Games are won and lost in the trenches, and fortunately for the Pittsburgh Steelers they have a strong defensive front to help win a lot of games each and every season.
In fact, with the likes of T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Cameron Heyward and the emerging young tandem of Nick Herbig and Keeanu Benton, the Steelers have one of the league’s very best defensive fronts in football.
Based on rankings from OL and DL guru Brandon Thorn for “Establish The Run” Thursday afternoon, the Steelers have the second-best defensive front in football, just behind the New York Jets in the elite category.
“Armed with one of the game’s premier edge-rushing duos in T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, the Steelers have two forces outside paired with an aging, yet-still-powerful Cam Heyward collapsing pockets in the middle,” Thorn writes regarding the Steelers in the rankings. “The unit has yet another homegrown fast riser in second-year tackle Keeanu Benton, who is already a force against the run. Benton may not become a high-end rusher, but with elite run-defending potential and enough juice to keep guards honest in pass protection with Larry Ogunjobi and Nick Herbig rotating in, this is a stocked, talented group with star power and quality, young depth.”
Link to full DL rankings/tiers here: https://t.co/QealICBPG8
Link to full OL rankings/tiers here: https://t.co/xdw6mfNCGZ pic.twitter.com/NGAm0Ofnib
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) July 18, 2024
On paper, the Steelers’ defensive front is pretty stocked and talented as Thorn points out.
Having the likes of Watt and Highsmith to headline the group is a great starting point. Together, the two are a dynamic duo, one of the very best in the NFL, bar none.
Watt led the league in sacks last season for a record third time in his career, while Highsmith is coming off his best overall season in the NFL, even with his sack numbers dropping from 14.5 to 7.0 on the season. Together, the two cause headaches for opposing offenses, defend the run well and generate splash plays quite often, serving as the key cogs in the engine of the Steelers’ defense.
The interior defensive line has some question marks, most notably Heyward, who is coming off of an injury-riddled season that sapped him of his explosiveness and effectiveness. He missed six games after groin surgery and then wasn’t himself when he returned.
When healthy though, few are better than him in the NFL. He’s healthy heading into the 2024 season and has a chip on his shoulder due to some of the doubts generating noise about him, not to mention wanting a new contract from the Steelers.
Larry Ogunjobi has largely been a disappointment for the Steelers in two seasons, but he remains a talented player who has struggled with inconsistency. At times, he’s a force opposite Heyward. Often though, he’s invisible, which is a major concern. Year 3 could be the breakthrough, though.
Then there is Keeanu Benton, who looks like the next great foundational building block for the Steelers, one that can be a dynamic interior pass rusher like he showed as a rookie, and who can be a great run defender as he adjusts to the speed and strength of the NFL game.
Second-year outside linebacker Nick Herbig is an intriguing young building block, too, not to mention the likes of veterans Dean Lowry and Montravius Adams along the defensive line, third-year pro DeMarvin Leal and rookie Logan Lee adding some intriguing depth as well.
In the defensive trenches, the Steelers are in a good place. If healthy this season, they should once again be a dominant force, earning that No. 2 ranking from Thorn.
