STEELERS ACQUIRE SCHOBERT TO HELP OUT ON DEFENSE
Steelers GM Colbert makes move to fix a problem on defense
The Steelers were working on the acquisition of Jacksonville linebacker Joe Schobert before their preseason game Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. And it didn’t take long to see why general manager Kevin Colbert sought a trade for a veteran known for his ability to play in coverage.
On the second play of the game, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts found tight end Dallas Goedert in single coverage by Devin Bush and hit him for a 34yard gain into Steelers territory. The play set up an Eagles field goal and the first points of the game.
If Colbert has proven one thing during his tenure as general manager, it’s that he’s never afraid of making a major move to improve what he perceives an area of weakness. He has done it on an almost annual basis, especially in recent years. The latest move became necessary when the linebacker group was weakened by the sudden retirement of Vince Williams on the eve of training camp last month.
Robert Spillane, who filled in admirably for Bush after he went on injured reserve five games into last season, had been running with the first-team defense. But by trading for Schobert, it’s clear the Steelers believe Spillane is better suited to being a backup and special teams player. It also suggests the
Steelers were concerned with the play of Ulysees Gilbert and Marcus Allen, two players the Steelers were hoping they could develop into coverage linebackers.
Schobert is a proven performer. In his first six seasons in the NFL, he has nine interceptions, seven of them in the past two seasons. Schobert, who turns 28 in November, was so good with the Browns in 2019 that he parlayed his strong season into a monster contract with the Jaguars once his rookie deal expired.
Schobert had four interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his final season with the Browns. The Jaguars then signed him to a five-year, $53 million deal in free agency.
Whether Schobert is a short-term acquisition or a long-term one, he will provide quality play in an area in which the Steelers have struggled in recent years. The Steelers also traded up 10 spots in the 2019 draft to select Bush with the No. 10 overall pick.
And while the decision to trade for Schobert might not be a direct reflection on Bush, it does suggest they believe they needed to get better overall in the middle of the field. Anyone who has watched the Steelers defense in training camp practices and the first two preseason games knew it, even though coach Mike Tomlin blamed some of the issues on the vanilla defenses they’ve played in the first two preseason games against the Cowboys and Eagles.
“I’m not overly concerned about it right now,” Tomlin said Thursday night after the game. “Our defensive menu is kind of on a no-card. We’re not trying to trick anybody. We want to see who can rush, who can cover. So from a quarterback standpoint, in terms of diagnosing it, we’re not challenging them intellectually. They were hitting some plays. We’re OK with that because we want to evaluate our guys.”
And apparently there weren’t enough passing grades for the linebackers through the first three weeks of training camp. The Cowboys and the Eagles exposed holes in the middle of the Steelers defense with throws to tight ends and running backs.
There are ways to make sure weaknesses are masked during the regular season with different pressures and coverages, but there are times, especially against talented quarterbacks, when they’ll find the weakness and expose it no matter what the defense tries to do in terms of disguise.
“Sometimeswhen you’re tricking quarterbacks, you’re not evaluating your guys,” Tomlin said. “[Thursday] we faced a veteran like Joe Flacco, who came in with the second unit. You’re playing against Flacco, with a nocard ready list, he’s going to do some things. We’re OK with that. Our emphasis is to evaluate our guys.”
The Steelers are well-acquainted with Schobert, having faced him twice a year from 2016-19. Tomlin, who has long admired Schobert as a player, coached him in the 2018 Pro Bowl. He also watched Schobert victimize the Steelers in November 2019 when the Browns whipped the Steelers, 21-7, in Cleveland.
Schobert might have played the game of his life that Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium. He had two interceptions to go along with a sack and 10 tackles in the game.
Now Tomlin will look to put that playmaking ability to use in his defense.