For a lot of the offseason, the deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers has been on their offense and their pursuit of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. All of the discuss Rodgers has considerably clouded the truth that this can be a Steelers group that also boasts a extremely proficient protection. Forward of the 2025 NFL season, Professional Soccer Focus is rating each place group, and the Steelers have been named the group with the very best defensive position, with PFF together with EDGE as a part of the defensive position.
“Led by edge defender T.J. Watt and inside defender Cameron Heyward, the Steelers’ defensive position continues to be the very best within the NFL. Two Pittsburgh gamers have been among the many 30 highest-graded inside defenders, and three ranked within the prime 20 amongst edge defenders final season,” Zoltán Buday writes. “The Steelers even chosen inside defender Derrick Harmon with their first-round choose within the 2025 NFL Draft, additional bolstering an elite unit.”
T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith have been named the very best EDGE duo by PFF final week, and the Steelers even have Nick Herbig in reserve, giving the group the strongest outdoors linebacker room within the NFL. On the road, Heyward had a monster 2024 marketing campaign with 71 tackles, eight sacks and 11 cross deflections en path to being named a first-team All-Professional. Keeanu Benton ranked because the Twenty ninth-best inside defender, and including Harmon to the combo offers the Steelers a rookie who led the FBS in pressures final season at Oregon.
It’s a powerful group that may get lots stronger if Benton develops as a cross rusher this season. He has simply two sacks by way of two NFL seasons, but when he develops extra of a pass-rush repertoire, the Steelers can get again to being the most effective within the league on the subject of bringing down the quarterback.
The trio of Heyward, Watt, and Highsmith is one in all, if not the very best in soccer for a entrance seven, and it’s no shock that the Steelers, who have been first in these identical rankings on the finish of final season, retained the highest spot. Including Harmon ought to be an improve over what the Steelers bought out of Larry Ogunjobi final season, and if Watt can return to type after a sluggish finish to the season and Highsmith stays wholesome, the Steelers’ defensive entrance has the potential to hold them to a couple additional wins, as they’ve completed over the previous handful of seasons.
