Pro Football Focus recently labeled T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward as the best defensive line pairing in the NFL. Here’s why the Steelers duo is so elite.
The Steelers offense may have a lot of work to do in 2021, but at least the team can take comfort knowing that they have some excellent returning pieces on defense. Though Pittsburgh was forced to let players like Bud Dupree, Mike Hilton, and Steven Nelson hit the road this offseason, there is plenty of reason to believe this will be a dominant unit once again this year.
Minkah Fitzpatrick is a force on the back end of the defense and, considering his age and two-time All-Pro status, he might be the most valuable safety in the NFL today. In addition, the team is looking for former 10th overall pick Devin Bush to make a big jump in year three after tearing his ACL early last season. However, the strength of the Steelers is clearly on the defensive line.
Recently, Pro Football Focus shared a tweet naming T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward as the top defensive line duo in the NFL. Watt finished the 2020 season as the 2nd ranked edge defender in the NFL, while Heyward ranked 3rd among all interior defensive linemen.
Cameron Heyward + T.J. Watt: the NFL's top DL duo 😤💪 pic.twitter.com/4VSQxINrCp
— PFF (@PFF) May 25, 2021
Steelers DL deserves to be recognized
While the Steelers have a few other impressive positional groups, none comes close to amassing the talent they have on their defensive line. T.J. Watt earned his second straight first-team All-Pro honors in 2020 after being one of the top Defensive Player of the Year candidates in both 2019 and 2020. At 26 years old, Watt hasn’t even reached his NFL prime yet.
Heyward, on the other hand, is now 32 years old, but you wouldn’t know it with the way he continues to play on the football field. Though an eventual decline in play is inevitable, the veteran defensive lineman has had all 4 of his Pro Bowl seasons and both of his All-Pro seasons come at the age of 28 or older, and there should be a few more very good years left in the tank.
Though Pro Football Focus only ranked the top defensive line duo, the Steelers have a few more players worthy of recognition. Stephon Tuitt might be the most underrated player on the team. Finally healthy for 15 games in 2020, he earned 11.0 sacks, 10 tackles for a loss, and a whopping 25 quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Reference. Yet, nobody seems to be talking about him as one of the best interior defenders in the league.
Pittsburgh also has some quality veteran role players on their defensive line in Tyson Alualu and Chris Wormley. Alualu had graded out as the 9th-best interior defender last year (although he played just 44 percent of defensive snaps), while Wormley proved to be a quality asset as a rotational run defender. Even rookie edge rusher Alex Highsmith really impressed during his first NFL season.
T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward deserve credit for their dominance in 2020, but the truth is that this is just an incredible unit all around and should be the strength of the Pittsburgh Steelers again in 2021.