Team must add depth to D-line
Steelers have three solid starters but should look to draft a player to develop
It’s too bad the Steelers don’t need a starting defensive lineman this year. The NFL draft is stocked with talented players who will hear their names called in the first round.
The Steelers have drafted and developed defensive linemen as well as any team in the NFL over the past eight seasons, which is why they’re in the market for depth more than anything else next month.
Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and Javon Hargrave are entrenched as starters and give the Steelers a bona fide presence along the front line of their defense. And Tyson Alualu was re-signed to be the top backup at end and nose guard.
Now it’s time to start rebuilding the depth on the aging unit with an eye toward the future. Heyward will turn 30 in May and has two years remaining on his contract. This could be the year the Steelers take a developmental player in the middle rounds to groom as Heyward’s replacement after his contract expires.
At the very least, the Steelers need more depth players behind Alualu, who will be 32 in May, to fill out the 53-man roster.
In the present, this starting trio is among the best defensive lines in the AFC.
Heyward couldn’t duplicate his monster All-Pro season of 2017, but he did have eight sacks and 18 quarterback hits last season, the most production of any of the starting defensive linemen.
Heyward has been among the best 3-4 defensive ends during the past six seasons. Since entering the starting lineup in 2013, he has 42½ sacks, an average of seven per season. That number would be even more impressive if he didn’t miss the final nine games of the 2016 season because of a pectoral injury.
When the Steelers signed Tuitt to a rich contract that pays him more than $12 million per season —— almost $2 million more per season than what they’re paying Heyward — they were expecting Heyward-type production. Two years into that fiveyear contract, the Steelers haven’t received the return they were expecting.
Tuitt has 8½ sacks over the past two seasons, including 5½ last season in 14 games. He struggled with injuries throughout the 2017 season, when he played in 12 games. He did improve his run defense last season. According to Pro Football Focus, Tuitt did not miss a tackle all season.
That was an important step in his development, but because he’s the Steelers’ highest-paid defensive lineman, the team could use more from him in terms of sacks and big plays.
Moving inside to nose guard, Hargrave added more versatility to his game in 2018. He registered 6½ sacks, playing nose in the base defense and moving outside to end in some sub-packages.
Hargrave is undersized and will never be a dominant run defender, but the
Steelers have seen steady development in his game. He’s a candidate to be extended this spring or summer as he enters the final year of his rookie contract.
Alualu played 30 percent of the defensive snaps last season. He failed to produce a sack and recorded just 22 tackles. The Steelers didn’t view his decline in production as a problem because they signed him before free agency began. They expect an uptick in his production next season.
After Alualu, the Steelers barely played their other two backup defensive linemen. Daniel McCullers, who signed to return this week, played 10 percent of the snaps and registered one sack and five tackles.
Lavon Hooks, who has spent the past three summers in training camp and last season on the practice squad, could be a candidate to make the 53-man roster next season along with any rookie who is selected in the draft.