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Football Outsiders via ESPN listed out their picks for the top positional unit on every NFL team. For example they list running back as the Cleveland Browns top unit and for the Cincinnati Bengals it is wide receiver.
But it wasn’t so simple for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact, by their own admission they had to use a “cheat” to determind the team’s top positional unit is “pass rush”.
I hate to break it to them, but pass rush isn’t a positional unit. They admit as much. Here what they said as they try to lump together outside linebacker T.J. Watt and defensive tackle Cam Heyward into the same group.
It’s a bit of a cheat, since the pass rush in Pittsburgh incorporates both edge-rusher linebackers like T.J. Watt and down linemen like Cameron Heyward. We list the pass rush here for the Steelers largely thanks to the brilliance of those two players. Watt and Heyward combined for 31.5 sacks, 21 hits and 61 hurries in 2021.
So if we aren’t going to give ESPN a pass on this one, what is the Steelers top unit? A case can be made that the trio of Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and George Pickens makes wide receiver the top. Or the group of safeties led by Minkah Fizpatrick and Terrell Edmunds deserves the top spot.
Let us know in the comments which positional until you rank No. 1 on the Steelers.
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