Steelers linebacking great Jack Ham said there were two big reasons why he was named to both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
"Mike Reid," said Ham, "and Joe Greene."
Stud defensive tackles. And Ham would no doubt name the other Penn State defensive tackle, Steve Smear, and the other Steelers defensive tackle, Ernie Holmes, if asked to list more reasons.
"If you're getting offensive linemen in your lap," Ham said, "you're not going to make many plays at all."
Tell that to Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen. The Steelers' inside linebackers struggled against the run last season as the Steelers ranked 13th in allowing 113.1 rushing yards per game and 15th in allowing 4.3 yards per carry.
Was it the linebackers? Or the interior of the defensive line?
Make the call yourself, but two of the best inside linebackers in this draft took Ham's approach to answering questions about the keys to their succes.
Ohio State's Sonny Styles, ranked fifth overall in this draft by analyst Daniel Jeremiah, said this about his nose tackle:
"Kayden McDonald's a monster. I think whatever team drafts him is getting a great player," Styles said. "He's going to make a defense coordinator really happy."
Did he make the inside linebacker happy?
"Yes, sir," Styles said. "Definitely."
Texas Tech ILB Jacob Rodriguez won every major college award available to a defensive player, except the Heisman Trophy. But he did garner 17 first-place Heisman votes and finished fifth, the only LB in the top 10. He was asked what having a massive and skilled nose tackle in front of him has meant to his game.
"He's everything," Rodriguez said of Lee Hunter. "He's big and he's really fast, and so it makes it easy as a linebacker playing behind him because he'll play his gap. ... And so it makes it really easy to do my job, and makes it really fun.
"That being said," Rodriguez added, "I have to get him right sometimes. He's a wild guy."
Lee Hunter of Texas Tech at the Senior Bowl (Photo: Vasha Hunt, USA TODAY Sports)
Hunter and McDonald are Jeremiah's top two interior defensive linemen, ranking 27th and 35th, respectively. That their respect inside linebackers, Styles and Rodriguez, are so highly regarded is probably not a coincidence.
Of course, the Steelers have a gaping need at wide receiver, while they're also hungry to find their next young franchise quarterback, otherwise known to general manager Omar Khan as "the next 10 to 15-year guy."
Quarterbacks and receivers report later in the week, but Tuesday -- the first day of media interviews at the NFL Combine -- was all about linebackers and defensive linemen. And judging by the Steelers' mediocre statistics and continued poor run-stop showings against rival Baltimore, linebackers and defensive linemen are the storyline.
The Steelers have never drafted defensive linemen in the first rounds of back-to-back drafts. But in Khan's first three drafts as GM, he's drafted DT Derrick Harmon (2025), OT Troy Fautanu (2024), and OT Broderick Jones (2023) in the first round, and C Zach Frazier (2024) and DT Keeanu Benton (2023) in the second round.
Might Khan be expected to veer away from "the trenches" in this draft?
"I'm gonna stand here and say yes," Khan said Monday. "But I just know when I get closer to the draft and we see some of those positions and trenches and some good players, that we're probably not going to shy away from good players."
Hunter and McDonald are clearly "good players" who would help the Steelers. While they've received outstanding pass-rush from Benton as a nose tackle, he's not the Joe Greene-Joel Steed-Casey Hampton Super Bowl-level run defender at a position that anchors their 3-4 scheme.
Hunter, listed at 6-4, 330, is sometimes called "The Fridge." Other times, per Rodriguez, he's "a wild guy."
Hunter doesn't disagree.
"I'm crazy," he said. "I like to talk a lot of trash. So, Jacob, he's one of the guys who got to come around and calm me down."
Hunter, who'll turn 24 in July, was born in Mobile, Alabama, and left Auburn after his redshirt freshman season because the coaching staff treated players "like dogs." He went to Central Florida and played three seasons before playing last season at Texas Tech. He was a pillar of the Red Raiders' run to the national quarterfinals as Tech allowed only 70 rushing yards per game to lead the nation in run defense. Overall, Texas Tech was ranked third in overall team defense.
Rodriguez was the poster boy for the defense as the winner of the Nagurski, Butkus, Lombardi, and Bednarik awards. Edge-rusher David Bailey is the draft's No. 3 overall prospect, according to Jeremiah. Hunter was merely the man in the middle of all that success.
The Steelers haven't drafted a nose tackle in the first round since 2001, when they drafted Hampton with the 19th pick. Since then, the Steelers have fallen in with the league-wide trend of not drafting nose tackles in the first round.
Of course, the Philadelphia Eagles drafted defensive tackles 9th and 13th overall in 2022 and 2023 before winning the Super Bowl following the 2024 sesaon. The Steelers, in assistant GM and former Eagles scout Andy Weidl, have taken an Eagles-like approach to their trenches of late. The Steelers met with Hunter as soon as they arrived in Indianapolis.
Are nose tackles back in first-round vogue?
"I guess it will be this year," Hunter said. "I know it'll be this year."
Hunter won't have his measurements taken until Thursday, but at his listed size of 6-4, 330 he appears to be a clone of the Steelers' first-round pick last year, Harmon. Hunter appears to be more fun-loving.
Crazier.
"High energy," was Hunter's self-analysis. "I'm a football player. You're gonna love me in the locker room. You're gonna feel my presence. And you gonna drop in on me daily."
Has Rodriguez expressed his gratitude to the big nose tackle?
"Yeah. He tells me that all the time," Hunter said. "That's why he got to cool me down when I'm talking trash on the field."
McDonald might a lower on Jeremiah's current board, but as a 20-year-old (21 on March 12) he's yet to reach his "grown-man strength."
"No one's gonna prepare more than me," said McDonald. "My work ethic speaks for itself, and you can go ask my coaches to turn on the film."
Listed at 6-3, 326, McDonale has shown less pass-rush potential than Hunter, but with youth on his side the potential is there.
A native of Suwanee, Ga., McDonald long ago befriended Connor Heyward, and then got to know fellow Ohio State alum Cam Heyward.
"We have a great relationship, their family, my family, and the Steelers," McDonald said. "It's a great opportunity. I had a formal interview with them, and I felt really good about it."
McDonald was a four-star recruit and chose Ohio State over 35 other offers. He was a starter on the 2024 national championship team and last year was named Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year with 65 tackles, 9 tackles-for-loss, and 3 sacks. Pro Football Focus has him ranked 21st overall this year. Mel Kiper has him going to the Chicago Bears at pick 25. Jeremiah, again, has McDonald ranked No. 35. The Steelers are slotted to pick 21st.
"I believe I'm the best defensive tackle in this draft class," McDonald said. "I really pride myself on being consistent, competitive, holding my teammates accountable, and I put it all together working on my diet and just staying consistent."
His greatest attribute?
"Using my violent hands," he said. "Just playing with power every play. I pride myself on my motor, playing the hardest. When you turn on the tape, you watch four quarters, there's nobody that plays more consistent than me."
The last time McDonald visited Pittsburgh, he was in town to watch the Heyward brothers and his friend Jack Sawyer clinch the division title against the Ravens. Of course, McDonald saw the Steelers allow over 5 yards per carry to the Ravens for the sixth consecutive time.
"I welcome double-teams," McDonald said. "I command double-teams. And I'm gonna free up the linebackers. Whoever decides to get me, that's what you're gonna get."
Ohio State nose tackle Kayden McDonald loses his helmet while making a tackle (Photo: Samantha Madar, USA TODAY Sports)