This is terribly overdue, but the craziness of January, including Mike Tomlin’s resignation and Pittsburgh’s head coaching search, delayed my annual defensive charting breakdown. It’ll be useful in comparing these numbers to what the new coaching staff implements.
So, without further ado, here’s the Steelers’ 2025 regular-season defensive charting based on our weekly work throughout the season.
This is out of 1,122 non “no-play” regular-season snaps.
2025: 1,122 snaps (66.0 per game)2024: 1,041 snaps (61.2 per game)2023: 1,136 snaps (66.8 per game)2022: 1,012 snaps (59.5 per game)2021: 1,108 snaps (65.2 per game)
2020: 992 snaps (62 per game)2019: 1,067 snaps (66.7 per game)
2018: 1,021 snaps (63.8 per game)
2017: 979 snaps (61.2 per game)
2016: 1,040 snaps (65.0 per game)
2015: 1,102 snaps (68.9 per game)
Pittsburgh’s defensive snap count tangibly rose in 2025, averaging about five more snaps per game. Since the NFL moved to 17 games in 2021, only the 2023 season had the group on the field more.
– Here’s the breakdown by broad personnel grouping:
Nickel: 586 snaps (52.2 percent)
3-4: 326 snaps (29.1 percent)
2-5: 55 snaps (4.9 percent)
3-3-5: 46 snaps (4.1 percent)
4-4: 39 snaps (3.5 percent)
1-5-5: 37 snaps (3.3 percent)
3-5: 19 snaps (1.7 percent)
2-4: 14 snaps (1.2 percent)
Dime: 0 snaps (0 percent)
Nickel is still the clear leader here, but the team had plenty of personnel wrinkles along the way. Most notable is that Pittsburgh used dime defense on zero snaps in 2025, never putting six defensive backs on the field at once. Instead, the team used nickel with two inside linebackers on the field.
In comparison, Pittsburgh used dime on 125 snaps in 2024 and 250 snaps in 2023.
Here’s the specific breakdown by grouping:
Nickel: 580 snaps
3-4: 315 snaps
2-5 Big: 48 snaps
3-3-5: 44 snaps
4-4: 39 snaps
1-5-5: 36 snaps
3-5: 19 snaps
2-4 Small: 13 snaps
3-4 Over: 11 snaps
2-5: 6 snaps
Big Nickel: 5 snaps
3-3-5 Over: 2 snaps
Ten Men On Field: 2 snaps
2-4: 1 snap
2-5 Small: 1 snap
2-5 “big” was with three inside linebackers, and 2-4 and 2-5 “small” had three outside linebackers. The “over” designations meant the d-line shifted strongside, and “Big Nickel” is with three safeties instead of three cornerbacks.
In total, here are the sub versus base breakdowns. Both snaps with ten men were supposed to be sub and will be counted as such for the tally below.
Sub: 683 snaps (60.9 percent)
Base: 439 snaps (39.1 percent)
Last year, the Steelers were in sub-packages 73.3 percent of the time and in base 26.7 percent. A pretty swing back to base.
Here’s the yearly breakdown.
2024:
Sub: 73.3 percent
Base: 26.7
2023:
Sub: 59.4 percent
Base: 40.3 percent
2022:
Sub: 68.2 percent
Base: 31.8 percent
2021:
Sub: 64.4 percentBase: 35.6 percent
2020:
Sub: 60.1 percent
Base: 39.9 percent
2019:
Sub: 68.5 percent
Base: 31.3 percent
2018:
Sub: 68.4 percent
Base: 31 percent
2017:
Sub: 61.1 percent
Base: 38.8 percent
2016:
Sub: 70.5 percent
Base: 28.7 percent
2015:
Sub: 71.3 percent
Base: 27.4 percent
– Pittsburgh’s final blitz rate was 35.2 percent, a noticeable increase from 2024’s 29.0 percent. Here’s the yearly tally:
2014: 28 percent
2015: 33.3 percent
2016: 39.7 percent
2017: 33.2 percent
2018: 44.1 percent
2019: 33.5 percent
2020: 35.6 percent
2021: 26.1 percent
2022: 27.9 percent
2023: 31.2 percent
2024: 29.0 percent
2025: 35.2 percent
It’s the team’s highest blitz rate since 2020.
– Similarly, Pittsburgh sent five or more rushers 30.0 percent of the time. That’s up from 26.5 percent in 2024. Here’s the history:
2015: 33.6 percent
2016: 27.7 percent
2017: 19.5 percent
2018: 36.0 percent
2019: 34.3 percent
2020: 38.9 percent
2021: 22.7 percent
2022: 28.2 percent
2023: 30.0 percent
2024: 26.5 percent
2025: 30.0 percent
What’s notable here is the 5-percent gap between blitzing and five-man rushes. Pittsburgh used lots more four-man blitzes (with blitzer defined as someone rushing the passer who isn’t a down lineman or aligned as an EDGE rusher) than in past years.
We’ll see how these numbers look and shift under a new coaching staff.
Defensive Line
Pressures
Cam Heyward: 21
Keeanu Benton: 19
Derrick Harmon: 15
Esezi Otomewo: 6
Yahya Black: 5
Daniel Ekuale: 3
Logan Lee: 2
Snaps per pressure. The lower the number, the better.
Logan Lee: 11.5
Daniel Ekuale: 13.7
Esezi Otomewo: 15.3
Derrick Harmon: 17.5
Keeanu Benton: 22.5
Cam Heyward: 23.0
Yahya Black: 40.8
In 2024, Heyward sat at 12.9. His number worsened by nearly double. Benton hit 20.3 in 2024, slightly decreasing in 2025. Lee and Ekuale have good numbers but small sample sizes, under 50 rushes apiece. Otomewo had fewer than 100 but showed some pass-rushing chops. Black predictably finishes last by a wide margin.
– Below are the yards-per-carry allowed when each player is on the field. It’s still a broader number not fully representative of the player’s run defense, but to put some data to it. In parentheses is YPC when off the field.
Esezi Otomewo: 3.1 (4.4)
Derrick Harmon: 3.8 (4.4)
Logan Lee: 4.1 (4.2)
Cam Heyward: 4.1 (4.6)
Yahya Black: 4.3 (4.2)
Keeanu Benton: 4.3 (3.9)
Rookie Harmon has the best figure, which tracks with the team’s overall data. Last year, Heyward sat at 3.9, so this is a slight uptick. Benton was at 4.1 in 2025.
When Harmon and Heyward were off the field, the run defense suffered. When Benton was off it, the unit improved. Nice numbers for Otomewo, but the sample size is relatively small, on the field for just 60 designed runs. Lee’s sample size is even tinier.
Linebackers
Pressures
Nick Herbig: 41
T.J. Watt: 31
Alex Highsmith: 28
Patrick Queen: 18
Jack Sawyer: 10
Payton Wilson: 8
Malik Harrison: 3
Cole Holcomb: 1
Snaps per pressure. The lower the number, the better.
Patrick Queen: 4.8
Malik Harrison: 5.7
Nick Herbig: 8.2
Payton Wilson: 10.4
Alex Highsmith: 11.0
T.J. Watt: 14.1
Jack Sawyer: 15.1
Inside linebackers have strong numbers because they’re often on designed blitzes to free them up. Still, Queen’s number is impressive. Herbig dominates the EDGE rushers and posted the same 8.2 last year. He’s been excellent and consistent. Highsmith’s numbers dropped from last year (6.9), and Watt’s also lowered a bit (13.1).
Drop/coverage rates for each EDGE rusher:
T.J. Watt: 9.1 percent
Nick Herbig: 10.1 percent
Alex Highsmith: 15.8 percent
Jack Sawyer: 19.3 percent
Big increases here from 2024, when Watt dropped 4.8 percent and Highsmith 8.3 percent. Herbig’s number actually came down from 14.3 in 2024. Sawyer dropped almost 20 percent as a rookie. It coincides with Pittsburgh sending more four-man blitzes, as referenced above, which often asked the away-side EDGE to drop out.
For the ILBs, targets in the pass game.
Malik Harrison: 3/3 25 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
Cole Holcomb: 6/6 45 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
Payton Wilson: 16/21 94 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs
Patrick Queen: 17/29 238 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs
– Quarterback rating against. Calculating it only for Wilson and Queen because they have larger samples.
Payton Wilson: 60.5
Patrick Queen: 108.1
Wilson picking off two passes and Queen allowing two touchdowns was the difference here.
Secondary
Here are the total targets against each player, completions allowed, yards allowed, touchdowns allowed, and interceptions secured.
Asante Samuel Jr.: 8/11 98 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT
Juan Thornhill: 8/11 102 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
James Pierre: 6/20 44 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT
Chuck Clark: 16/24 203 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs
Darius Slay: 20/29 239 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs
Brandin Echols: 20/32 183 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Jalen Ramsey: 25/38 353 yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT
Joey Porter Jr.: 22/48 260 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT
Brandin Echols had two interceptions for the season, but the way we chart credits DL Cam Heyward for the pick in Week 3 against New England that Echols secured.
– Here is the QB rating when targeting each defensive back.
James Pierre: 18.8
Joey Porter Jr: 54.2
Brandin Echols: 88.4
Juan Thornhill: 101.3
Asante Samuel Jr.: 101.5
Darius Slay: 105.4
Chuck Clark: 120.7
Jalen Ramsey: 124.2
It’s easy to see why Pierre drew interest and signed with the Vikings. Porter had a strong showing as well. Ramsey had the worst mark thanks to the six touchdowns he gave up.
– As a rusher, Ramsey had five pressures on 22 blitzes.
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