This is the second in a series on the Steelers' roster as the team prepares to report to training camp at Saint Vincent College July 23. Today: The defensive line
Defensive Linemen: Cam Heyward, Keeanu Benton, Dean Lowry, Isaiahh Loudermilk, DeMarvin Leal, Logan Lee, Derrick Harmon, Yahya Black, Daniel Ekuale, Esezi Otomewo, Jacob Slade, Domenique Davis
After being gouged for nearly 300 yards rushing in their 28-14 playoff loss to the Ravens, the Steelers went into the 2025 offseason looking to retool their defensive front.
Daniel Ekuale was added in free agency along with Esezi Otomewo, while the draft brought first-round pick Derrick Harmon and fifth-round selection Yahya Black.
The idea is creating a defensive line rotation that not only takes advantage of All-Pro Cameron Heyward's refusal to submit to Father Time, but lessens the need for him to play as many defensive snaps as he has continued to do now into his mid-30s.
Heyward played 71 percent of the team's defensive snaps in 2024, his age 35 season, and did so at an extremely high level.
When he was on the field, the Steelers allowed 3.6 yards per rushing attempt. When he was not, that number ballooned to 5.1 yards per carry.
That prompted the decision to beef up the defensive line this offseason, as the team knows it can't expect Heyward to go on forever.
In Harmon, the Steelers hope they have a Heyward clone – NFL executives compared him to Heyward on NFL.com in the pre-draft process – who can take some of the pressure to perform off the veteran's plate.
Harmon is the first defensive lineman the team has selected in the first round of the draft since taking Heyward in 2011.
The belief is that he and Keeanu Benton, a second-round pick in 2023, can anchor the team's defensive front for years to come.
Harmon led all power conference defensive tackles with 55 pressures in 2024, 12 more than the next closest player.
Benton plays the nose in the team's 3-4 defense, but lined up next to Heyward as the team's primary second defensive tackle in nickel and dime packages, seeing his snap count increase from 43 percent in his rookie season to 59 percent last season.
Benton is a good pass rusher who had 24 pressures in 2024, but he needs to start turning those pressures into sacks. He had just one sack in each of his first two seasons. Given the natural progression of young players, that could happen in 2025.
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Both Larry Ogunjobi and Montravius Adams were released in the offseason to clear room on the roster.
Ekuale, who started 16 games for the Patriots last season, was added as a depth piece along with Otomewo, who started two games for the Jaguars in 2024.
They join a group of veterans that includes Isaiahh Loudermilk, who was re-signed in the offseason, Dean Lowry and DeMarvin Leal.
Leal, a former third-round pick, has put on weight for 2025 after bouncing back and forth between defensive tackle and outside linebacker and is coming off a neck injury that forced to miss all but five games in 2024.
With that group, Black, a massive run-stuffing defensive lineman out of Iowa, and second-year pro Logan Lee, a sixth-round pick last season, Jacob Slade and Domenique Davis all on the camp roster, the Steelers seem well stocked on the defensive line.
The number and quality of players available at the position should make it one of the more competitive roster groups on the 53-man roster.
