LATROBE, Pa. -- With training camp 2018 now in their rearview mirror, the Steelers can go back into the secrecy of holding practices at the Rooney Complex after building the foundation for the upcoming season.
What hasn't been revealed just yet is what kind of sub package the defense will favor in 2018 as opposed to previous years.
Last season, according to Football Outsiders, the Steelers used their base 3-4 package 38 percent of the time, tied with the Texans for sixth-highest in the NFL. But Mike Tomlin estimated that number was closer to 25 percent earlier this season at the league's spring meetings. That number from Football Outsiders also could include heavy short-yardage packages as base defensive alignments, since they are not weighed in the rankings.
What we do know is the Steelers' primary sub package was the nickel, which typically took nose tackle Javon Hargrave off the field in favor of slot cornerback Mike Hilton. The Steelers played that defense 36 percent of the time. They also played a dime, which added defensive back William Gay for an inside linebacker, 26 percent of the time, which was seventh-highest in the league.
What will the Steelers do in 2018, especially without Ryan Shazier to man the middle of their defense?
At training camp, they worked nickel, dime and even a seven-defensive-backs package they called the "dollar," and all could be used by Keith Butler at times this season.
"It’s just something we’re working on," new defensive backs coach Tom Bradley told me. "We have a multitude of things we can do in our playbook, and we can pull that out. Coach Butler has pulled out different things. We could have eight DBs on the field. We could have no DBs. We don’t know. One good thing about it is that we have a chance to not be position-specific again. We have a chance to learn everything and at least have an idea what they’re doing. So if someone learns what the linebacker does, that’s going to help them in the secondary know exactly what he does, because we've practiced it. We’re moving guys around, and I think it’s a good thing from that standpoint."
One thing working in the defense's favor this year is that the secondary looks incredibly deep and talented, a big step for a team that couldn't field a competent starting backfield just a couple of years ago.
Veteran cornerback Coty Sensabaugh, who had an interception in last week's 31-14 preseason-opening win at Philadelphia, had a strong training camp but might not be guaranteed a spot on this roster. After all, corners Joe Haden, Artie Burns, Hilton and Cameron Sutton seem assured spots. And the team remains intrigued by 2017 fifth-round draft pick Brian Allen, a 6-foot-3 corner with solid ball skills.
Add in solid depth at safety, where first-round draft pick Terrell Edmunds joins starters Morgan Burnett and Sean Davis, while fifth-round pick Marcus Allen, Malik Golden and Jordan Dangerfield are fighting for roster spots, and you've got a number of guys who look like NFL players.
While the nickel was used as the main sub package in 2017, it might be the dime or dollar that make the most sense in 2018. After all, those defenses could offer an opportunity to put the best 11 defenders on the field at the same time.
The coaching staff feels Hilton, Sutton and Edmunds just might be among those top 11, so finding ways to get them on the field with the other starters could be a key to the season. Because all three of those guys are hybrid-type players -- capable of playing corner and safety -- it helps. It also gives the defense plenty of flexibility.
One of the reasons Bradley was brought in after spending his entire career coaching at the college level is because he had seen all of the gimmick offenses permeating that level that are trickling into the NFL. We're seeing more spread-type packages, run-pass options (RPOs) and teams playing at a quicker pace than ever before.
Players once called "tweeners" now are called hybrids. And while being a tweener 20 years ago was bad, being a hybrid now is welcomed.
"Yeah, and now you’re recruiting those kind of players, because they can do a lot of different things and you don’t get yourself caught in substitutions all day, nickel, dime against the run," Bradley said. "I had a game (in college) where we played 121 snaps. That’s every nine seconds. You can’t get subs in. You need a group that can give you everything."
That's what Shazier was. At 230 pounds, some felt he was too small to play inside linebacker in the NFL. But his speed allowed him to make a lot of plays that bigger, slower linebackers couldn't make.
"In college now, you have a lot more of those hybrid guys because you have to," Bradley said. "What’s going on with the RPOs, the spread formations and everything, you don’t substitute. You can’t get them in there. You have to be able to play a lot of things, so you’re seeing different body types. You don’t see, very rarely now in college do you see, that big mike guy in the middle. You might have one, and the other guys might be what I call half-players — half-strong safety, half-linebacker. They’ve got to go out, and you don’t have a chance to substitute."
The key will be, can the Steelers stop the run if they have six or seven defensive backs on the field?
That's where newcomers, such as Burnett and even linebacker Jon Bostic come into play. The team's two big free-agent signings in the offseason could factor into the sub packages a great deal.
Burnett played a linebacker spot in those situations in his previous few seasons in Green Bay, and Bostic appears to be more adept at coverage than Vince Williams or Tyler Matakevich, the other top inside linebackers on the roster.
Jon Bostic working a coverage drill. #Steelers #dkps pic.twitter.com/M7RJKMy6BJ
— Dale Lolley (@dlolley_pgh) August 14, 2018
"The game has changed," Burnett, an eight-year veteran told me. "But right now, we're just looking at different things. Guys are playing different positions, looking at different scenarios."
Even the Steelers remain unsure about what their primary sub-package alignment might be. In fact, because of the ability of several players in the secondary to play different positions, the sub packages could look different every week, based on matchups.
For example, Sutton has lined up in the slot, on the outside and even at safety -- at times -- throughout the offseason, though he mostly has played corner at training camp.
"I think it’s kind of a situational thing with us," Bradley admitted. "We might tell a guy, ‘When we put you in, we’re going to run these four things. When we put you in, we’re going to run these things because that’s your package.’
"It may be situationally based on the person. You may take your corner and do something different. It will be based on Coach Tomlin and Coach Butler and what they feel is our best option to win the game. That’s always the bottom line."