Steelers Snap Counts: Who Is Odd Man Out on Defensive Line?

Steelers DE Demarvin Leal
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal runs out of the tunnel during a game against the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 2, 2023. -- Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be getting nose tackle Montravius Adams back for their Week 14 game against the New England Patriots, and that means that for the first time this season. the Steelers might have a chance to play a full game with a fully healthy defensive line.

It also means that someone will be coming out of the lineup, and it’s not clear at this point who that will be. In two other games, the Steelers have gone into a game with a full complement, only to lose one in the first half. That happened in Week 1, when Cam Heyward was lost to a groin injury, and in Week 9, when Adams hurt his ankle on the first defensive drive.

In both of those games, veteran defensive tackle Armon Watts was scratched from the Steelers lineup, with Larry Ogunjobi joining Adams and Heyward as starters and Keeanu Benton, DeMarvin Leal and Isaiahh Loudermilk as the second squad.

But the way Watts has been deployed so far this season might mean that someone else could find themselves without a helmet on Thursday night. Watts played 20 snaps in Week 13, the fourth-most on the line behind starters Benton, Heyward and Ogunjobi — and not all that far behind Benton, who played in 25 snaps while battling a minor oblique injury.

In Week 12, it was the same. Watts had the most snaps out of the second-team linemen, though he only played nine snaps as the Steelers offensive dominated time of possession and keep the defense rested. Leal played in three snaps in that game and Loudermilk two.

In the last four games, with Heyward back and Adams out, Leal has played a total of just 17 snaps. Watts has played 80. Loudermilk has played 48, Leal was a third-round pick and a player with a lot of promise coming out of Texas A&M in 2022, but it very well could be the youngster that winds up a healthy scratch when the defense gets healthy this time around.

The saving grace for Leal might be the distribution of the alignments. He has played 130 of his 197 snaps this season as a four-technique or wider, according to Pro Football Focus. That means he’s been playing over or outside the opposing team’s tackle, usually in as an end in the team’s 3-4 base defense. Watts has played 124 of his 217 inside the tackle, lining up mostly as a defensive tackle in the team’s four-man front sub packages, and occasionally as a nose tackle in the base defense. That’s the area where Adams will do most of his work.

The one-for-one-replacement would be to play Adams instead of Watts, giving the team two natural 3-4 units to work with. But the level of trust and faith the coaching staff has showed in Watts, compared to Leal and Loudermilk, makes it an open question who will get the last hat on the defensive line.

STEELERS OFFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS

Pos Player SF CLE LV HOU BAL LAR JAX TEN GB CLE CIN ARI
QB Kenny
Pickett
63 54 62 49 66 59 28 65 65 58 71 30
QB Mitch
Trubisky
0 0 0 10 0 0 39 0 0 0 0 31
QB Mason
Rudolph
QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3
RB Najee
Harris
33 31 31 29 37 34 35 38 33 33 38 36
RB Jaylen
Warren
25 23 28 29 32 27 32 26 33 26 34 36
RB Anthony McFarland 5 IR IR IR IR IR IR IR 1 0 INA INA
RB Qadree
Ollison
0 1
RB Godwin Igwebuike INA INA INA 0 0 0 INA INA 0 0
WR George
Pickens
56 46 55 58 58 53 62 58 62 53 53 49
WR Diontae
Johnson
27 IR IR IR IR 39 61 57 53 50 52 44
WR Allen
Robinson II
56 47 50 50 57 38 46 47 50 45 45 33
WR Calvin
Austin III
35 41 45 53 37 7 18 17 13 10 18 9
WR Miles
Boykin
5 4 8 6 12 0 5 6 9 6 8 12
WR Gunner Olszewski INA 1 INJ INA 4
TE Pat
Freiermuth
32 41 49 30 INJ IR IR IR IR 31 42 36
TE Darnell Washingon 24 26 29 25 46 31 10 32 33 27 37 34
TE Connor
Heyward
17 10 13 15 37 51 49 40 34 8 24 19
TE Rodney
Williams II
4 11 12 3 3 0 4 5
LT Dan
Moore Jr.
63 54 62 8 INJ 59 66 65 65 58 71 61
RT Chukwuma Okorafor 59 54 62 59 66 59 67 0 1 0 0 2
LG Issac
Seumalo
63 54 62 59 66 59 67 65 65 58 71 30
RG James
Daniels
63 54 62 INJ INJ 59 67 65 65 58 71 61
C Mason
Cole
63 54 62 59 66 59 67 65 65 58 71 61
OT Broderick
Jones
4 0 0 51 66 0 5 65 65 58 71 61
OT Dylan
Cook
INA INA INA 0 0 INA INA INA INA INA INA INA
C/G Nate
Herbig
0 0 0 59 66 0 0 0 0 0 0 31
OL Spencer Anderson 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
OL Ryan
McCollum
0

STEELERS DEFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS

Pos Player SF CLE LV HOU BAL LAR JAX TEN GB CLE CIN ARI
DT Larry
Ogunjobi
43 51 49 46 48 49 53 50 44 53 30 56
DT Montravius Adams 34 52 47 41 56 46 49 2 INA INA INA INA
DE DeMarvin
Leal
26 39 33 21 INJ 23 14 24 4 5 3 5
NT Keeanu
Benton
29 28 21 29 33 19 30 48 45 39 22 25
DT Armon
Watts
INA 22 18 34 18 17 28 INA 22 27 9 22
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk 31 14 9 13 13 0 9 14 8 18 2 20
DT Cam
Heyward
14 IR IR IR IR IR IR 41 40 46 35 50
NT Breiden
Fehoko
INA INA INA 0 INA INA INA INA
OLB T.J.
Watt
48 70 59 62 60 57 56 69 66 73 39 54
OLB Alex
Highsmith
49 68 52 63 61 53 63 63 63 66 40 61
OLB Markus
Golden
25 19 20 13 14 14 14 11 5 8 4 9
OLB Nick
Herbig
16 17 13 4 5 12 9 7 2 3 3 12
OLB Kyron
Johnson
0
ILB Cole
Holcomb
53 78 53 63 64 56 64 16 IR IR IR IR
ILB Kwon
Alexander
47 52 47 27 31 47 38 64 9 IR IR IR
ILB Elandon
Roberts
29 27 17 42 29 19 31 37 65 75 43 15
ILB Mark
Robinson
0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 41 0 0 44
ILB Tariq
Carpenter
0 0 0
ILB Mykal
Walker
63 33 65
CB Patrick
Peterson
67 85 71 71 63 67 71 74 68 74 41 53
CB Levi
Wallace
67 78 67 71 66 49 INJ 38 27 10 11 18
CB Joey
Porter Jr.
7 14 27 10 28 53 59 70 68 68 43 68
CB James
Pierre
0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0 0 12 0 0
CB Chandon Sullivan 13 47 18 21 24 22 28 16 19 27 18 17
CB Darius
Rush
INA 0 30 INA INA 9 INA
CB Desmond
King
0 0 1
FS Minkah Fitzpatrick 68 46 72 71 70 68 8 INA INA INA INA 68
S Damontae
Kazee
49 77 53 34 43 58 67 74 68 75 43 62
SS Keanu
Neal
33 61 41 45 42 17 69 66 56 IR IR IR
SS Miles
Killebrew
0 2 1 0 1 0 12 0 0 16 1 0
DB Elijah
Riley
0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 9 IR IR
SS Trenton Thompson 7 58 42 24
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