The Pittsburgh Steelers recently signed a productive defensive tackle. Here are the players he immediately jumps ahead of on the depth chart.
Steeler nation seemed to be very pleased when Pittsburgh brought in free agent defensive tackle, Larry Ogunjobi. Just hours after he met with the staff at the facility, Ogunjobi put pen to paper and signed a one-year contract with the Steelers.
This wasn’t your typical depth signing. The former third-round pick was a big part of a successful Bengals defensive line last season as Ogunjobi recorded 7.0 sacks, 12 tackles for a loss, and 16 QB hits. Now that he is officially signed, here are three players he immediately leapfrogs on Pittsburgh’s depth chart:
Steelers DT Montravius Adams
If you were to only look at the stat sheet, you would have never guessed that Montravius Adams started 4 of 5 games for the Steelers late in the season. Adams recorded just 8 combined tackles to go with 0.0 sacks and 1 tackle for a loss.
Still, the tape wasn’t all that bad, and I was pleased when Pittsburgh signed the veteran DT to a deal after his contract expired this offseason. However, there’s no doubt in my mind that Adams just dropped on the depth chart.
Like Ogunjobi, Adams is better at creating pressure on interior rushes than stopping the run. Ogunjobi just happens to be a much better, more productive version of this player. He immediately leapfrogs Adams on the Steelers depth chart.
Steelers DT Tyson Alualu
This one is a little bit tricky because I don’t think that Larry Ogunjobi and Tyson Alualu are going to play the same exact role on defense. I do, however, believe that Ogunjobi will out snap Alualu pretty easily by the end of the season.
As soon as the move happened, ESPN moved Ogunjobi ahead of Alualu on the depth chart at nose tackle. I’m not convinced that this is a position the newcomer is going to play, as his forte is getting after the quarterback from the inside on passing downs.
Even if Alualu still gets the nod in base defense, the Steelers play much more nickel and dime than ever before, and Ogunjobi is going to prove to be the better option when it comes to creating quick pressure and knifing into the backfield.
At 35 years old and coming off a season-ending ankle injury, we can’t expect Alualu to be the same football player he was a few years ago. Father time is catching up with him, and he’s not going to have the same explosiveness he did back then. I think it will be pretty evident early on that Ogunjobi has leapfrogged Alualu in terms of playing time.
Steelers DT Carlos Davis
Larry Ogunjobi not only blew past Carlos Davis on the depth chart with his signing, he also might have pushed him off the roster altogether. The addition of Ogunjobi gives the Steelers essentially four players who more or less play the same position, and one of them is going to go.
Davis has a similar size and athletic profile to Ogunjobi. While he flashed as a rookie, suffered a setback in 2021 when he landed on IR. Unfortunately, that may have been his best opportunity to prove his worth to the team.
As a former seventh-round draft choice in 2020, the Steelers won’t be as tied to Davis as they are to some of the other defensive linemen who are bigger draft or financial investments. If the Steelers elect to keep an additional interior defender on the roster this year, it’s possible that Davis could stick around. However, there’s no question that he has already been leapfrogged on the depth chart by Larry Ogunjobi.
The addition of Ogunjobi certainly mixes things up on the defensive line, and I’ll be interested to see how snap counts are divvied up this year. Assuming he stays healthy and the foot is not an issue, I would expect Ogunjobi to earn more snaps than any interior defender not named Cameron Heyward this year.