6 free agent defensive lineman Steelers can sign for depth
By Andrew Falce
The Steelers were reportedly looking for some defensive line help at the trade deadline, so here are six free agents that could boost the teams’ line play.
Shortly after the Steelers dealt Melvin Ingram to the Chiefs, a report surfaced that the team was interested in adding some defensive line depth via a trade. While nothing ultimately surfaced, the NFL free agency pool is rich in line help right now. It wasn’t clear what position the team was looking for, but there are a handful of quality names that could play nose tackle, defensive end, and even edge rusher. Here are six free-agent defensive linemen that Pittsburgh should target since they missed out on trading for some depth.
Steelers could sign John Simon
A name that has made too much sense for too long, veteran edge rusher John Simon is currently sitting on the Titans practice squad and would make a great addition to the edge depth chart. The Steelers lost their veteran presence to the Chiefs, and while Simon isn’t nearly as good of a player as Ingram is, he can still serve as a functional defender.
More importantly, he is still a willing special teams player. Despite him getting older, Simon is still willing to run down kicks and punts while serving as depth on defense. This means that he can still provide value to the team even if he isn’t getting a surplus of snaps on defense. Edge rusher is suddenly one of the teams’ shallowest positions but adding a savvy veteran like Simon would remedy that.