Steelers flip the Dupree/Watt script

Sometimes, offseason thoughts or ideas from a coaching staff about changes it would like to make don't come to fruition because situations change. So it was for the Steelers and their thoughts of moving Cameron Sutton to safety.

That idea went out the window when the team signed veteran free agents Morgan Burnett and Nat Berhe, then selected Terrell Edmunds and Marcus Allen in the draft, giving the team a glut of new safeties.

But flipping sides with outside linebackers Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt? That became a reality Tuesday as the Steelers held the first of 10 on-field OTA sessions at Rooney Sports Complex.

Dupree took all the snaps on the right side of the defense, and Watt was on the left, swapping positions from where they lined up a year ago. The idea for the Steelers is to maximize what they are getting out of the pair of former first-round draft picks. Dupree was a first-round pick in 2015; Watt joined the team last season.

"Me and T.J. have to be able to be in the game on either side," Dupree told me Tuesday. "We want to be versatile and be able to compete on both sides. That starts out here.

"It's a different angle, a different side, but it plays the same. It gives you the ability to do a little more than if you just play on one side. You want to have that ability in your back pocket. If a team has you scouted on one side, you can go to the other side and still make plays."

It might still be in the "look and see" mode right now, but the Steelers expect that to be where the duo lines up in the regular season. And as we laid out here, it makes sense from a schematic standpoint. It's also not completely new. The Steelers lined up Dupree on the right side 17 times last season, for example, according to Pro Football Focus.

But this is a more permanent move — and perhaps solution.

Watt is a more instinctive player than Dupree and is better at dropping into coverage. Putting him on the strong side of the offense will get him lined up over opposing tight ends on a more consistent basis. Dupree, meanwhile, is bigger and more powerful than Watt. His size and strength could be better used working against left tackles, who are generally more finesse-type linemen than right tackles.

James Harrison was able to use his strength to bull-rush his way to the quarterback on plenty of occasions in his career with the Steelers, and the team hopes Dupree can have similar results on that side of the line. It also doesn't hurt that it means Dupree will be lining up next to defensive end Cameron Heyward, who figures to get plenty of attention from opposing offenses after recording a career-high 12 sacks last season and being named All-Pro.

Of course, that is when they actually get chances to rush the passer. Watt dropped into coverage more than any 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL last season, and Dupree spent his share of time backpedaling, as well. As a result, Watt had just seven sacks and Dupree six, despite the fact the Steelers set a team record with an NFL-high 56.

That doesn't mean, however, they are going to settle for 13 combined sacks this season.

"We're just not getting as many pass rush reps, but you can definitely still get to the quarterback," Dupree said. "Going back and watching film, I missed four or five sacks. That's double-digit sacks for me, even with the coverage. It's just taking advantage of the opportunity. I was in the right position, I just didn't finish the play. T.J. was the same. We got to the quarterback a lot and got the pressure. This year, we've got to make sure we capitalize on the opportunity and make sure we bring him down. Don't let him escape.

"We're 3-4 linebackers. We're not 3-4 rush ends. It's a difference. We have to take on the role of dropping into coverage, fire zones and stuff like that. But we had opportunities. We're taking it upon ourself. Even if we drop 60 to 70 percent this year, we want to make sure we finish on the plays we have so we can still get to double-digit sacks."

The idea is that if you get 20 pass rushing attempts in a game, you had better capitalize. It was something driven home to the younger players by former Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats last year.

"You do have to be more efficient,” Moats told me earlier this year. “When you rush 80 or 90 percent of the game, you can have bad rushes. You can have some rushes where that wasn’t particularly your best rush. But that’s OK because you know you’re going to get another three, four or five on that same drive. With us, you might only get two rushes in a series of eight plays. You had better make sure they are top-notch and hope it’s not play-action.

“We are hybrids. That’s what I like to call us. As a linebacker, your job just isn’t to rush the passer. Your  job is to cover, as well. … When you talk about Von Miller, Khalil Mack, those guys aren’t linebackers. Those guys are d-ends. They rush 90 percent of the time. So when you see their sack numbers, that is a different comparison to what we’re doing. When you look at T.J., when you look at Bud and see how much they drop compared to the guys who are getting 10 sacks, it’s night and day.”

It might be night and day, but it's the reality of what the Steelers are asking of their outside linebackers. And they won't be the only ones with new roles this season.

With the Steelers on the field together for the first time since losing to Jacksonville in the playoffs Jan. 14, this was the first opportunity for the coaching staff to start applying what it hopes will be other fixes to a defense that wasn't nearly as formidable last year after Pro Bowl linebacker Ryan Shazier was lost Dec. 4 to a spinal cord injury in Cincinnati.

Burnett and fellow free agent signing Jon Bostic were mixed into the first-team defense, and the veterans got their first look at how Edmunds can be worked into the mix as both a safety and linebacker.

It's all new now and will continue to grow and evolve as the Steelers figure out what works best. The idea is to best take advantage of the skill sets of the players available. Shazier isn't available and won't be anytime soon. And there were only a few options with anything close to his skill set available in the draft, all of whom were long gone by the time the Steelers had a chance to make their first pick in the draft with the 28th selection.

If flipping Watt and Dupree makes the defense work better, or at least gives it a chance to be better, so be it.

"We both just want to play (well)," Dupree told me. "However we do it, we just want to make plays. Switching sides, it can throw people's game plans off. The Chargers, they use their two guys (Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram) on the other sides. They're always switching sides. We want to be in the same category."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY