Steelers DC Keith Butler offers high praise for LB Vince Williams

Vince Williams is back in the Steelers starting lineup.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers will see two big changes to their defensive starting lineup in 2020. First off, defensive lineman Tyson Alualu will replace Javon Hargrave at nose tackle. Second, inside linebacker Vince Williams is back into the starting lineup replacing Mark Barron.

Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler surprised no one when he said Williams would be in the starting lineup in 2020 next to Devin Bush. He heaped high praise on Williams for his ability to communicate and be a leader for the defense.

“He’s a great communicator,” Butler said. “As we went back and looked at our film and graded ourselves, we felt like our communication, if anything went wrong with our defense, it was more because of our communication. Sometimes you have to make adjustments, Vince is real good at doing that for us, getting calls to the guys and making sure we are all on the same page. That’s big for us in terms of Vince Williams.”

Williams was relegated to only 36.5 percent of the total defense snaps because of the addition of Barron. The signing of Barron made no sense at the time and turned out to be a complete waste of money. Williams is a far better player and Pittsburgh made a mistake thinking Barron’s athleticism could somehow help the defense more than everything Williams brings to the table.

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