Lost in many conversations about the future of the Steelers is the youth of their defense. Outside of Cam Heyward, Vince Williams, Joe Haden and the newly acquired Jon Bostic and Morgan Burnett, the Steelers' defenders are 25 or younger.
While the defense did fall apart in the playoff loss to the Jaguars, there were still many merits to a unit that ranked within the best of 2017 NFL defenses in several categories.
Dale Lolley pointed out this weekend that the team doesn't necessarily need the world's greatest defense to win a Super Bowl with this current roster. Dale's point was correct in that the Steelers of the mid-2000s who won two Super Bowls were extremely talented on defense, but lacked a superstar cast across the board on offense.
A decade later, the Steelers are in the reverse situation with a superstar offense and a defense that is trying to rebuild its way to being a dominant force. While Dale was correct that the Steelers don't need a stellar defense with their current assortment of offensive stars, I still wonder if the possibility of having such a defense is outside the grasp of this team's future.
Cam Heyward is the defense's most dominant presence right now, but the future could very well belong to Stephon Tuitt.
Tuitt missed several games in 2017 due to injury and only got to show flashes of what the team expected of his ability. But make no mistake, his disappointing three-sack total was not because he lacks the talent to be dominant at his position. We go to his 2017 film to show why the Steelers should absolutely be looking at Tuitt to have a better year in 2018:
One thing that Tuitt shows when he's at his best is how quick he is off the ball. His strength may be his best attribute, but there are times he doesn't even have to exert it because he beats opponents to their spot. Here he is when he returned from his early season injury to play the Chiefs. Watch how he lines up on the outside shoulder of the guard, but is able to burst through the A-gap in order to force a hurried throw from Alex Smith:
That is a good first part to the puzzle the Steelers need put together by Tuitt, but the other part is an aspect of the game that's directly in his wheelhouse: his ability to completely overpower offensive linemen.
Tuitt has the raw strength to move players that need to be moved, but it takes time to learn how and when to apply it at the NFL level. Heyward is a perfect example of this as he's dominating the NFL as a 3-4 defensive end, but early in his career he couldn't consistently be a force at the point of attack.
Heyward didn't just get stronger over time, he learned from his experiences and developed smarter ways to apply his strength. At times, Tuitt's pure strength is put on display when he gets those one-on-one matchups and squares up with his man.
Watch how he bench presses Jack Conklin, the eighth overall pick of the 2016 NFL draft and All-Pro tackle, in order to get to Marcus Mariota. The Steelers drew up a twist between Tuitt and Bud Dupree, getting Tuitt the look on the edge. Tuitt sees Conklin in his way and just shoves him backwards to clear the space he needs to bring down Mariota:
Most players who have that kind of raw strength don't see the need to take care of the little details, like working on being aware of how they might be attacked by an offense. But that's not a trap Tuitt often falls into, as he almost always has his head up and on a swivel to look for oncoming problems.
Here he is in the first play of the season against the Browns, performing a perfectly timed swim on an attempted switch between the Browns' right tackle and guard. Shon Coleman sits at right tackle and tries to surprise Tuitt by coming over from a different gap in order to spring Kevin Zeitler as a pulling lead blocker for the run. Tuitt swims through Coleman and maintains his gap to force a huge loss on the Browns:
Of course, that was the play when Tuitt was lost for multiple weeks due to injury. The Steelers didn't see the jump in his career that was expected in 2017, but he showed he still has the makings of what helped Heyward develop into a star.
Watch how he completely divides a double team against the Colts by using one arm to shove the tackle off his spot, and the other to keep the guard at a distance so he can sack Jacoby Brissett:
If Tuitt can stay healthy in 2018, that raw strength will be coupled with the experience of a smart young player who will be turning 25 in just a couple weeks. Having two 3-4 defensive ends getting double-digit sacks could be the defensive game-changer.
