The addition of Avery Williamson to the Steelers' linebackers brings the Jets' runner-up in total tackles with 59 on the season. The last whole season Williamson played for the Jets was in 2018, when he led the team with 120 tackles.
But don't expect him to take away all the snaps from Robert Spillane, who's started the last two games at inside linebacker in place of Devin Bush. The answer for the Steelers' defense is platooning the two in order to help both adjust to their new roles of playing next to Vince Williams.
As Dale Lolley wrote yesterday, the Steelers fully intend to ease Williamson into the defense so that he's fully ready when he's integrated into the defense.
The Steelers can afford that patience because of the play of Spillane, who led the Steelers in tackles against the Ravens with eleven, while also recording an interception returned for a touchdown, a fumble recovery and two passes defensed.
Spillane has provided at inside linebacker what the Steelers lacked in 2017 when Ryan Shazier went down. Not only has he proven to be a good downhill linebacker in run support, but he's been adequate in underneath zone coverage.
Forget his pick six on Lamar Jackson that started Sunday's game, a more impressive display of coverage skills by Spillane was exhibited on a breakup he made on a key third down during the third quarter. Watch how he covers J.K. Dobbins in space, as Dobbins tries to run an in-and-out route to shake Spillane out of his spot.
Spillane keeps his footwork by Dobbins' initial break inside, but quickly breaks with him outside and perfectly fights through Dobbins' hands to prevent the reception and force a fourth down:
That's impressive competence of Spillane in his second NFL start to play in coverage against a more explosive player in Dobbins. Through two games, Spillane has been solid being the signal caller for the defense and not being a liability at the position.
But where Spillane does lack in natural skills is his lateral speed and his inexperience. He's still had a very small sample size for opponents to study, and young players who start off by playing well eventually do experience a cool down period where their initial play diminishes.
A perfect example of that was T.J. Watt's rookie season, where Watt came into Steelers' training camp with only a few pass rush moves at his disposal. He added to those moves while working with Joey Porter and James Harrison during that camp, and flashed them in his first few games where he recorded three sacks in his first four games.
But his production dipped as the season continued with only four sacks over the remaining 13 games that year. That came as a result of Watt's learning curve as a rookie, and a similar learning curve that most NFL rookies experience. Rookies not only have to adjust to upping their play and make their fundamentals so consistent, but also have to adjust to each week getting new versions of a playbook with adjustments to every opponent.
Watt's obviously used to that now for the Steelers as he's averaged more than 13 sacks over the last two seasons and is on a pace for more than 14 sacks. Spillane won't become anything like that for the Steelers, but it's important to remember the lesson from Watt's rookie season struggles when looking at Spillane's early success.
Even with the solid plays Spillane has made so far, it's more than fair to expect a drop off at some point. And you can already see some points where Spillane's style of play has come up short.
Watch how Spillane can't get out to the edge on Dobbins on this run that breaks for 28 yards. Even with Spillane not having the flat out speed to catch Dobbins, the slight hesitation in his reaction cost him this play:
The answer to this isn't removing Spillane from the Steelers' defense, but splitting time with him and Williamson to allow the young linebacker time to come off the field, process what he's doing and narrow his scope to fewer plays.
Williamson brings a better presence inside the tackles when it comes to taking on blockers in the hole than Spillane. This is where his experience and skillset can come in and help the Steelers against the run, giving Spillane a reprieve during games.
Watch how Williamson is isolated with Colts center Ryan Kelly, as he uses his hands to punch inside the frame of Kelly and shove him out of the way so that he maintains his gap and bring down Jonathan Taylor:
Getting off blocks like that has been a weakness of Spillane early on, and as more teams see that on tape they will try to exploit it. Subbing between Williamson and Spillane would slow down teams planning on targeting a specific linebacker spot as they're forced to deal with both players' talents.
Williamson's pursuit angles on plays also help him chase down running backs headed to the edge, even without him having elite sideline-to-sideline speed. Watch how he jumps into position to confront Le'Veon Bell and push him off to the sideline and limit him to a two-yard gain:
Williamson won't be an elite replacement of Bush that changes the entire dynamic of the Steelers' defense, but he's slight upgrade over Spillane's skills against the run and a more experienced linebacker that can split snaps at the position.
When the Steelers are comfortable that Williamson is up to speed, expect him and Spillane to split those snaps at inside linebacker and for Keith Butler to take advantage of his added depth. Having both at the same time to grow into the position is an asset to a defense that still has several talented skill groups to help mask over both players as they learn.
But the bottom line is by using both to reduce each other's snap count, the Steelers could ease both into the defense without having to put too much weight on their shoulders.