As arguably the greatest defensive player in NFL history, former Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman and Pittsburgh native Aaron Donald knows a thing or two about not only defense but playing in the trenches in the NFL.
When he speaks about the position, ears perk up.
Those ears perked up even more on Tuesday afternoon when Donald, in a sit-down interview with The Pivot Podcast featuring former NFL players Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder, Donald had praise for former Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton.
Growing up in Pittsburgh and playing football from the age of 5, Donald was a Steelers fan and paid close attention to guys he played the same position as, most notably Hampton.
“You got Big Casey Hampton, one of the biggest guys, super quick though, you know what I’m saying? Facemask on his face…he was so quick. Nobody did it better. Nobody,” Donald said of Hampton, according to video via the show on YouTube. “And I don’t understand why people don’t talk about that guy enough. But that’s different for me ’cause I got to watch him a lot in person. He played his role. I seen him do some stuff when he, he would twist that stance a little bit, hit that quick swimmer, get in the backfield like that and make a TFL.”
During his career, Hampton played his role as a two-gapping nose tackle perfectly. He was a space eater in the Steelers’ defensive scheme.
For 12 seasons, Hampton held down the middle of the Steelers’ defense, tying up blockers to allow the likes of James Farrior, Kendrell Bell, Larry Foote and Lawrence Timmons to roam freely behind him and make play after play.
Though Hampton didn’t put up monster numbers, recording just 398 tackles, 9.0 sacks and 39 tackles for loss in his 12 seasons, he was a highly regarded player across the league. Hampton earned five trips to the Pro Bowl during his time in the Black and Gold, eventually landing on the Steelers’ All-Time team following his career.
In his career, Hampton never had more than 46 tackles in a season. He had multiple sacks in a season twice, with 2.0 in 2002 and 2.5 in 2009.
Casey Hampton sack during Super Bowl XL. Hampton long arms Tobeck out of his way & clears the hands of Hutchinson (HOFer) with an arm over! #passrush #steelers pic.twitter.com/hl1652FaIS
— DLineVids (@dlinevids1) March 12, 2021
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. 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.
