At the start of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season, the inside linebacker rotation was clear. Patrick Queen played on every down, Elandon Roberts in the base 3-4, and Payton Wilson in nickel. Simple and predictable. Over the course of the season, slowly first and then quickly, that has changed.
Queen still is an all-situations player coming off his best game of the season against the Washington Commanders. Roberts still plays in base. But he’s also eating into Wilson’s nickel snaps, taking his biggest chunk away from him in Sunday’s game.
Per our charting, here are the number and percentage of of nickel snaps Roberts and Wilson have played week-by-week.
| Week # | Elandon Roberts Nickel Snaps | Payton Wilson Nickel Snaps |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 19 (100%) |
| 2 | 0 | 17 (100%) |
| 3 | 0 | 19 (100%) |
| 4 | 1 (2.8%) | 35 (97.2%) |
| 5 | 4 (8%) | 46 (92%) |
| 6 | 9 (25.7%) | 26 (74.3%) |
| 7 | 7 (19.4%) | 29 (80.6%) |
| 8 | 12 (29.3%) | 29 (70.3%) |
| 10 | 12 (48%) | 13 (52%) |
For the first three weeks, Roberts didn’t log a single snap in nickel while Wilson saw every one. Roberts picked up his first snaps in Weeks 4 and 5 though the percentage was still low.
Since the Las Vegas Raiders game in Week 6, things have changed. Roberts has come in at or above 20 percent and in the Steelers’ win over Washington, he basically split with Wilson, logging 12 of 25 nickel snaps. A huge change.
So what’s going on? A couple things. One, Roberts is an excellent run defender. And Pittsburgh’s priority is stopping the run. Wilson has looked good in space and in pursuit but has struggled more downhill to fit the run, getting swallowed up and stuck on blocks too often. As just one point of context, Wilson has a 57.0 run defense grade per Pro Football Focus, 73rd out of 88 qualifiers. Roberts has a 92.0, No. 1 of any off-ball linebacker with 20-percent defensive snaps this year. Literally the best. PFF certainly isn’t the end-all but generally, the players with bad grades do truly struggle while those at the top generally match with good tape.
Point blank, and it’s an obvious statement, Roberts is better against the run. Especially coming off the New York Giants game where the Steelers got run on, it’s no shock Pittsburgh wanted to make sure it was strong on the ground first.
There are other factors to consider, though they are small. Sometimes Pittsburgh doesn’t match personnel perfectly and will play nickel against say, 12 personnel, instead of playing base. That is often because of a tight end threat and the team wanting better coverage guys on the field. For example, they did it seven times against the Las Vegas Raiders because of their tight end threat starting with Brock Bowers. To balance supporting the run, Roberts has picked up a few snaps. Pittsburgh could also be managing Wilson’s snaps to make sure he doesn’t hit a rookie wall, though it’s not like he was playing a ton out of the gate anyway that would require being managed.
Overall, the Steelers are just playing their best guys. And Roberts is an asset and tone-setter. It’s not because Wilson has been terrible, he hasn’t, but he’s clearly weaker against the run. Push comes to shove, Pittsburgh has to bring its best and that trend figures to continue against the run-heavy Baltimore Ravens Sunday where a hard-hat player like Roberts will be required.
