When Dale Lolley broke the story that the Steelers were considering switching the sides of outside linebackers Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt, it opened a lot of ideas on how to solve their problems on defense. We go through the reasoning to examine whether the reasons make sense and how they could impact the Steelers' 2018 campaign:
One of the biggest reasons that Dupree has been a disappointment for the Steelers has been his lack of production in the pass rush. He tested extremely well in his scouting combine and jumped up the rankings of pass rushers in his 2015 draft class. While Dupree was the third-highest drafted outside linebacker in his draft, he currently has the sixth-most sacks of any player in that class.
But from watching his 14.5 career sacks in the NFL, most of Dupree's biggest plays on the quarterback share a similar formula. Dupree's explosiveness and ability to work in space are what put him on everyone's radar in his days at Kentucky, but it was well understood he needed to develop how he incorporated his hands into his pass rush. So the best way to work around those problems was to get Dupree away from moments he had to work with his hands and into more opportunities to use his legs.
Here's one of Dupree's six sacks from 2017 that fits the bill for how almost all of his sacks have developed. As the left side outside linebacker, Dupree regularly gets paired up with Stephon Tuitt, the Steelers' left defensive end. Here's a play where Tuitt completely dominated his gap and opened the door for Dupree to stunt into A-gap and sack Joe Flacco:
Dupree is best when he's able to use that explosiveness and closing speed without having to fight through opposing offensive linemen. Those types of skills are more natural football techniques that are learned over time and developed by the better players in the NFL. Dupree still hasn't developed those skills, as evidenced in how he produces in the pass rush and struggles against the run.
As a simple example, here's a moment when he gets easily sealed by a tight end at the point of attack and where the Ravens run around his side:
Left outside linebackers are often on the strong side of the offense and have a specific job to take on the brunt of an offense's run game. Those are the kinds of skills that Dupree does not show regularly, so there may be benefits to moving him away from that position and into another spot where he can succeed. Sometimes that may be on the opposite end of the run, where Watt often has the duty of backside pursuit.
Take this play from the same game when Watt's job was to close down on the weak side of the Ravens' offense and make a tackle in space against Alex Collins:
This is the exact kind of situation the Steelers should want to get Dupree in, because it's in these moments when he can simply work in space and worry less about having to fight with his hands to establish and maintain the strong side of the defense. The other added benefit is that by switching Dupree and Watt, Dupree gets paired up with the stronger of the Steelers' starting defensive ends.
Of course, that end is Cam Heyward, who recorded 12 sacks for the Steelers as a 3-4 defensive end, and has regularly been their best defensive lineman for several years now. Heyward is an elite defender as an interior pass rusher and a run stopper who can change the line of scrimmage by pushing past offensive linemen and driving offensive linemen into the backfield:
That kind of push comes from Heyward more often than Tuitt, as he often drives his opponents backward and then sheds them, while Tuitt works better with finesse-style pass rush moves that do more to work around defenders than to drive them backwards. Even on the above play, you can see the difference between the two, as Heyward drives his man backwards, while Tuitt uses a rip move to work around his lineman.
Tuitt didn't have that role every play, as you saw in the earlier Dupree sack we highlighted. But it is an example of how their preferred styles of attacking an offense work. Dupree benefits from opportunities created when space is made by other defenders who can drive offensive linemen backwards.
Watt is still developing his techniques to work around linemen, but he's not afraid to use his hands and upper body to win leverage battles. That's more of what the Steelers need from a strong side linebacker as he could be the force that turns back runs by dominating his gaps.
Here's an example when he won one of those gap battles with Chiefs' tackle Eric Fisher, first overall pick of the 2013 NFL draft. Watt is quick off the ball and gets inside Fisher's gap, but he finishes by following through with his arms to completely shed Fisher and get after Kareem Hunt:
Though Watt doesn't finish the play, this is an example of where he can be useful in attacking the run. Coming into this season, we knew that Watt had a lot to learn on the form and techniques of pass rushers in the NFL. Watt did not, however, shy from using his hands at any point in his career like Dupree.
The last piece that shows the theory behind this move is coverage. Both Dale and I have discussed how the Steelers have increasingly used their outside linebackers as cover men instead of solely pass rushers and run stoppers in recent years. Both Watt and Dupree fit the athletic mold of what they're looking for, having the physical talents to perform the job and the natural football skills to fit into the game.
Dupree has shown the athleticism to drop back into space, but had problems in coverage because he had to apply that athleticism to football assignments. Watt, on the other hand, seems to be grasping some of those roles even as a rookie. While everyone remembers his interception at the start of the season, Watt had eight passes defensed on the year and some of them showed that he had a solid understanding of how to operate when he dropped back into space.
Here's a play when Watt shows that by lining up as a pass rusher and not only getting back into his coverage assignment, but simultaneously making a play on the ball to deflect the pass:
By flipping Watt over to Dupree's side, that strong side of the offense is also often where tight ends line up and require a linebacker to work in coverage. Watt also would be the player who would check and bump tight ends on the line of scrimmage before they run their routes, tight ends like Rob Gronkowski, who tore up the Steelers in the fourth quarter of their loss against the Patriots.
While all of this is just theory, the tape does show that the idea isn't some random dart thrown at a board to look for success. The Steelers do have the athletes to compete defensively, as was seen in 2017 when they led the NFL in sacks, ranked 10th against the run, 5th against the pass, 7th in total yards and 5th in points allowed.
But there is certainly some tweaking that could benefit the group and find ways to maximize their roster's skill sets. While some may wonder why Keith Butler didn't try this during the season, it's important to note that flipping the two involves changing not just assignments, but communication requirements and developing chemistry between players.
While the Steelers did a lot of experimenting on defense after Ryan Shazier's injury, forcing two younger players to change their roles when they're still learning the ones they have is a big risk that would require more time to learn than the few days of practice the Steelers had between games as they were making their playoff push.
This move probably won't end up turning the Steelers' outside linebacker group into an elite dynamic duo that terrorizes everyone in the NFL, but it will possibly allow them to fit into roles more natural to what they can do and eliminate liabilities in the Steelers' scheme moving forward.
