The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t just have new faces among their defense. The multiple roles and hats their newcomers bring has the potential to transform the defense even more than the players themselves.
One clear trend in my decade-plus of attending Steelers training camp is the increase in versatility and flexibility. No longer are there neat and tidy buckets of first team, second team, third team, and so on. That’s an antiquated view of defense that almost guarantees failure on its own, no matter the talent. Playing defense is about having answers to the test. Winning the matchup game and responding to the variety of team philosophies. Rugged run-heavy squads, high-end athletic tight ends, and speedy receivers with offenses that like to spread the field. Defenses must be ready to face – and beat – them all.
Adapt or die. That’s the message. That was the organization’s offseason goal.
Even in one Thursday practice, that payoff could be felt. The Steelers’ outside linebackers might not be as static. On one of the first plays of team period, star linebacker T.J. Watt initially aligned over the A-gap like a roaming off-ball linebacker. He then shifted over to his left, closer to the right tackle, before dropping into coverage.
It’s clear at inside linebacker. Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson are the top two at the position and Wilson is poised to see a serious uptick in snap count. Still, creating a true depth chart, at least based off yesterday, is difficult to do. The mixing and matching at that position is as real as anywhere. Malik Harrison, Cole Holcomb, Mark Robinson, and rookie Carson Bruener all cycled in throughout practice against different groupings. Harrison seemed to mainly play in base packages, Holcomb more in nickel, but the strong rotation made it hard to truly pin down.
But nowhere was it as obvious as in the Steelers’ secondary. True to Mike Tomlin’s word, top three cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, and Joey Porter Jr. aren’t coming off the field. In the team’s five-defensive back nickel groupings, Ramsey worked in the slot. A true presence on the field with rare size, he blitzed multiple times throughout the day, once pressuring Aaron Rodgers into a woeful incompletion intended for DK Metcalf. When the Steelers used their 3-4 grouping, Ramsey stayed on the field and shifted to safety opposite DeShon Elliott.
That’s likely only the tipping point. Viewing Ramsey as a sub-package slot and base-package safety is an accurate but 30,000-foot view. Pittsburgh will only expand his role and creativity as he gets assimilated in the Steelers’ defense, practicing for the first time yesterday. There will be more wrinkles and gameplan-specific roles the team will explore throughout the season. It still all has to fit but there’s a level of versatility and layers to this defense that hasn’t existed before.
The offense can say similar things. The versatility at tight end with Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith. Already, the Steelers are tapping into RB Kenneth Gainwell’s receiving chops, the former Eagle spending half of practice aligning and acting more like a receiver than a back. But that’s a separate conversation.
This isn’t brand new. Pittsburgh’s defense has evolved and used more wrinkles than given credit for. But seemingly, the front office has taken things to a different level this year. They know they’re in an AFC North facing teams with vastly different methods to victory. The NFL’s No. 1 passing team a year ago was Cincinnati. The NFL’s No. 1 rushing team was Baltimore. The Steelers must defend both extremely well. That means having talent and versatility to the nth degree.
Even knowing this offense must carry more of its weight, the Steelers are still defined by their defense. They have been for 50 years. That’s gotta remain a strength.
The Steelers are building the perfect car. Make one with a great 0-60 time but zero handling is like a talented roster without versatility. It can go fast but only in one direction. Throw it a curve and it crashes. But a car with great handling and no speed will always lag behind.
Pittsburgh is constructing a defense with torque and deftness. If the pieces can come together, it could make for one of the NFL’s best.
