The Pittsburgh Steelers watched the Philadelphia Eagles dominate the Kansas City Chiefs by winning in the trenches. In a rare occurrence, they made Patrick Mahomes look uncomfortable. While not a new theory, many are now arguing that the Steelers are overdue to pursue that path. Even Bob Labriola is making his opinion known, writing for the team’s website.
“I believe the Steelers must seriously consider spending premium draft picks (first three rounds) on defensive linemen”, he wrote. “What they need there is a successor to Cam Heyward, or at least the next Stephon Tuitt. Wide receiver should be addressed, and with top-of-the-depth-chart types at that, but my thought is that it’s time for the defensive line to get some serious attention”.
Notice that Labriola wrote draft picks, plural, and many are arguing that the Steelers should double up. This is regarded as a particularly deep draft class for interior defensive linemen, so the stars are aligning. They have a golden opportunity to address an area of the roster that has been undernourished for too long.
After drafting Cameron Heyward in the first round in 2011, the Steelers have only used four Day-2 draft picks on defensive linemen. In 2014, they drafted Stephon Tuitt in the second round. Two years later, they took Javon Hargrave in the third. In consecutive years, they added DeMarvin Leal (third round, 2022) and Keeanu Benton (second round, 2023).
But Leal was a questionable pick even at the time, and the Steelers don’t use him as a pure lineman. They have had him standing up off the edge, even playing a couple snaps off the ball. And for that matter, he simply doesn’t appear to be working out. While Benton flashes potential, he hasn’t broken through yet.
Outside of Heyward, the Steelers don’t have much along the defensive line. They don’t even have a stout run defender like they had in Tyson Alualu. Montravius Adams is fine for as far as he goes, but Larry Ogunjobi has never lived up to his contract. Isaiahh Loudermilk is a prototypical JAG, and Dean Lowry is no better.
Granted, we can’t complete this discussion without talking about the 3-4 outside linebackers. In the Steelers’ scheme, they do function in the trenches, and the Steelers have quality and depth there. But it’s still not the same as a 4-3 defensive end.
The Steelers need weight in the middle, and weight that can move. We’re not talking about 250-pound bodies but rather those who look and weigh like the offensive tackle across from them. It’s been a while, it feels like, since anybody other than Heyward along the Steelers’ defensive front has bullied anybody.
They had a great trio in Heyward, Tuitt, and Alualu, and Hargrave before Alualu. At that time, the Steelers were the envy of the league among 3-4 teams in the trenches. But that feels like a long time ago, and Heyward isn’t going to play forever. For as many other needs as they have, I have to agree with Labriola—if BPA is defensive linemen, don’t be afraid to go back to the well more than once. They did that with the offensive line; now it’s time to give them practice competition.
