All of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ decision makers have been busy in 2025 planning meetings this week to chart their course through this offseason. With the coaching staff presumably set, focus shifts to personnel with free agency less than a month away and the 2025 NFL Draft coming up just two months from now. Based on the All-Star games last month, one thing is for sure: the Steelers will be drafting from this deep and talented defensive line class. But does that mean they will ignore the position in free agency? One Steelers insider doesn’t think that’s the case.
“I think you need to add a veteran,” Kaboly said via Kaboly + Mack on YouTube Thursday evening. “You cannot go into the draft thinking, ‘Okay, I’m gonna find somebody. Not only am I gonna find somebody in the first, second, third round, but who was good enough to be able to contribute right away.’
“We thought DeMarvin Leal was gonna be that guy. We thought Keeanu Benton was gonna be a star by Year 2, and it just doesn’t work out that way. So you can’t go in and say I’m drafting a, whoever, [Kenneth] Grant out of Michigan and think he’s gonna be a Day-1 sort of an impact player. Which he could be, but you can’t anticipate that happening. So I think they do go out and find a defensive lineman.”
Looking at the Steelers’ history of defensive linemen, most of the greats needed time to develop before they were ready to withstand a full season of starting along the defensive line. Cameron Heyward didn’t start until his third season and didn’t begin making a big impact until his fourth and fifth seasons. Stephon Tuitt also needed basically his full rookie season to get up to speed before he became a force in his second year.
Odd-front defensive linemen have a lot of responsibilities and thus a longer ramp up to being meaningful contributors. It’s why they must get the ball rolling now with d-line youth while Heyward is still in the building. But what does that mean for the 2025 season with Larry Ogunjobi a likely cap casualty?
Even if they double dip along the defensive line in the draft as many, including myself, think they will, they can’t expect a rookie to be a full-time starter at defensive end. A veteran might be necessary, but the Steelers have been down that road before, and there are no guarantees there either.
Great defensive linemen usually aren’t allowed to walk in free agency, and those that are come with their own issues. Maybe they aren’t the ideal scheme fit for the Steelers, or maybe there is an injury history. Or perhaps they are looking for so much money that it just doesn’t align with how the Steelers typically like to spend in free agency.
Ogunjobi had a decent career before coming to Pittsburgh, but probably not good enough to sign a three-year, $28.75 million contract after a one-year, prove-it deal. But that is what the market looked like for a starting DL one season removed from seven-sack campaign. The Steelers managed to get just six sacks out of him over the last three seasons combined as he could never manage to stay fully healthy.
The veteran market isn’t a sure thing despite how expensive it is. Just look at the Cincinnati Bengals with Sheldon Rankins.
There are names out there like Osa Odighizuwa, Milton Williams and others, but I don’t think any are really an ideal scheme fit. The Steelers like big and lengthy defensive linemen who can hold up anywhere along the interior. Milton Williams has 31 1/2-inch arms and the Steelers already have Keeanu Benton anchoring the middle of their d-line. Odighizuwa is probably a bit undersized to hold up in an odd front, though he was very disruptive as an interior pass rusher last year. Perhaps they could reunite with a former draftee and bring back Javon Hargrave for his last hurrah in the NFL, but that might mean kicking Benton outside to the end a bit more.
Much like the 2023 and 2024 offseasons were pivotal for addressing the future of the offensive line, the upcoming offseason (or two) will be pivotal for the next era of the defensive line.
