Steelers Now
The entire nation is preparing to watch Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. Do you think the Pittsburgh Steelers brass will be watching? You bet, but not for the reasons the average football fanatic will be. With free agency on the horizon, the front office is busy scouting possible additions to assist them in their pursuit of playing in this game next February. These are clearly two of the best rosters in the entire league, so surely there is someone that Pittsburgh could poach in the spring, right? That’s true. The most intriguing name to keep an eye on is Philly defensive tackle Milton Williams.
A breakout season in the final year of your rookie contract is music to an agents ears and Williams play in 2024 has positioned him for a date with a hefty bag of cash. He’s registered career highs on critical categories such as sacks (5), pressures (40) and pass rush win-rate (17.7%) according to PFF. While the depth along the Eagles defensive line certainly helps keep him fresh, it also suppresses his box score numbers from being even more gaudy. Seeing how productive he’s been during his fourth year as a pro, it will leave NFL teams wondering just how much more havoc he could cause if even more work was put on his plate.
He’s not the biggest dude, nor the longest but when you pop on the film, it doesn’t take long to figure out how he’s so disruptive. What Williams lacks in measurables, he more than makes it up for it with explosiveness. His quick first step matches his absurd testing numbers and can cross face in a blur but where he’s really grown has been his advanced hand usage. His hands are both powerful and swift and whether it’s been two hand swipes or swim moves, they’ve been difficult for opposing blockers to match all year long. He’ll also occasionally catch blockers off guard with good hand placement inside and use his natural leverage to walk them back into the pocket.
Eagles DT Milton Williams abusing Chris Lindstrom with a two hand swipe for a quick sack. pic.twitter.com/L4FOiq0mQ4
— Derrick (@Steelers_DB) February 7, 2025
While defending the run isn’t his specialty, he’s far from a dud in this regard. In defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s system, Williams is tasked with a difficult assignment up front, often aligning in a 2i up front to allow them to maintain their light box philosophy despite being listed just 290 pounds. As crazy as it seems, his skill set would actually flourish moreso with increased reps as a true penetrating 3-tech, allowing him to really tee off into the backfield instead of playing more gap-and-a-half in the trenches.
Last season, they fielded the leagues most expensive defense and by now, we all know that the Steelers ideology is to build the team with that mindset in tact. Whether they should still be fully buying into that doctrine is...
