Return of Steelers DL Stephon Tuitt will make up for the loss of Javon Hargrave

The Steelers couldn’t afford to pay Javon Hargrave this offseason, but here’s why there’s no need to worry with a healthy Stephon Tuitt returning to the field.

One of biggest regrets I’ve heard from fans this offseason is that they wish the Steelers would have been able to keep defensive tackle, Javon Hargrave. Upon his departure, Pittsburgh did very little in the way of replacing him and they didn’t draft a defensive tackle until the seventh round this year.

Perhaps this is because the Steelers don’t view Hargrave’s departure as a massive blow to this football team. And there’s plenty of reason to believe this is the case.

Throughout his first four seasons with the team, Hargrave has only ever been a part-time player on defense – earning less than 48 percent of defensive snaps in each of his first three seasons. In fact his usage gradually dropped from year one to year three in the NFL (47 percent down to 44 percent of snaps).

However, a season-ending injury to Stephon Tuitt changed things. Because the Steelers were shorthanded on their defensive line, Hargrave saw the most snaps he had ever played in a sesaon (680). But even with Tuitt gone for the season, Hargrave still managed to play just 63 percent of snaps in 2019.

With more than 200 additional snaps from the previous season, we would have expected a breakout year from Hargrave. But that wasn’t the case. In fact, the defensive tackle was actually less productive than he was in the previous season. With just 4.0 sacks and 7 tackles for a loss in 16 games, that doesn’t exactly scream starter money – something he is currently earning with the Eagles.

In comparison, Stephon Tuitt has actually been a much more productive player in his last 16 games – earning 9.0 sacks, 13 tackles for a loss, and 22 quarterback hits during that span. He’s also proven to be one of the league’s best run defenders with his rare combination of size and length.

Tuitt is expected to return to the practice field fully healthy this July after the pectoral tear that ended his season in 2019 required surgery to repair.

Tuitt was having a career year and was arguably the best player on the team through the first five weeks of the sesaon – earning 22 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 6 tackles for a loss, and 7 quarterback hits before suffering the injury early in Week 6 against the Chargers.

Though I obviously would have loved to retain Javon Hargrave this offseason, it was completely unreasonable to expect the Steelers to do so with his high asking price. Hargrave was a quality rotational piece along Pittsburgh’s defensive line, but Stephon Tuitt has proven to be a more valuable asset. His return should more than makeup for the loss of Hargrave this offseason.