Throughout his career as a stalwart for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive line as part of the dominant 3-4 defense, nose tackle Casey Hampton wasn’t a household name like his play should have made him.
He simply didn’t have the numbers that many looked for from a tackles and sacks standpoint along the defensive line, at least from a national perspective.
That didn’t lessen his importance or greatness at all though. During his time in Pittsburgh, Hampton was arguably the best nose tackle in football and was perfect in his role as that space-eating nose tackle who tied up blockers, allowing others to roam freely around him and make plays.
While the counting stats weren’t there, Hampton’s presence and impact were recognized by five trips to the Pro Bowl as a member of the Steelers.
All these years later, Hampton still takes pride in those Pro Bowl accolades. In a sit-down interview with Steelers.com’s Rob King for a Time Machine segment, Hampton spoke highly of those Pro Bowl trips.
“A lot of pride, man. Playing a position like I played when you don’t get a lot of stats and things like that, it’s a bigger deal when you make a Pro Bowl because that mean that guys really respect you and they respect what you really doing,” Hampton told King, according to video via Steelers.com. “So I took a lot of pride in that…I think that, myself along with the other defensive linemen, Aaron [Smith], [Brett] Keisel, Kimo [von Oelhoffen], all of us, like we were so, so underrated for what we did.
“But the real, true football people know that the defensive line is what makes it go. So that was a great honor for me to be able to make those type of Pro Bowls.”
Casey Hampton on his football career and more | Steelers Time Machine https://t.co/11etu8ard2 pic.twitter.com/5kPrljVXyN
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During his prime, Hampton played under defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who asked his defensive linemen to tie up blockers and allow others around them to make the plays. That was tough for some players to truly grasp, but Hampton — along with Smith, von Oelhoffen, Travis Kirschke and others really embraced it, helping make the Steelers’ defense great.
Hampton didn’t have the stats, period. In his 173-game NFL career, Hampton had just 398 tackles, 39 tackles for loss, 9.0 sacks, and 12 quarterback hits. Those numbers might not be all that impressive in today’s NFL, but back then “Big Snack” was a blocker eater. He was the key cog up front.
That was recognized by him going to five Pro Bowls, earning three straight from 2005-07, as well as one in 2003 and one in 2009 before retiring after the 2012 season.
In his career, Hampton never had more than 46 tackles in a season. He had multi sacks in a season twice, with 2.0 in 2002 and 2.5 in 2009.
He simply couldn’t be blocked one-on-one though, and that was key for the Steelers in their 3-4 defense, having that space-eating nose tackle who tied up offensive linemen. The more hats he had on him from the offensive line, the more space guys like Larry Foote, James Farrior and Lawrence Timmons had to roam and make plays.
And make plays they did.
Hampton’s significance might be lost on today’s NFL and won’t be remembered all that well from an NFL perspective, but Hampton’s impact in Pittsburgh for those great defenses in the 2000s will never be forgotten. Real, true football people know how good he was and how dominant he was in his role.
