Many teams around the NFL will go to training camp this season wondering where they'll find the players to create pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
After all, sacks were down across the league last season, with T.J. Watt's 15 sacks leading the way, the fewest for a league leader since 1996.
The Steelers? That's of little concern to them. They led the NFL in sacks for an unprecedented fourth consecutive season in 2020 with 56. No team had ever done it three consecutive seasons, let alone four.
And the Steelers are a solid bet to do it again in 2021, especially after adding pass rushing specialist Melvin Ingram as a free agent signing earlier this week.
The Steelers bring excellent pressure up the middle with Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt, but the real difference in their pass rush comes off the edge from Watt and, at least the last few seasons, Bud Dupree.
Watt and Dupree tied for the fastest get off at the snap of the ball in the NFL last season according to NextGen stats at .72 seconds each. Dupree's replacement, Alex Highsmith, was high on that list, as well, though he didn't have enough defensive snaps to qualify among the league leaders.
Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler credits line coach Karl Dunbar for focusing on and honing that part of his unit's game.
"Karl got here three years ago. He’s done an excellent job with them, I think," Butler said Friday as the Steelers wrapped up their second day of training camp practices here at the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex.
"We’ve mixed it up quite a bit in terms of our coverage. Sometimes we’re bringing five. Sometimes, we’re bringing four. Sometimes, we’re bringing three. We had sacks last year bringing three. Our thing is, what we’re trying to do is get the quarterback to hold the ball a while, get him to be indecisive. If we can do that and get to him, we can shake him up a bit, hopefully. That’s what we’ve done the last three or four years. Hopefully, we can continue to do that."
With Dupree gone, having signed a free agent deal with the Titans, there was some question regarding the depth up front, particularly on the edge. That led to the addition of Ingram, a three-time Pro Bowl player with the Chargers, earlier this week.
Now, the Steelers not only return two of the three players in the AFC who reached double digits in sacks last season -- Watt (15) and Tuitt (11) -- they are the only team in the league who has four players on their roster who have reached double digits in sacks at some point in their respective careers. Heyward had a career-high 12 in 2017, while Ingram has reached that total twice, most recently reaching 10.5 in 2017.
People that expect the Steelers to see a big drop-off in sack totals might be in for a surprise.
"I don’t think that," Heyward said. "Bud’s been a hell of a guy for us but we look at guys like Highsmith. We bring guys back like (Chris) Wormley, Tyson (Alualu), T.J., Tuitt, me, and we bring in a guy like Melvin Ingram, we’ve got a squad. I don’t think there will be a drop-off at all."
Of course, the Steelers need to keep everyone healthy. Watt and Tuitt have only participated in positional drills thus far in camp. Watt hasn't practiced because the Steelers want to get Ingram as many snaps as possible to get up to speed. Tuitt, meanwhile, saw his conditioning slowed in the offseason by the loss of his brother, Richard Bartlett III, in a hit-and-run accident in early June.
"It’s an unfortunate situation," Heyward admitted. "For us, we want to make sure we keep him around. It’s not easy losing a loved one, especially the way it happened. Tuitt’s just getting back up to speed. Everybody moves at their own pace. But we understand it’s been a bit of a grieving process. We want to make sure we take him under our wing."
They likely won't be nearly as kind to opposing quarterbacks.
How they get all of those excellent pass rushers on the field together remains to be seen. Or if they even want to do that.
They used a package a couple of times in 2020 that included Watt, Dupree and Highsmith on the field together at times. But that doesn't mean they'll necessarily do it again in 2021, even though Ingram has shown the flexibility in the past to rush from either side or even from the interior lined up over a guard.
"Not if we have Tuitt. If we have Tuitt, we have two outside guys and two inside guys," Butler said. "If you do that (put all three outside linebackers on the field), it has to be third-and-long situations. There are certain situations where you could do that. Right now, can we put all three of them on the field? Yes, we’ve done that before. Not on mixed downs — first and second downs — but on third downs, maybe."
The addition of Ingram certainly gives them options -- maybe even more so than when they just had Dupree.
How it all plays out will be a big point of emphasis in this camp. Highsmith, a third-round pick last season, is still expected to be the starter opposite Watt when all is said and done.
But with a 17-game schedule in 2021, the Steelers also know they want to get their two starters plenty of rest on the sidelines, as well.
"Melvin has played both sides. I’m not worried about which is playing which," Butler said. "Both (Highsmith and Ingram) might be in there at the same time, because we’re going to rest T.J. some too. We feel like we’ve got three good players there so we’ll keep the same number of sacks and stuff like that."
