Who will fill Stephon Tuitt’s shoes for the Steelers?

The Pittsburgh Steelers got the win against the Chargers but still suffered a loss. Defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt will miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle.

The Steelers saw possibly their best player of 2019 go down Sunday night when Stephon Tuitt left the game injured. Once I heard it was a pectoral injury, I immediately feared the worst.

That fear was confirmed with the Steelers placing Stephon Tuitt on injured reserve, effectively ending his season. This is devastating to the defense losing Tuitt, and it is devastating to him after such a great start to the season.

Tuitt had already registered 22 tackles, 3.5 sacks, six tackles for loss, and seven QB hits. He was having a dominant start to the season and seemed to be staying healthy until the unfortunate injury.

Tuitt has had trouble staying healthy in the past and has only finished one season playing all 16 games. That season was his rookie year in which he only started four games.

Since becoming the every game starter at defensive end, Tuitt has missed 10 games over four seasons and will now miss the final 10 in 2019. This brings his five-season total to 20 games missed.

The Steelers have done a good job getting quality depth out their defensive linemen, and that will surely be tested over the next 10 games. The Steelers brought in Karl Dunbar in 2018, and he has gotten the best out of guys like Tuitt and Dan McCullers.

If the Steelers want to continue their solid defensive performance, they will need production from their depth. There are three players on the roster now who can help provide that the rest of the year.