Steelers Now
Welcome to Steelers Morning Rush, our new daily short-form podcast with Alan Saunders, giving a longer perspective on a single news topic surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers or the National Football League. Today, it’s whether the team needs to find a way to move Keeanu Benton from the nose tackle position.
The Steelers have traditionally played a 3-4 defensive front, but their focus on the nose tackle position has been waning in recent years. With the team playing its 4-2-5 Nickel as a base defense, the Okie 3-4 has become a bit of a niche sub package, and even in games where it is used, Mike Tomlin’s defense has taken steps to make it harder to double team the man on the nose.
The primary focus of acquiring players for the defensive line has been getting three-technique players for the most-used Nickel and Dime front, and just playing three of those players together when they go to the 3-4.
So when Omar Khan looks to add to the defensive line group this offseason, will a true nose tackle be a priority? Alan breaks it down.
