Juan Thornhill’s Position Defined By Beat Author

Not solely do the Pittsburgh Steelers have plans to tweak their defensive scheme, a personnel shift may come together with it. Veteran security Juan Thornhill can be listed on the depth chart as a backup, however beat author Mike DeFabo predicts Thornhill will see common defensive snaps.

“Relating to personnel, they introduced in Juan Thornhill,” DeFabo advised 93.7 The Fan Friday. “What that can enable them to do is lean extra into a few of their three security stuff that they do. So a few of that throughout the nickel protection, having a giant nickel with certainly one of their safeties.”

“Huge nickel” appears aren’t new to Pittsburgh however having a well-built and strong security like Thornhill may enable the Steelers to put it to use extra typically. Per our 2024 defensive charting, huge nickel/three security groupings have been simply on 42 snaps, the same quantity to 2023’s 47 snaps. Most frequently, it comes towards groups with a number of threats at tight finish. The Baltimore Ravens with Mark Andrews and Isaiah Doubtless are nice examples. Within the Wild Card loss to them, the Steelers used their huge nickel 17 occasions, 23.6-percent of their whole.

Including Thornhill may provide flexibility to broaden the package deal. Although he’s coming off two disappointing seasons in Cleveland the place he typically battled harm, he has the dimensions and skillset to play free or robust security. It’s a distinction from final season when No. 3 security Damontae Kazee wasn’t used down within the field, and one-to-one, Thornhill is the higher participant.

Utilizing huge nickel wouldn’t be a core part of Pittsburgh’s protection. It will function one of many half-dozen personnel wrinkles the Steelers use relying on the matchup. An offense heavy in 11 personnel with three gifted receivers isn’t a recipe for a three-safety package deal. However a a number of tight finish scheme may name for it.

The trade-off utilizing huge nickel is the removing of a defensive lineman. Because it’s been used beforehand, it’s a 2-4-5 package deal. Run protection can undergo because it did in that Ravens’ playoff recreation. On these 17 snaps, Baltimore ran the ball greater than half the time, 9 carries for 55 yards. That’s a mean of greater than 6 yards per carry.

Maybe a stronger line of defense because of the addition of Derrick Harmon, Daniel Ekuale and improved play from Keeanu Benton can justify it. However DeFabo is right that Thornhill’s clearest path to taking part in time, barring harm, is a three-safety sub-package.