The 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers defense suddenly has a 2005 flair. One that is actively asking its core pass rushers, its defensive linemen and outside linebackers, to drop into coverage instead of just rushing the passer.
That’s not just a feeling. It’s empirical. Our weekly charting shows the sudden surge of dropping these players into coverage. Below is a tally of the position groups, defensive line and EDGE, and how often they’re moving backwards in coverage.
Should note for this exercise that we are counting moments twice when, say, two outside linebackers drop into coverage.
| Week | DL Drop % | EDGE Drop % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 – NYJ | 3. |