After three seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers moved on from OG Kevin Dotson Sunday night, dealing him to the Los Angeles Rams for 2024 and 2025 Day Three pick swaps. Assuming Dotson passes his physical — he has been dealing with a pesky shoulder injury — he’ll be elsewhere in 2023.
Dotson isn’t a bad player. Frustrating? You betcha. He could go on to succeed with the Rams. I’ll be rooting for him. He’s just a case of a player having talent but unable to put it together, especially within the confines of the Steelers’ system.
On paper, he looks like a lineman you want. He’s big, physical, not a bad athlete, and generally pretty available. He played every single offensive snap last season for the Steelers and to his credit, toughed out that shoulder injury throughout camp. You could visibly see him fighting through it, a big wrap covering whatever is bothering him, grimacing and slow to the sidelines after team periods in Latrobe. He had his moments. When everything went right, Dotson was a starting-caliber guard.
Of course, it often went all wrong. There were the obvious. The penalties, a team-high 10 of them last season. But that’s not scheme-related. Penalties are bad no matter what the coaching points are. We’ve tracked OL Coach Pat Meyer’s system pretty closely and have a good feel for what he wants and what he doesn’t. It’s an unabashedly aggressive system that often asks linemen to come forward on their pass sets when the defensive tackle is lined up on them (their inside foot to the inside of your outside foot). It’s a system that has uncovered guards fan out and help the tackles in pass protection. Dotson just never looked comfortable with the former and rarely did the latter.
Last year, we dubbed him the “most frustrating Steeler.” If he was just bad and untalented, he wouldn’t frustrate. He’d just be bad. But he had talent, he had potential; it wouldn’t be realized in this system. It’s why the Steelers not only went out and signed Isaac Seumalo – an excellent scheme fit – they added depth in Nate Herbig. That was the writing on the wall and made Dotson the team’s most logical trade piece of the summer.
I don’t know what kind of system the Rams run. But it’s probably more appealing to what Dotson does best. Maul in the run game, be a little less aggressive in pass protection, and simplify the scheme for him. He could have a good year with the Rams, become a free agent in 2024, and find himself with a decent payday. Free agency comes with a heavy o-line tax.
Players’ success isn’t just about their talent. In fact, that’s just one of many components. Coaching, injuries, work ethic, and definitely scheme all play factors in determining if a player will pass or fail. Think of it this way. Though harder to explain, Dotson in Pittsburgh was like taking a zone corner and playing him in man. Or a run-stuffing nose tackle in a penetrating, one-gap system. The Steelers realized that and made the one move they had left. Admit it wasn’t going to work and get something for him.
