One of the more interesting things that the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to be experimenting with on the defensive side of the ball for the 2018 season is flipping their outside linebackers. 2015 first-round draft pick Bud Dupree has spent his entire professional career up to this point rushing off the left side, while T.J. Watt spent his rookie year on the right, but the plan seems to be to reverse those roles going forward.
Bob Labriola sees the logic in that. During an Asked and Answered segment on the team’s website, he noted that he first heard of the idea around the time of the NFL Scouting Combine in February, and even at the time felt that it was worth trying “based on the particular skill-sets of each of the players and how they were used in college”.