For a team that could use another infusion of youth on the defensive line, the Pittsburgh Steelers elected to stockpile veteran depth in the offseason.
The Steelers re-signed nose tackle Montravius Adams to a two-year contract at the outset of free agency. They added ninth-year veteran Dean Lowry, who turns 30 in June, on a two-year deal during the league’s annual meeting. Breiden Fehoko, who spent much of last year on the practice squad, also returned on a one-year deal.
Those signings give the Steelers eight defensive linemen under contract as the NFL Draft approaches. And that doesn’t count two other linemen on reserve/futures deals.
Cameron Heyward is the last defensive lineman the Steelers selected in the first round. He turns 35 in two weeks and is entering the final year of a contract that counts $22.4 million against the salary cap. Fellow starting defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi turns 30 this summer and counts $13.2 million against the cap.
The Steelers have tried to infuse youth — and more affordable contracts — on the line in recent drafts, adding DeMarvin Leal in the third round in 2023 and Keeanu Benton in the second last year. They may need to hit the pause button this year because of two factors.
The first is the Steelers have needs on the offensive line and at wide receiver that may prevent them from addressing the defensive line on the first or second day of the draft. The other is that this year’s class is devoid of high-end talent worthy of a No. 20 overall pick.
“When I look at this position, I see Byron Murphy II atop the class and then there’s a gap before we get to the next-best player,” NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his annual positional rankings.
Murphy, a junior from Texas, is the only consensus first-round defensive tackle in his class, according to most draft analysts. Although he met with the Steelers at the NFL Combine, Murphy was not one of the six defensive line prospects the organization invited to the South Side for top-30 visits.
The Steelers hosted a trio of players who are expected to be taken in the second round: Missouri’s Darius Robinson, an edge rusher who projects to the defensive line in a 3-4 scheme, as well as Florida State defensive tackle Braden Fiske and LSU defensive tackle Maason Smith.
