From 2017-21, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the cock of the walk in defensive pressure. For five consecutive years, they led the NFL in sacks (with 50 or more in each season), something no team had ever done more than three years in a row.
Things have changed since then, beginning with OLB T.J. Watt’s injury in 2022. They finished that year with just 40 sacks, barely cracking the top half of the league in a year in which the Philadelphia Eagles compiled an astonishing 70 (nobody else had more than 55).
Though they fared better in 2023, they still fell short of their standards (especially given that they play 17-game seasons now), ending up with 47 sacks for the season. That placed them outside the top 10 yet again in spite of Watt leading the NFL with 19 sacks.
It didn’t help their cause that former Pro Bowl DL Cameron Heyward wasn’t healthy all season and missed six games on top of that. He mustered just two sacks after coming off back-to-back campaigns in which he ended up in double figures.
Statistically, OLB Alex Highsmith also seriously regressed, going from 14.5 sacks in 2022 to only seven in 2023. That being said, on the whole he played just as well if not better this past season, the only difference being that he was unsuccessful in “finishing” quite as many of his pressures. Perhaps partly because he had a healthy Watt to compete with again.
Third on the team in sacks was reserve rusher Markus Golden with four, followed by the Steelers’ other backup outside linebacker, Nick Herbig with three. DL Larry Ogunjobi chipped in another three, while ILB Elandon Roberts’ two and a half and Heyward’s two represented everybody with more than one.
ILB Kwon Alexander, DL Keeanu Benton, ILB Mark Robinson, ILB Myles Jack, DL DeMarvin Leal, and DB Elijah Riley all chipped in exactly one sack on the season. DL Armon Watts was credited with half a sack, which he split with Watt.
According to Pro Football Reference, the Steelers ranked 11th in the league in pressure rate at 22.9 percent and tied for the ninth-most total pressures with 150. They were tied for the seventh-most quarterback hits with 58 with the eighth-highest hit percentage. They ranked 16th with 45 hurries, however, and 17th in hurry percentage, even though they ranked sixth in blitz percentage.
Outside of 2022, the one consistency throughout this entire run has been Watt. Not only has he led the league in sacks three times, he has the most sacks in the NFL since he entered the league in 2017—which coincided with their record run of years leading the league in sacks.
They’re not quite getting the quarterback down as frequently as they had been. That is one thing that needs to be fixed. Health is always a factor there, and Heyward’s compromised play didn’t help matters, but they need another blue-chip defensive lineman. Could Benton be that guy?
