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Snap Counts: What Happened to Steelers DL Rotation?
When Omar Khan, Andy Weidl and company set out to retool the Pittsburgh Steelers defense this offseason, it seemed pretty clear that they were building with a plan in mind.
They say the NFL is a copycat league, and what better mold to take for your team than that of the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles — a team that Weidl had a hand in building in the first place.
The Eagles’ 2022 defensive front had abundant talent that came at opponents in waves. First-round pick Jordan Davis and former All-Pros Brandon Graham and Ndamukong Suh were all listed as second-teamers when the Eagles went to Super Bowl LVII.
For this year’s Steelers, you could see the same plan developing, with a top group of T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Cam Heyward and Larry Ogjunobi supplanted by a second unit of Markus Golden, Nate Herbig, Keeanu Benton and Montravius Adams.
Benton, Golden and Herbig were all acquisitions this offseason to bolster the front-line depth and give the Steelers a realistic second unit, as well as injury protection for their stars.
That’s the way the Steelers have been deploying their front seven this season, with some exceptions for injuries. But for whatever reason, that all went out the window last week against the Green Bay Packers.
The Steelers had 68 snaps of defense. T.J. Watt played 66, Alex Highsmith 63, Keeanu Benton 45, Larry Ogunjobi 44 and Cam Heyward 40. All of the rest of the Steelers’ defensive linemen and edge rushers played a combined 41 snaps. It’s not clear what the reason for the increased workload for the first team was, but it coincided with one of the Steelers’ least-productive day rushing the passer.
It’ll be interesting to monitor if this becomes a trend or is a one-game blip.
STEELERS OFFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS
Pos | Player | SF | CLE | LV | HOU | BAL | LAR | JAX | TEN | GB | ||||||||
QB | Kenny Pickett |
63 | 54 | 62 | 49 | 66 | 59 | 28 | 65 | 65 | ||||||||
QB | Mitch Trubisky | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
QB | Mason Rudolph | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | ||||||||
RB | Najee Harris |
33 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 37 | 34 | 35 | 38 | 33 | ||||||||
RB | Jaylen Warren |
25 | 23 | 28 | 29 | 32 | 27 | 32 | 26 | 33 | ||||||||
RB | Anthony McFarland | 5 | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | 1 | ||||||||
RB | Qadree Ollison |
— | 0 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
RB | Godwin Igwebuike | — | — | INA | INA | INA | 0 | 0 | 0 | INA | ||||||||
WR | George Pickens |
56 | 46 | 55 | 58 | 58 | 53 | 62 | 58 | 62 | ||||||||
WR | Diontae Johnson | 27 | IR | IR | IR | IR | 39 | 61 | 57 | 53 | ||||||||
WR | Allen Robinson II |
56 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 57 | 38 | 46 | 47 | 50 | ||||||||
WR | Calvin Austin III | 35 | 41 | 45 | 53 | 37 | 7 | 18 | 17 | 13 | ||||||||
WR | Miles Boykin |
5 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 9 | ||||||||
WR | Gunner Olszewski | INA | 1 | INJ | INA | 4 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
TE | Pat Freiermuth |
32 | 41 | 49 | 30 | INJ | IR | IR | IR | IR | ||||||||
TE | Darnell Washingon | 24 | 26 | 29 | 25 | 46 | 31 | 10 | 32 | 33 | ||||||||
TE | Connor Heyward | 17 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 37 | 51 | 49 | 40 | 34 | ||||||||
TE | Rodney Williams II | — | — | — | — | 4 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
LT | Dan Moore Jr. |
63 | 54 | 62 | 8 | INJ | 59 | 66 | 65 | 65 | ||||||||
RT | Chukwuma Okorafor | 59 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 67 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
LG | Issac Seumalo |
63 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 67 | 65 | 65 | ||||||||
RG | James Daniels |
63 | 54 | 62 | INJ | INJ | 59 | 67 | 65 | 65 | ||||||||
C | Mason Cole |
63 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 67 | 65 | 65 | ||||||||
OT | Broderick Jones |
4 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 66 | 0 | 5 | 65 | 65 | ||||||||
OT | Dylan Cook |
INA | INA | INA | 0 | 0 | INA | INA | INA | INA | ||||||||
C/G | Nate Herbig |
0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 66 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
OL | Spencer Anderson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
OL | Ryan McCollum | — | — | — | — | 0 | — | — | — | — |
STEELERS DEFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS
Pos | Player | SF | CLE | LV | HOU | BAL | LAR | JAX | TEN | GB | ||||||||
DT | Larry Ogunjobi |
43 | 51 | 49 | 46 | 48 | 49 | 53 | 50 | 44 | ||||||||
DT | Montravius Adams | 34 | 52 | 47 | 41 | 56 | 46 | 49 | 2 | INA | ||||||||
DE | DeMarvin Leal |
26 | 39 | 33 | 21 | INJ | 23 | 14 | 24 | 4 | ||||||||
NT | Keeanu Benton |
29 | 28 | 21 | 29 | 33 | 19 | 30 | 48 | 45 | ||||||||
DT | Armon Watts |
INA | 22 | 18 | 34 | 18 | 17 | 28 | INA | 22 | ||||||||
DT | Isaiahh Loudermilk | 31 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 8 | ||||||||
DT | Cam Heyward |
14 | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | 41 | 40 | ||||||||
NT | Breiden Fehoko |
— | INA | INA | INA | 0 | INA | INA | INA | INA | ||||||||
OLB | T.J. Watt |
48 | 70 | 59 | 62 | 60 | 57 | 56 | 69 | 66 | ||||||||
OLB | Alex Highsmith |
49 | 68 | 52 | 63 | 61 | 53 | 63 | 63 | 63 | ||||||||
OLB | Markus Golden |
25 | 19 | 20 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 5 | ||||||||
OLB | Nick Herbig |
16 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 2 | ||||||||
ILB | Cole Holcomb |
53 | 78 | 53 | 63 | 64 | 56 | 64 | 16 | IR | ||||||||
ILB | Kwon Alexander |
47 | 52 | 47 | 27 | 31 | 47 | 38 | 64 | 9 | ||||||||
ILB | Elandon Roberts | 29 | 27 | 17 | 42 | 29 | 19 | 31 | 37 | 65 | ||||||||
ILB | Mark Robinson |
0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | ||||||||
ILB | Tariq Carpenter | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | ||||||||
CB | Patrick Peterson |
67 | 85 | 71 | 71 | 63 | 67 | 71 | 74 | 68 | ||||||||
CB | Levi Wallace |
67 | 78 | 67 | 71 | 66 | 49 | INJ | 38 | 27 | ||||||||
CB | Joey Porter Jr. |
7 | 14 | 27 | 10 | 28 | 53 | 59 | 70 | 68 | ||||||||
CB | James Pierre |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
CB | Chandon Sullivan | 13 | 47 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 28 | 16 | 19 | ||||||||
CB | Darius Rush |
— | — | — | — | — | INA | 0 | 30 | INA | ||||||||
CB | Desmond King |
— | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
FS | Minkah Fitzpatrick | 68 | 46 | 72 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 8 | INA | INA | ||||||||
S | Damontae Kazee | 49 | 77 | 53 | 34 | 43 | 58 | 67 | 74 | 68 | ||||||||
SS | Keanu Neal |
33 | 61 | 41 | 45 | 42 | 17 | 69 | 66 | 56 | ||||||||
SS | Miles Killebrew |
0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
DB | Elijah Riley |
0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | ||||||||
S | Trenton Thompson | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 |