5 bold predictions for Pittsburgh Steelers defense in 2020

Carlos Davis carves out a role

To the surprise of most fans, rookie Carlos Davis finally unseated the long-time backup Daniel McCullers during training camp. While being a better player than McCullers doesn’t sound like much, given his late-round status and the fact there were no preseason games this year makes the fact that Davis made the roster even more promising for the young player. Given Tyson Alualu is also learning the position of NT, its possible that Davis could unseat him as the starter down the road.

Davis flashed a lot of positive traits while at Nebraska, but he also seemingly disappeared for stretches as well. One of the biggest questions was if he would be able to show up consistently at the NFL level as well as be conditioned enough to make it through a whole game. Since he has made the roster, the Steelers obviously see something in him that could have made him a target to be claimed by another team had they waived him. This is a positive sign to see so early in his career.

Now to be fair, Alualu isn’t going to lose his role on the team completely, but he could see some of his snaps transfer over to Davis as the year goes on. Davis has a better body to be a base NT, meaning he could unseat Alualu in more obvious running situations as he should be able to get better leverage. Alualu is far more developed as a pass rusher though, meaning Davis would likely only see snaps when the Steelers are expecting a run. If Davis can get on the field early, the Steelers may have found a gem late in the draft.