At times during the 2025 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were as stout as any NFL team in defending the run.
In Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts the Steelers shut down then-MVP candidate Jonathan Taylor. They also shut down the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions’ rushing attacks in Weeks 15 and 16, showing their potential.
But too often the Steelers were leaky against the run. That included a thorough beatdown by the Buffalo Bills in Week 13, and then a 164-yard outing in their AFC Wild Card loss to the Houston Texans.
While there has been a major emphasis on rebuilding the secondary and a ton of attention on addressing wide receiver, offensive line and — of course — the quarterback position this offseason, the run defense as a concern has flown under the radar.
For Steelers.com editor Bob Labriola though, that run defense isn’t a concern because of the expected growth from second-year defensive linemen Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black and the addition of veteran Sebastian Joseph-Day.
In his latest Asked and Answered mailbag, Labriola pushed back on concern about the Steelers’ run defense.
“To that end, I’m anticipating some significant improvement from the two interior defensive linemen the Steelers drafted in 2025 – Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black – and the team signed veteran free agent Sebastian Joseph-Day, who comes here with a reputation for solid play vs. the run as evidenced by his 32 solo tackles in 2025,” Labriola writes. “Add to this group the holdover veterans like Cam Heyward and Keeanu Benton, and I am optimistic that the Steelers will be able to hold their own vs. the running game in 2026.”
Last season, the Steelers allowed 113.1 rushing yards per game, ranking 13th. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as maybe some of the bad games made things appear. In the end, the Steelers were right around average in stopping the run.
With Harmon in the lineup, the Steelers were a dominant run defense. That’s what they were expecting when they drafted Harmon No. 21 overall out of Oregon. But when he missed time due to knee injuries, the run defense struggled to stop anything.
Of course, it’s not that easy to boil things down to Harmon’s presence, but when he’s in the lineup the defense is deeper up front, allowing Black to play a rotational role and keeping Keeanu Benton and Cameron Heyward fresher later into games due to playing less snaps.
With the presence of Joseph-Day up front now, too, the Steelers are very deep in the trenches. That should bode well in their effort to stop the run better in 2026 under new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
Stopping the run better this season should put opposing offenses in longer second- and third-down situations, which should create better opportunities for splash plays defensively. If that happens, the defense could play to its potential based on how much money is invested on that side of the football.
It all comes back to stopping the run in the end.
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