The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to make another solid addition after the 53-man roster deadline in cornerback Desmond King II. Following my coverage and run defense articles on him, I will continue the series by looking at data of his pass rushing, including current and recent Steelers for comparative context, using data from Pro Football Focus (PFF).
For starters, here are the top three cornerbacks in pass-rush grades this preseason:
Right away we can see Steelers cornerback Chandon Sullivan earned the top pass-rush grade in the preseason, along with the newly acquired King just behind him while with the Houston Texans. They were the only two players with 90-plus pass-rush grades at the position, with third place being notably lower. Granted, a small sample size, but very encouraging performance from the slot position (primarily) from both men. This included hurries and pressures from both players, along with King getting home for a sack. Sullivan was impactful getting in throwing lanes with two batted balls, and one leading to a skillful interception.
Let’s see how cornerbacks with a minimum of 10 pass-rush snaps fared in the 2022 regular season, starting with opportunity (pass snaps and pass-rush snaps):
Now we can see how often cornerback Arthur Maulet was used in this role for Pittsburgh last season, tying for the fifth-most pass-rush snaps (32) out of 36 qualifying corners. These came on 333 total pass snaps (29th), the least of the highlighted players. His 9.6 rush percentage ranked second most at the position, highlighting how often Pittsburgh likes to blitz its slot corners, and the vacated role that one (or both) of the new additions will be looking to fill.
Sullivan ranked fourth at the position in pass snaps (646) and had 21 pass-rush opportunities, which ranked 11th in the NFL. King had 523 pass snaps (11th), and 12 pass rushes (T-27th). Sullivan had a 3.3 pass-rush rate (24th), while King was at 2.3 last year (32nd). Less opportunity wasn’t surprising considering the Texans played him on the outside primarily and is important to remember as we learn more.
Here are hurries and total pressures:
Maulet leads the focused players with six total pressures and four hurries, each tying for seventh leaguewide, and expected following the snaps view. He did not have any hurries or batted passes but did get home for two sacks. King was above the mean in both despite having far less opportunity, providing five total pressures (T-11th), only one less than Maulet on 20 less pass rushes. Very effective. This also included three hurries (T-10th), two quarterback hits (T-third), and a batted pass (T-fifth). Sullivan was just below average with four total pressures, but had three hurries as well, one quarterback hit (T-eighth), and two bats (T-first) that matched his 2023 preseason achievement.
We can definitely see both King and Sullivan were productive in their pass rush opportunities and seems fair to expect that their contributions grow with their preseason play and open opportunities with the departure of Maulet. Neither King nor Sullivan had a sack last season, so hopefully that comes to fruition as well.
Next, I’d like to provide an interesting formula from PFF called Pass Rush Productivity (PRP), which is defined as the amount of pressure accumulated per pass rush snap, also giving weight towards sacks along with pass snaps, along with true pass sets (excludes play-action, screens, short drop backs, and time to throw numbers under two seconds) eliminating most plays in which the pass rusher was less likely to produce:
Very telling visual, first off, giving more context to King’s pass-rush value in minimal opportunities comparatively. His 22.7 PRP ranked third among NFL cornerbacks, compared to a 12.5 true pass set PRP (T-20th). So, most of his production came in more difficult situations than his peers. Sullivan lands below the mean in both data points, with a 10.0 in PRP and true pass sets, each tying for 23rd.
Let’s compare this to Maulet, who had a 12.9 PRP (T-16th) and a 25.0 true pass set PRP, meaning his production came in more expected situations. This is another encouraging aspect to the King addition, leaving me optimistic with room for more snaps and his production transitioning well to Pittsburgh in 2023.
Here are total pass rush and true pass-set win percentages (wins vs. blocking):
Valuable info here as well. Sullivan lands on the extreme bottom left with no wins as a pass rusher. We see most of Maulet’s production came against true pass sets again, with a 10 percent true pass-set win rate (12th), compared to a 3.2 percent overall pass-rush win rate (23rd). King’s result is important context too, with a 9.1 percent pass-rush win rate that tied for 13th, but no wins in true pass sets.
No wins for either corner in true pass sets was an interesting find, with King showing an encouraging ability to defeat blocks that could bode well if he were to fill the Maulet role.
To close, here are PFF grades for the position group in the same situations (overall/true pass sets):
In these terms, King had the best 80.0 pass rush grade of the players we’re focused on and ranked fifth in the NFL last season. His impact was not felt in true pass sets, however, with his 60.8 true pass set grade landing just below average and ranking 16th. The takeaway for Sullivan is similar, with his 71.1 pass rush grade (T-10th) being stronger than a 62.7 true pass set grade, though he was slightly above the mean (14th). Maulet’s 60.2 pass rush grade was the lowest of the three and ranked 20th leaguewide, while his 78.1 true pass set grade ranked sixth.
So, the new additions were productive, but need to step up in more expected situations, as we saw Maulet was able to do. Here’s to hoping they can do just that for the Black and Gold. I personally feel King should be the primary slot guy with all of the strengths he showed throughout my run-defense and pass-rush studies.
The pass-rush findings have me very optimistic overall, and here’s to hoping the group can be productive in 2023 with Pittsburgh. I can’t wait to see it play out.
