Character. Position flexibility. Special teams ability.
Those were all catch phrases thrown about by no matter who the Steelers brought to the podium this weekend to talk about their 2019 NFL Draft class.
After a few years of tumultuous things happening both on and off the field, the Steelers made an obvious attempt to change things. It's not exactly "changing the culture," because the Steelers feel they have a good one.
The Steelers have made a habit in recent years of not only drafting young players early -- if they can -- but also guys who have a background in football.
This year's first-round pick, Devin Bush Jr., has a father who played in the NFL. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's the same as last year's first-round pick, Terrell Edmunds.
Two years ago, they took linebacker T.J. Watt in the first round. Watt has two older brothers who also are currently playing in the league. You can even go back to 2011 first-round draft pick Cameron Heyward to find those NFL bloodlines.
"In terms of football bloodlines, it's not that difficult. It's a genetic game," Mike Tomlin said when asked how tough it is to find those kind of players. "Particularly when you get to my age, when you get to know everyone's dad. But we do value the football character of it, the commitment to the game. The grit, if you will. And we feel really good about the grit displayed by a number of these guys.
"(Fourth-round pick) Benny Snell is a guy that really stands out in that regard. (He was) a guy that was really a central figure in a culture change in what went on at Kentucky, competing and winning in the SEC and what he was able to do down there."
This draft also represents a continued changing of the guard in terms of how this team will play moving forward.
There was a bit of a need at outside linebacker. And, in previous years, that might mean bringing in a 250-pound former college defensive end.
In this draft, the Steelers instead added a smaller player, Northern Illinois defensive end Sutton Smith, all 6-foot, 233 pounds of him, and are intent -- at least for now -- at playing him at outside linebacker.
Bush, at 5-foot-11, 234 pounds, likely would have been considered too small to play that spot just a few years ago.
Now, it's players such as this, who can run and cover in sub-package football, that are more valued than perhaps the guys who can play in the 3-4 base defense.
"I feel really good about the men that we selected," Tomlin said of his team's sub-packages. "It's not only these men, but the development about men already in our program, that makes us feel good about that overall subject."
That's where the league as a whole is trending.
The Steelers play in their nickel and dime packages defensively about 75 percent of the time. Calling the 3-4 their base defense is a misnomer. It's really their nickel defense, that is used about half the time, that is the base.
But playing so much in packages that used to be strictly used on passing downs also calls for players who can both cover and tackle. Otherwise, you get stuck subbing players in and out of the game based on situations -- hence the name sub-packages -- and tipping your hand defensively.
"The game is changing, the game is changing to a little bit quicker game," Keith Butler said. "People are keeping three wide receivers on the field a lot more than they used to. So, we have to adapt as a defense. Sometimes adapting to the defenses means you graduate to guys who can move."
So the Steelers selected just two players -- sixth-round pick Isaiah Buggs, a defensive tackle, and seventh-round offensive tackle Derwin Gray -- who were 300 pounders. Everyone else -- with the exception of fifth-round tight end Zach Gentry and third-round cornerback Justin Layne -- is a player who who might be considered undersized for their position a decade ago.
But those guys can do other things, such as help out on special teams.
"When you've got three sixes and a seven, you need to provide as many avenues as you can for those guys to make your team and impact your team," Tomlin said. "The offensive and defensive phase that they play is just an element of it."
It's an element of it. And the Steelers feel good about what they got accomplished with their nine draft picks this weekend.
"Yes, but we always do," Tomlin quipped.
Of course, if they can't play football at the NFL level, none of that character or position flexibility will matter.
But the Steelers don't feel that is the case.
We'll see if they're right about that. Coming off a 9-6-1 record that saw them miss the playoffs for the first time since 2013, this is a team that seems to think it's ready for more of a reset rather than a reload.
Of course, when you have a franchise quarterback, as the Steelers do in Ben Roethlisberger, who just signed a three-year extension, that had better be the thought process.
"When we look at the board, we always talk about kind of a Mendoza line where we think our players are going to come from," said Kevin Colbert. "These players all came from above that line. I think we've got good competition going into this."
