Over the last half decade or so, the Pittsburgh Steelers have invested significantly both financially and draft wise on the defensive side of the football. This offseason that was again the case as the Steelers went big on the signings of linebacker Patrick Queen and safety DeShon Elliott and traded for cornerback Donte Jackson.
Those three names were added to an already star-studded group featuring outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, defensive lineman Cameron Heyward, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and cornerback Joey Porter Jr.
On paper, the Steelers’ defense — which allowed just 19.1 points per game, good for 6th in the NFL in 2023 — could be even better in 2024.
For The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, if the defense can stay healthy, it should be a top 3-5 defense in the NFL, one that Kaboly would put up against any in the league, period.
“First and foremost, they have to stay healthy. If they stay healthy, relatively healthy — at least with their big-name guys — I think they’ll be a top-five, top-three defense in this league,” Kaboly said during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan Wednesday. “And if you do that and you wanna run the ball, you’re not gonna have to put up a ton of points here. It’s just the way they wanna play football, right, wrong or indifferent. You could say, ‘Well the league doesn’t really want to do that anymore. They would rather [be] whipping the ball around the field a little bit.’ But hey, the Steelers are zigging while everybody else is zagging.
“And I’d put this defense right now up against about everybody, but once again, they have to stay healthy, and they have to produce. And that’s something they haven’t done consistently over the past four or five years.”
The Steelers are, without question, zigging while everyone else is zagging. In today’s pass-happy league featuring star quarterbacks and big-name receivers, the Steelers are going back to their roots of playing physical, suffocating defense and running the football offensively, winning low-scoring football games.
At times last season that style worked for them. Heck, it’s worked for them across the last two seasons, for the most part. In the last two seasons the Steelers are 19-17 in the regular season. That might not be anything to celebrate, but winning more than they lose, while missing the likes of T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward for good chunks of the season in back-to-back years, all while navigating a transition at QB, is pretty impressive.
Now, entering 2024, the pieces are all in place.
The defense is loaded top to bottom. There really are no holes on that side of the football, outside of the slot cornerback position following Cameron Sutton’s suspension, but the Steelers have experienced options in Grayland Arnold and Josiah Scott to throw at the spot for the first eight weeks, not to mention rookie UDFA Beanie Bishop.
The outside linebacker room is three deep with Watt, Highsmith and Nick Herbig, while Porter looks like a true No. 1 corner on the outside. Safety was shored up, too, with the addition of Elliott to the tandem of Fitzpatrick and Damontae Kazee.
If the Steelers can avoid the plethora of injuries they dealt with defensively last season, the unit should be among the best in football, especially with the addition of Queen in the middle along with rookie Payton Wilson. Things look great on paper.
If they can carry that strength on paper into the actual games, look out.
