the Steelers re-signed him to a three year, $28.75 million contract. With this contract though, it would be nice if Ogunjobi can get those sack numbers up.
With him returning, the Steelers’ run defense should certainly be good. A fully healthy Ogunjobi will help the team have a good pass rush. When Pittsburgh’s defense is healthy, it has one fit the best pass rushes in the league and Ogunjobi will certainly contribute to that.
