Steelers Defense In 2024: Examining The New Age Steel Curtain

Throughout much of their history, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been a franchise defined by their defensive talent. While that reputation took something of a hit in recent years after a rough period between 2014 and 2017—and a series of embarrassing playoff performances since that streak began—2023 was no different, as the Steelers lived and died by their defense’s ability to keep their offense in games.

The Steelers have a number of question marks to answer surrounding the unit this year, like whether they choose to let go standout players like Cam Heyward and Patrick Peterson to create cap space as age starts to catch up with them, and what they’ll do to shore up their middle linebackers and secondary, both of which were decimated by injuries down the stretch. Here’s a look at some of the potential answers to these questions.

The Best Ability… is Availability

There are no two ways around it: the Steelers’ defense was absolutely snake bitten with injuries this past season, which makes it even more remarkable that they managed to put together the No. 8 scoring defense in the league.

Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick missed a good portion of the season with various nagging injuries, and when he was available, his effectiveness was limited by playing out of position. With injuries at strong safety forcing him out of his patented role patrolling the middle of the field, Fitzpatrick couldn’t impact the game in his usual way.

The Steelers lost a series of middle linebackers to season ending injuries, quite literally forcing them to sign players off the street and plug them into gameday roles within the span of a week. 

Most importantly, all-world edge rusher T.J. Watt suffered a knee injury on the eve of the postseason, limiting the team’s ability to pull off any sort of miracle playoff run. Watt is one of the odds on favorites to win next year’s Defensive Player of the Year Award (and probably should’ve won it this year), making him an excellent candidate for ESPN BET PA Promo Codes.

Pittsburgh is a different team with him in the lineup, and his impact on the game is impossible to overstate.

One can’t really predict a return to perfect health for all these players in a brutal sport like football, but there’s a good chance that the Steelers’ injury woes regress to the mean in 2024. Sometimes that’s all the difference between a legendary showing and a season filled with disappointment.

Steelers Still Figuring Out Cap Space

The Steelers will need to figure out what they’re going to do at a number of key positions like defensive line and safety. They could save roughly $7 million in cap space if they cut Patrick Peterson and $16 million if they cut Cam Heyward, but the question remains whether they can sign players with the money that they free up who are good enough to balance out their absence. 

Peterson will be 34 years old this season, and while he still managed 40 total tackles and a pair of interceptions in 2023, defensive backs can age incredibly quickly once they’re past 30. Heyward will be 35 and is coming off his worst season in more than a decade, missing six games due to injury and managing just two sacks. He’s making a lot more money than Peterson is, seemingly making him a more obvious target to cut, but he’s also the heart and soul of this Steelers team, and one wonders if they’ll be willing to kick a franchise icon to the curb in his later years.

In terms of cheap replacements, the Steelers are probably going to have to devote their top draft picks toward overhauling the offensive line, complicating the situation further. With resources already stretched thin and the defense far and away the more expensive of the two units, they might just need to make do with what they have.

Reasons for Hope

One of the best things about the Steelers is that they seem to have figured out their defense’s biggest problem over the past decade. The team has been horrible about covering tight ends—and passing plays over the middle of the field in general—but it’s been less and less of an issue in recent years.

They struggled a bit in that area this year, but that’s also because they were rolling with fifth and sixth string middle linebackers, and there’s a cheap free agent signing they could swing to immediately give themselves a boost.

After letting 2018 first round pick Terrell Edmunds walk in free agency last year, he only managed to acquire a one-year, $2 million contract, which is pennies on the dollar for a solid veteran player. If they can bring him back into the fold, it’ll help Fitzpatrick play his natural position, creating a ripple effect through the rest of the defense.