For the last month, all the focus and talk around the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line has shined on Cam Heyward. Will he receive a contract extension? Does he deserve one? And what’s his future with the team?
The energy taken up there has allowed another starting d-lineman to go unnoticed. Larry Ogunjobi. Though under contract through the 2025 season, his play this year could dictate whether or not he makes it that far.
In March 2023, Ogunjobi signed a three-year extension after being inked to a one-year deal. At the time, the deal felt dubious. It was not completely earned on the merits of his production, recording just seven TFLs and 1.5 sacks the year before, and the money was higher than expected at $9 million per season.
Healthy throughout last season, Ogunjobi’s production continued to underwhelm. His sacks doubled from 1.5 to three but his tackles for loss were more than halved, seven dropping to three. He’s been available and played through injuries, notably a toe issue in 2022, but the results are middling. Over an 11-game stretch at one point last season, Ogunjobi recorded just 16 tackles (one for a loss), four QB hits, and one sack.
He did tie for the Steelers’ d-line high with 16 pressures but his pressure rate was among the worst of his position. Per our charting, Armon Watts, Keeanu Benton, DeMarvin Leal, and Isaiahh Loudermilk ranked better than Ogunjobi’s average of one pressure per every 27.4 pass rush snaps. The only two worse were Cam Heyward (30.1) and Montravius Adams (36.0). Heyward played on one leg while Adams is being paid one-third of Ogunjobi.
In a one-to-one comparison, Ogunjobi’s pressures fell from 19 to 16, while his pressure rate dropped from 19.0 to 27.4. Heyward, despite his injury, put up very similar numbers.
It’ll be hard to justify seeing that three years running. Ogunjobi isn’t without talent. He’s disruptive in the backfield with size, strength, and burst upfield when he’s on his game. But to date, his game has run so hot and cold with more of the latter than the former. Even former players like Chris Hoke have pointed out Ogunjobi’s tendency to disappear.
For a site as thorough as ours, willing to squint to find a Steelers’ BLESTO scout or the minutia of the salary cap, even we don’t talk about Ogunjobi much. But this isn’t a rookie or veteran journeyman. This is a starting defensive tackle earning a good salary that hasn’t matched with results.
While he isn’t as old as Cam Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi will be 31 going into next season. Given his injury history and only one year of strong production since 2020, his best days probably won’t be ahead of him. Pittsburgh could be better off saving money by dumping him next season if the results and his story don’t turn around. There’s a $3 million roster bonus he’s due on the third day of the new league year next March. He’ll have to work to earn it.
We’ll see what Heyward’s future holds. But I’m more confident that even as a pending free agent post-2024, Heyward has a better chance of playing in Pittsburgh in 2025 than Ogunjobi does. Regardless, the Steelers have an aging starting pair of defensive ends who will need long-term replacements sooner rather than later. Pittsburgh did well to invest in and find Keeanu Benton, a budding star at nose tackle, but they need to find defensive ends next to him. Largely, the team has invested lower draft picks in the position with uninspiring returns.
Pittsburgh could have to find Heyward and Ogunjobi’s replacements in the same offseason without any strong internal candidates to elevate and replace them. That’s a problem. Cam Heyward gets the focus, but Larry Ogunjobi is in a similar, if not more precarious, standing heading into the year.
