LATROBE, Pa. -- Only the Rams and Bengals offenses utilized 11 personnel (1 RB/1 TE) with more regularity than the Steelers last year. There's been quite a bit of talk about the Steelers offense changing with a new quarterback and whether or not they will employ as high of a percentage of three wide receiver sets. Alternatively, they could use Zach Gentry more in double tight end sets to establish more physicality and help the offensive tackles.
While that is a great discussion and very interesting in its own right, what about the personnel groupings the Steelers will be using on defense in 2022?
Last year, this defense was in their base 3-4 personnel 34% of the time. That might not seem like much compared to years gone by, but 34% was the third highest of any defense. That was behind only the Seahawks and Dolphins, a team and defense coached by Brian Flores at the time, who is now with the Steelers. With Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu out of the lineup, offenses tested the Steelers' defensive line depth and stamina.
But what about the Steelers' usage of nickel personnel with five defensive backs on the field instead of a nose tackle? The Steelers were in nickel 47% of the time, which ranked 30th in the league ahead of only the Dolphins and Chiefs.
Nickel is the preferred personnel grouping in the NFL right now. The Bills had five defensive backs on the field 92% of the time, which was highest in the league. 11 NFL defenses employed their nickel package at least two-thirds of their snaps in 2021.
How about dime personnel with six defensive backs on the field? The Steelers were 13th highest in their usage of dime, with 17% of their snaps coming from this grouping. 11 NFL defenses used dime less than 10% of the snaps while 10 defenses used dime at least 20% of the time. The Falcons and Texans never used their dime package last year while the Dolphins led the NFL, using dime 31% of the time. Teams really vary with their usage of dime.
As mentioned, the Dolphins are very interesting and relevant to the Steelers. The Dolphins were second in base personnel, 32nd in nickel, and first in dime usage. They were either big or small, with little in between. These are very distinct trends from Flores’ defense.
Now some of you might have noticed that the Steelers' defensive percentages by grouping doesn’t add to 100%. Well, 2% of their snaps were in their jumbo goal line defense. But that is very situational and not particularly relevant for this discussion.
How did the Steelers defense fare in each of their main three personnel groupings? In their base, they allowed 5.5 yards per play. In nickel, it was 5.4. And in dime, they gave up 6.5 yards per snap. With six defensive backs on the field, obviously that was more passing situations and giving up 6.5 yards on 3rd and 10 of course is still a win for the defense.
When comparing the Steelers' yards allowed per play against the rest of the league, they were excellent when in nickel, very good in base, and well below league-average when using dime. As mentioned, nickel was their least used group, however.
But here is a new spin on this conversation: What about the Steelers' opponents dictated what percentage of the different defensive groupings came into play? Of course, that is highly relevant for all defenses, as the opponent will quickly learn tendencies and force opposing defenses into packages that they are least comfortable with and with lesser players being used. For example, If the Steelers still had Casey Hampton in the middle of their defensive line, their opponents would surely force them into nickel and dime to get Hampton on the sidelines and neutralize his massive impact.
Where we really need to concentrate on Pittsburgh’s opponents is within the division. Every team prepares and builds their roster to win their respective division. In the AFC North, the Steelers defense has some unique challenges.
As mentioned, the Bengals have an extremely heavy 11 personnel offense. They don’t want to take Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd off the field. And the Bengals are far from a tight end centric offense. To keep up with Joe Burrow and his wealth of receiving weapons, the Steelers need an able and deep secondary. Only 23% of the Bengals' offensive snaps last year came out of a personnel group other than 11 with one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers on the field.
As for the Ravens, as you might expect, they present their own set of unique challenges. 50% of the Ravens' offensive snaps came out of heavier sets with two or fewer wide receivers on the field. They love using 12, 21, 22, and even 20 Personnel with two running backs, zero tight ends and just three wide receivers-but that grouping probably will drop off dramatically. You must be big to combat what Baltimore throws at a defense, but if your defense is too big against this offense, it makes it very difficult to chase down and get Lamar Jackson on the ground.
The Ravens are a great challenge to all defenses, and they just play the game a little differently than the rest of NFL offenses. The Ravens only used 11 personnel 43% of the time and then went on to trade Marquise Brown to the Cardinals without an obvious replacement in the mix. And the Ravens then drafted two more tight ends in the fourth round of this most recent draft!
The Browns will eventually have Deshaun Watson at quarterback, so it is possible that they change up how they play on this side of the ball to best accommodate their new quarterback. The Browns have added Amari Cooper, but they were in 11-personnel last year just a bit more often than the Ravens at just 45%.
Where the Browns really throw defenses a curveball is with 13 personnel. Cleveland led the NFL by a very wide margin in using three tight ends with a single running back and wide receiver. Their 17% of usage in this grouping doesn’t sound astronomical, but there wasn’t another offense in the NFL that used 13 personnel more than 8% of the time. The Browns also gave David Njoku a big contract this offseason to keep him in Cleveland.
So, playing in the AFC North makes defensive team building and roster construction a difficult proposition for the Steelers. They need big guys who can play a lot of snaps as well as a deep secondary.
Folks, that is exactly what the Steelers have now. Led, of course, by Cameron Heyward, this defensive line now has seven very attractive options of differing skill sets in Alualu, Larry Ogunjobi, Chris Wormley, Isaiahh Loudermilk, DeMarvin Leal and Montravius Adams.
The same is true in the secondary. Minkah Fitzpatrick is the star of the group and was just paid accordingly, but the Steelers now have a deeper and more versatile group on the backend than in recent seasons.
Terrell Edmunds is pretty much the prototypical strong safety type to complement Fitzpatrick, while Damontae Kazee is a safety/cornerback hybrid defender that this defense simply hasn’t had in recent seasons. Tre Norwood also has cornerback and safety versatility as a developing second year player. Levi Wallace and Ahkello Witherspoon are penciled in as true outside cornerbacks, while Arthur Maulet is a true nickel corner. Cameron Sutton will play a ton of snaps at a combination of both inside and outside cornerback, giving the Steelers eight quality defensive backs.
The Steelers' defense is well designed to combat their most common competitors.