The Steelers' starting buck inside linebacker will be Vince Williams, and there's no doubt about that. He'll play alongside Ryan Shazier, the mack linebacker in the 3-4 scheme. Behind those two are Tyler Matakevich and Steven Johnson.
It won't be a new role for Williams, as he started 11 games as a rookie, four last season. But it will be a new challenge in scope.
What's kept Williams a candidate to be an NFL starter has been his ability to play in the box and fill holes in the run game. Especially when kept clean, he's proficient in lurking around the line of scrimmage for his gap assignment and filling the hole with a solid hit on the running back.
What's below is from last season. Watch how he flowed down the line against the Chiefs despite their entire offensive line coming off the ball leading to their left. He didn't just follow the flow. He was able to identify that none of the guards were pulling to either side, and then find where the running back was looking to go:
He gets bonus points for staying in a solid defensive stance as he shuffles his feet down the line, too.
That's been what's made Williams a recognizable name for Steelers fans. He's not fast, he's not a big hitter and he's not exceptional in pass defense, but he does a lot of the little things well when he understands what's in front of him. That also might be the biggest reason Kevin Colbert and the Steelers felt comfortable having Williams replace Lawrence Timmons. Timmons had aged from being the speedy star in the middle of the field to being the big, physical pillar of the defense who communicated signals to the rest of the unit and always knew where he was supposed to go.
Every good defense needs an inside linebacker who can be consistent in his gap assignments and making those tough adjustment decisions after the snap. Where Timmons started to fall short was that he wasn't fast enough to close on plays against faster backs. In multiple situations during the Cowboys game last season, for instance, he would be in solid position to prevent Ezekiel Elliott from a first-down conversion, but Elliott would be too fast for Timmons to get to the spot. If Timmons still had that old burst, he might still be on the roster.
Williams can bring consistency with his gap play, but he still has lapses. Below is a play when he bit inside and got sucked into the crowd, allowing his gap to be open and for the Eagles to score easily:
Notice how the left guard pulls to Williams' side, yet he bounces to where the guard came from, instead of challenging him in the box.
Williams needs to be more consistent in the execution of his assignments, but also in how physically he applies himself on the field. Watch the below play against the Patriots, as he faces a concept similar to the one against the Eagles, with the guard from the other side of the line pulling down to kick out any defender outside the tackle:
This time, Williams gets there to at least meet the pulling guard, but he doesn't get there fast enough and allows himself to get swallowed up enough so that LaGarrette Blount can run around him on that side of the field. What should happen here is that Williams should see the guard and flow to the edge quickly and try to face Blount but cut down the space between him and the guard so he's not blown out of the hole.
Doing so would slow Blount in the hole and prevent the guard from clearing Williams out of the play.
While Shazier is busy flying from one part of the field to the other, Williams will most likely be called upon to spy on quarterbacks, fill holes in the ground game and be a solid point of continuity for a defense with six starters still on their rookie contracts. If he can be confident in asserting where he needs to be on the field, he will be the inside linebacker the team needs for this season.