How the Pittsburgh Steelers can divide up playing time at inside linebacker

There are a lot of names at inside linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they’ll need to figure out how to divide time when replacing Ryan Shazier.

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed free agent linebacker Jon Bostic in the offseason and he has been a three-down linebacker in his career. But with Tyler Matakevich healthy again it might be his time to shine. There is a way to get both of them on the field though. The way I would divide up the work is by personnel package and that would determine which inside linebackers are used.

3-4 Base Defense

In the base defense, which is becoming less and less a common personnel package, I would use Vince Williams and Tyler Matakevich. This is a formation where you are conscious of the run and Matakevich and Williams are your best two guys against the run. You may have to drop one of those guys in coverage, but I would rather that job be allocated to the safeties and corners. The reason I don’t think Matakevich can’t play all three downs is his lack of coverage skills. You might say you need a little more help in coverage in this package, but the benefit is you are inviting the other team to pass in a down where it would be more strategic to run.

Nickel Defense

In the nickel defense, I would take Matakevich off the field and put Jon Bostic on the field. He would be much better in coverage. So in this formation, I would have Vince Williams as my buck linebacker and Jon Bostic as my mack linebacker. In this defense, teams are much more likely to throw and that is why I want Bostic on the field.

Dime Defense 

Whether you play the dime with four corners or three safeties, you will need to take an inside linebacker off the field. In this situation, I would only keep Jon Bostic on the field for his coverage ability. In the dime, you are playing the pass and therefore don’t need Tyler Matakevich or Vince Williams. You probably would have a safety come in and play in the box and that safety would probably be Terrell Edmunds or Marcus Allen.

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The benefit of breaking up the playing time is that some of these inside linebackers might stay available to play special teams. I think with Matakevich having to only play in the base, it might be beneficial to use him still on special teams as he is probably still your best special teamer. With Vince Williams coming off in the dime, you might even use him as a reserve special teamer if you need him.