Had things gone differently on the defensive side of the ball, it likely would have been talked about an awful lot more than proved to be the case for the 2019 season. The season-ending injury to Stephon Tuitt without question made the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense worse. But the play of Tyson Alualu, who arguably had a career year, was largely able to mitigate that loss and allow the defense to be one of the top units in football.
Alualu, originally signed with the Steelers as an unrestricted free agent in 2017, was in his third season in Pittsburgh a year ago, and is under contract through 2020.