The Steelers' depth at edge rusher has been a question all offseason after Bud Dupree left for the Titans, leaving Alex Highsmith as the presumed starter across from T.J. Watt.
The top options on the team behind those two are Cassius Marsh and rookie Quincy Roche.
Marsh says he's committed to learning whatever role the Steelers need of him, and that's good, but he still hasn't projected as an edge defender who can provide solid spell snaps against both the run and pass.
Unless the Steelers make a move on edge rusher in free agency, something I've advocated about for weeks on DK Pittsburgh Sports, Marsh and Roche are going to have to be the answer for edge depth.
But when you watch Roche's college tape, there are the makings of an edge defender who plays the way the Steelers need.
Roche has a solid build at 6-foot-3, 243 pounds, with decent numbers posted on his pro day. His 4.62 40-yard dash time was about average for edge rushers in his college class and his 119-inch broad jump showed the explosiveness that made him a dangerous starter at Temple and Miami.
Roche spent three years with the Owls before transferring to play with the Hurricanes, where he wound up opposite Jaelen Phillips. His 13-sack season in 2019 for Temple dropped to just 4.5 when he played for Miami in 2020, but he still proved to be a difficult defender for teams to deal with at times, as his 14.5 tackles for loss in 2020 showed.
One thing that jumps off the screen when Roche plays is how coordinated his hands are when he attacks blockers. When offensive tackles and tight ends drop back, they have to be prepared for both an initial move and a counter move when dealing with Roche, and his quick burst off the snap forces them to be worried about quickly getting behind them.
Watch this sack against Duke when he set up their tight end by initially squaring up with his shoulders before making his move outside. You can see how quickly Roche established leverage as soon as his man extended his arms to try to lock him down with a solid rip move to get under his arms:
That's where Roche's at his best.
Over his four years of playing Roche's sharpened his footwork to quickly work around blockers while using his hands. Often times edge defenders in college will learn to excel with either powerful hands, explosiveness or quick agile moves to get around the edge, but the special players are the ones who learn to combine the all, like Watt has in the NFL.
Roche can combine those skills as well, but doesn't do so at an elite level just yet. He knows how to mix up his hand techniques between heavier handed aggressive moves and quicker, lighter finesse moves to fool defenders.
Watch how he set up this quick club move to get around his man against Florida State. It's subtle with a quick shoulder dip that doesn't give his man enough time to lock onto his frame and stop his momentum:
But the Steelers need more than just a pass rusher.
A lot of the dirty work of spell edge defenders involves not getting exploited on running plays when the starters are taking a breather. Highsmith did that well behind Dupree last season before taking over as a starter when Dupree suffered his ACL injury.
Roche flashes the football IQ and the functional strength to win in those situations. When it's a run play, he'll often stick to his role on the edge to play within a scheme instead of trying to play hero and exposing his gap on defense. Watch how he drove this Louisville offensive tackle back 4 yards while maintaining his outside leverage. That allowed him to clean up on the play when the rest of Miami's front took away the middle of the field:
Consider the Steelers' divisional opponents and their ability to run the ball with Lamar Jackson, J.K. Dobbins, Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and Joe Mixon, and that's just as important as bringing heat on the quarterback.
Another thing to appreciate about Roche's effort on tape his how even when dealing with a developing offensive play he looks comfortable engaging linemen and diagnosing what's happening to find a way to contribute.
Watch how Pitt tried to crack down on him with tight end Jake Zalinskas and how quickly Roche shook him off. Once he did that he recognized the run was coming to his side and also quickly handled Carter Warren to maintain his responsibility of locking down the edge and keeping his outside shoulder free:
Keeping that shoulder clean to maintain the edge was something Dupree showed as a rookie where Jarvis Jones and Jason Worilds struggled for years.
It's good Roche has those tools with which to work coming into the NFL. He still has to polish them and get used playing against better offensive linemen who have quick feet and aren't easily beaten with different hand techniques. But the fact he has them should give the Steelers a floor to work with that make him valuable even if it takes him a few months to adapt to the strength and speed of the NFL.
How quickly that happens could determine just how sound the Steelers are with their edge depth, but that still shouldn't preclude Kevin Colbert from finding another option to give the team some insurance if Roche's development doesn't come along this year.
