The Steelers need to address several defensive flaws this training cam

Patrick Graham feels like a slight upgrade over his predecessor.

In my opinion, fixing the pass defense — especially that soft middle should be the top priority in camp. This has been a glaring weakness since Ryan Shazier’s injury. Years later, the “next man up” has never fully lived up to the standard. Right now, the Steelers are starting a 6'0" linebacker in the middle who struggles in coverage, rushing the passer, and generating turnovers. His name rhymes with “submarine”. Patrick Queen " sunk " the team in coverage on 3rd down. He and last year #2 CB are reasons why Pittsburgh finished 30th out of 32 teams in pass defense yards allowed last season. There are better inside linebackers already on the roster (faster and taller) who should get opportunities on third-and-long situations instead of Queen. I’d also like to someone else wearing the green dot.

The Secondary improvements look promising.

Free agency brought in Jamel Dean as a clear upgrade at #2 corner.

Rookie Everette has received good reviews and should contribute in dime packages.

We got Elliott back healthy, signed Brisker (solid when healthy), but depth and injury history at safety remain concerns.

The #3 safety battle will be one to watch in camp. I like Spears on early downs and Savage in passing situations, but if either has to start full-time, the pass defense could still be vulnerable.
Situational football has been a weak spot under Tomlin and the previous staff. Hopefully Graham can clean that up.


https://www.nfl.com/stats/team-stats/defense/passing/2025/reg/all

Run defense was just average last year.We still don’t have a dominant run-stuffing DT. The hope is that Black takes a step forward in Year 2 (he’s tough to move but needs to disengage better). Benton is okay against the run but gets washed out of his gap too easily — though he offers solid range and above-average pass rush for a DT. Our edge rushers are excellent, but I wouldn’t mind if the team traded Highsmith for a 3rd-round pick or better. Herbig is dynamic rushing the passer, but weak against the run and injury-prone. Jack Sawyer (no longer a rookie) brings a better balance of run defense and pass rush.Speaking of contracts — I still don’t fully understand Herbig’s new $100 million deal. Maybe we should have saved that cap space and trusted the cheaper second-year player instead. We’ll see how it plays out.

https://www.nfl.com/stats/team-stats/defense/rushing/2025/reg/all

This is the Steelers — we lead the league in defensive spending for the fourth straight year (roughly $158–178 million). With that kind of investment, you’d expect a consistent top 5 to top 10 defense. Instead, we finished 26th in total yards allowed (356.9 ypg) and 17th in scoring defense (22.8 ppg) last year .Tomlin and the previous staff simply didn’t coach defense or situational football well enough. The last time we had a truly great defense was under Dick LeBeau. My hope is that Patrick Graham brings an improvement in both pass and run defense.

 

Remember defensive statistics also can partially show ineffectiveness on the offensive side.

If you're on the field the whole game you will have more yards against you, more opportunities for TDs etc.

 

The defense deserve some blame for that since they could not leave the field on 3rd and 4th down last season....It was just brutal.Opponents was 28-38 on fourth down against the steelers defense last season.Unacceptable

 

I don't know if Graham will be good or not with us but I will gave him a chance because he was in a dumpster fire franchise with the giants and raiders when he was a DC

 

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-third-down-conversion-pct

26th in stopping 3rd down conversion is a bad statistic

 

Look at the fourth down!...28-38 in the entire year

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-fourth-down-conversion-pct

 

Yeah I just posted the 3rd down statistic not good

 

While I'm sure Queen could be better in pass defense, the idea that the ILB is the main reason the pass defense is bad needs some evidence to back it up IMO.

Hopefully Dean ends up being the vet savior at CB that we seemingly try to sign every year.

If you're looking to understand the Herbig contract (Steelers contracts in general), I'd suggest listening to the Terrible podcast. Dave is obsessive about understanding the cap on the team. I think he's probably the best Steelers specific cap resource on the internet. I think the TLDR here is something like only truly guaranteed in the 1st year (injury guarantees after that), is more back-end loaded than often happens in contracts, which means they could probably cut him after 2 years if they wanted to (hopefully this isn't a situation we find ourselves wanting to be in). I think a lot of people got wowed by the $100MM!!! price tag. Not realizing that the best comp (who was older, had similar usage, and was less productive) recently signed a $96MM contract. But adding the extra digit makes it feel more expensive that it is. Especially since it sounds like the structure is relatively team friendly.

The D has to figure out how to not be terrible on 3rd and 4th downs (as has been pointed out upthread). Just getting to average in these two categories would probably make the defense really good (if all else stays the same...which it won't because things are always changing in the NFL).

 

In my opinion the problem with our defense has been the D-line, there just isnt enough disruption up front to make QB's drop their eyes or disrupt running lanes and timing. This makes it tough on every level of the defenses and explains why teams are so willing to go for 4th down conversions against us. Im hoping Benton and Harmon can really turn into some game wreckers and that will free up the linebackers to make plays.

 

Harmon I expect to make a jump this year

Benton is what he is

 

You just unleased a 30 post tirade from S.T.D. Hope you're ready. Steelers defense is great. Tomlin is great. Austin is great. Graham should already be fired. HERE...IT....COMES.

 

I pretty much feel the same way, but im still holding out hope.

 

Or You can just make something up that I never said like you just did. I tell you what. Find where I said that.
I said we were better than the Raiders D, and yet slow people read this to mean something different.
I know people like this reality is too difficult for them.

 

One thing is clear: Queen’s fans can’t pin this on the pass rush. It’s been very good, which is honestly making his stats look worse than they otherwise would. Put him on a team with just average pressure and his numbers would probably be even rougher. I’m curious what specific evidence you have on his coverage struggles. I already listed quite a bit of data.

It’s not the #1 reason we’ve sucked against the pass, but it’s definitely one of the top three. It’s not 100% on him. Playing under Tomlin and Austin in 2025 means scheme and coaching are part of the picture too.

 

Benton is moving to his "natural position"... which isn't NT. So there is that to look forward to...

 

Natural position

Just cracks me up when someone says that

 

That sounds like an excellent idea

So as to save me the embarrassment of asking the same question of my wife would you be kind enough to provide results on your conversion

I anticipate the response I would get being similar

 

This.


Would like to be proven wrong about Benton but it is very difficult to state otherwise. Harmon though?! He has some serious potential imo.


How he treated the likes of Penei Sewell and to a lesser extent in Joe Thuney?! That alone is worth getting excited over.

 

Entering his fourth NFL season and his physical prime, Keeanu Benton has developed into a solid starting defensive tackle for the Steelers. He’s a good-not-great 3-tech who flashes disruptive ability with splash plays and interior pressure, and he’s generally more impactful against the pass than the run. That said, he can still be manhandled by elite interior offensive linemen and lacks the consistent power and leverage to against top centers and guards in one-on-one matchups. He can play the NT position, but is mediocre at best at it. One thing this defense still needs is a good 0 technique NT player. If we had that we would be much tougher to run on.

 

Go for it, ask away. Fair warning though: if she’s brutally honest like mine, you might talk yourself into doing your 5th choice instead of your first. Personally, I save those kinds of big questions for Anniversaries or Valentine’s Day.

 

They've added so many different bonuses to the structure that the 'guaranteed money' summation is essentially meaningless. For some reason the media really leaned into this with Le'veon Bell and kind of dropped it afterwards. And it has gotten a bit more complex since then.

Technically, they're above water on Herbig after 2026. The majority of the money in the back half of his contract is in roster and workout bonuses. The Steelers have an escape hatch and Herbig can make a lot of money if he goes for the duration of the deal.