In almost 50 years of watching Pittsburgh Steelers football, I have enjoyed ups and downs. Mostly ups, but it has led me to my own inevitable truth about the team I love. The Steelers in the Super Bowl era are first and foremost built to ride on their defense. The Steel Curtain’s engine for nearly all that time has run on great linebacker play. Hall of Famers, All-Pro’s and Pro Bowlers have occupied the Steelers' linebackers corp for nearly five decades. All due respect to Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger, but historically the team that cut Johnny Unitas, traded Len Dawson and Earl Morrall, then passed on Dan Marino in the NFL Draft does not have a great track record in building great offenses centered around elite QB play.
Building a superior defense, however, has led to the Steelers remaining year in and year out in the playoff conversation. Post Bradshaw and Pre-Big Ben, the Steelers were 200-159-1 under Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher with a 9-12 playoff record, 4 conference championship games and a Super Bowl loss. It certainly wasn’t the golden age of Steeler football, but ask a Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons or even a Cleveland Browns fan if they would take that record for the next 20 years or so, I am guessing they would. The teams of that era remained relevant by running the football and playing great defense.
Nakobe Dean out of the University of Georgia, may be the next in a long line of good to great Pittsburgh linebackers. At the NFL Combine, he came in at 5 foot 11 instead of the 6 feet he was listed at UGA, and he weighed 229 pounds. He chose not to run or participate in athletic drills, but he is projected to be one of the top middle linebackers in this draft. Dean leaps out if you watched Georgia’s defense. He plays fast and demonstrated a nose for the football. Dean was called the Commander in Chief of one of the best defenses in recent NCAA history. He may not be the physical freak that Ryan Shazier was, but a middle linebacker who calls the defense and can be groomed to eventually take the reins from Cam Heyward as the leader of the Pittsburgh defense is precisely the kind of long-term thinking the Steelers need right now.
Todd McShay from ESPN is already criticizing scouts for starting to drop Dean down on draft boards, and it may be just the opportunity the Steelers need. You don’t get many opportunities at number 20 to draft a prospect like Nakobe Dean, you need luck and something to cause him to slip. The Steelers do have several holes to fill and as a long-time fan, I want them to contend for the foreseeable future. We have a bell cow running back in Najee Harris, something Mason Rudolph and Devlin "Duck" Hodges did not have three years ago. If you pair average QB play, a good running game with an elite defense, that is a recipe for contention.
The NFL is becoming a league of haves and have nots at QB. Aaron Rodgers is getting $200 million for four years and he is 38. Pat Mahomes and Josh Allen got mega deals, but so did Dak Prescott. The salary cap can’t sustain this pay gap in my opinion and these elite QB’s will have substandard parts at some point soon. I am not saying pass on an elite QB if we can get one, but I am saying a dominant force in the middle of our defense is potentially available. Now that the QB market is thinning out, it is the only dominant force available.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Please comment below and let me know what you think!
