Steelers Land Two on ESPN’s Top 10 Interior Defensive Linemen List

[Steeler Nation]

This week, ESPN released an article displaying their top 10 interior defensive linemen rankings. These rankings are based on the league executives, coaches, scouts, and players that they had assist with their rankings. This is a list that includes over 50 people overall with a say in these rankings.

Based on the results that ESPN reported, both Pittsburgh Steelers defensive linemen, Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt ended up in the top 10 for this list.

Heyward came in fourth in the rankings, with only Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, and DeForest Buckner being ranked ahead of the 2-time First-Team All-Pro. His ranking was also rather consistent, with him being ranked as high as second on one person’s list with no one in the group having him lower than 11th.






In the article, Jeremy Fowler included a write-up for Heyward which included some quotations from some of the people that took part:

Heyward isn’t in the top five for everyone, but he rarely falls past No.7 on the ballots. One of the league’s most consistent performers inside is still playing at a high level. The only real knock is he might have missed a few sacks (four on the year, down from an 8.5 average the previous two seasons).

But his 21 incompletions created is the third-best mark on this list, using his length (34.25-inch arms) and power to penetrate the line.

“Steady, consistent, productive, technician,” an AFC scout said. “Once he gets those long arms in your chest, he can push you back.”

Added an NFC exec: “He really came on late in the year. For that stretch he was back to doing what he does. … When you play Pittsburgh, he was the guy we said he had to stop. The reason why is you can’t block that joker inside.”

Somewhat surprisingly, Tuitt received one first place vote from someone as he ended up being ranked eighth. It isn’t surprising because he received a vote above of Heyward, as they’re both dominate, but the fact that someone didn’t have Donald first overall is interesting.

The three additional people between Heyward and Tuitt were Fletcher Cox, Jeffery Simmons, and Leonard Williams.

Also, some questionable decisions were made as at least one person had Tuitt unranked.






Below is Folwer’s write-up on Tuitt, which similar to Heyward’s, had some quotations from people who took part:

Tuitt broke out in his seventh season with 12 sacks, two forced fumbles and 25 quarterback hits.

“Incredibly gifted player,” an NFL scout said. “Comes and goes, but when he’s on, he’s a massive problem.”

That problem manifests in defensive attention. Tuitt demanded 187 fouble teams on pass rushes (sixth most in the league) despite playing alongside stars Heyward, T.J. Watt, and Bud Dupree.

“Take away the injuries and inconsistencies from past years and he’s top-five, easily,” an AFC exec said. “[Heyward] has been that guy on the [Steelers] D-line for a while, but it kind of started to flip this year where Tuitt got some of the attention.

The Steelers are definitely going to need both Heyward and Tuitt to play like top 10 players in 2021, as their defense has some high standards that they are going to have to live up to if the team is going to achieve their ultimate goal of a seventh Super Bowl victory.



Comment below your thoughts on where Heyward and Tuitt should be ranked!

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