Grading the Pittsburgh Steelers edge defenders in 2019

The Pittsburgh Steelers have seemingly always had a knack for getting after the quarterback, but have missed on some draft picks as of late. Here’s how I graded their edge rushers heading into the 2019 season.

Dating back to the mid-1990’s and beyond, the Steelers seem to have always had quality pass rushers. From Joey Porter to James Harrison, and now T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh has seen their share of dominance at this position.

However, as a whole, their outside linebacker depth is lacking. Here is a breakdown of each of the top edge defenders on the Steelers, and the grade I have given this group heading into the 2019 season:

T.J. Watt

T.J. Watt is far-and-away the best edge defender on the Steelers. Like everyone else, he has had his share of ups and downs in his first two NFL seasons, but he could not have finished stronger in 2019.

Watt is undeniably skilled and is quickly become the cornerstone of the Steelers defense. He exploded from week 10 on in 2018, with a 87.7 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. Watt’s 13.0 sacks were tied for 7th in the NFL last season. Though that will be hard to repeat, the arrow is clearly pointing up for T.J. Watt.

Bud Dupree

As exciting as T.J. Watt has been for the Steelers, Bud Dupree has been quite the opposite. To the surprise of many fans, the Steelers elected to pick up the 5th-year option on Dupree – a player who has never garnered more than 6.0 sacks in a season over his first 4 years in the league.

To be fair, Dupree has shown some flashes as a pass rusher – just barely missing about a half-dozen sacks last season. However, he has yet to turn his athletic gifts into a good NFL player, and he still lacks the bend and pass rush moves to truly be successful. The right edge position in Pittsburgh will be in need of an overhaul if Dupree doesn’t perform well this season.

Anthony Chickillo

Chickillo has been a very successful former 6th round draft choice from 2015, and unlike Bud Dupree from the same year, you could certainly make the case that he has outplayed his draft status.

Anthony Chickillo is a good special teams player and a solid rotational piece for the Steelers, but has never been able to push Dupree for a starting position. He will, however, serve a fairly large role this season as possibly the Steelers top rotational piece on the edge.

Ola Adeniyi

Ola Adeniyi is a name fans were very excited about last August. The former Toledo standout was dominant in his first preseason action (albeit against 2nd and 3rd string players).

Ola possesses a short, shout frame for the position and his play-style has drawn reasonable comparisons to James Harrison. Perhaps he was the reason the Steelers were comfortable passing on Chase Winovich in the 3rd round of the draft this year.

Overall edge defender grade: C-

I know that fans won’t like to hear this, but outside of Pro Bowler T.J. Watt, the Steelers are hurting in a bad way at this position. The Steelers busted on Jarvis Jones in 2013, and Bud Dupree hasn’t turned out to be the player Pittsburgh was hoping for when they drafted him in the 1st round of 2015.

There is still hope that the Steelers could turn this around quickly. With T.J. Watt emerging as an NFL star and drawing a majority of the attention on the defense, it will be up to players like Dupree, Chickillo, and Adeniyi to take advantage. Whether or not they will be able to remains to be seen.