5. David DeCastro, Pittsburgh Steelers
It’s funny how sometimes, when you’re eyeing one player in tape study, another player will jump off the screen and announce his presence with authority. That happened to me in 2012 as I was getting a better handle on what made Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck so special before the 2012 draft took place. Though Luck certainly stood out for all the obvious reasons, I couldn’t keep my eyes off guard David DeCastro, who alternated between perfect technique in his pass-blocking with reps in which he’d take unfortunate collegiate defensive linemen and just mash them all over the place in the run game.
Though his NFL career was derailed early due to injuries, DeCastro has proven to be equally effective at the NFL level. He’s made five straight Pro Bowls, and with good reason — he has never allowed more than three sacks in any NFL season, he didn’t allow a single quarterback takedown in either 2017 or 2018, and even though Pittsburgh’s quarterback situation was a hot mess last year, DeCastro gave up just two sacks, no quarterback hits, and 22 quarterback hurries. If Ben Roethlisberger has one or more healthy seasons left in him, expect more of the same from a guy who has impressed since his days at Bellevue High School.