Keith Butler Era as Steelers' Defensive Coordinator Must Start with Big Changes

Most NFL teams coming off a postseason berth enter the offseason expecting to tweak rather than overhaul their rosters, since the core talent is already in place to be fairly good again next season.

In the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the definition of tweak may be tested this offseason.

The Steelers won the AFC North and made the playoffs as the No. 3 seed but were one-and-done in the postseason, losing 30-17 to the No. 6-seeded Baltimore Ravens during Wild Card Weekend.

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They got there on the heels of an MVP-caliber season from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who recorded a league-leading 4,952 passing yards and 32 passing touchdowns against nine picks, and a breakout season from running back Le’Veon Bell, who finished a distant second ahead of Matt Forte in yards from scrimmage and only 46 yards shy of league-leader DeMarco Murray (2,261).

So Pittsburgh’s offense—second in yards and passing and seventh in points—may fall within the definition of tweaked, sure. The defense, on the other hand, ranked 27th against the pass and 18th overall and needs to make some drastic changes on multiple levels.

For the Steelers, when longtime defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau resigned and they stayed in-house for his replacement in promoting former linebackers coach Keith Butler to the role, it marked not a change in defensive scheme but a possible evolution of the system.

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Steelers president Art Rooney II said as much earlier this week in a season-ending interview with reporters, saying Butler will “have his way of doing things—it will be somewhat different than coach LeBeau,” according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Observer-Reporter’s Dale Lolley cautioned against calling Butler a “LeBeau disciple,” writing he knows the defense inside and out but will not run it exactly as LeBeau did and will add his own “personal touches” to it, similar to what Ray Horton did when he left Pittsburgh to become the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals prior to the 2011 season.

Furthermore, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted Butler and head coach Mike Tomlin worked together at both the University of Memphis and Arkansas State University predating their time with the Steelers and reported that “for the first time since [Tomlin] was hired in 2007, [he] was more involved in the defensive planning this season—the first sign he was seeking to change how the Steelers play on defense.”

Mark Kaboly, Steelers beat writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, offered his take via Twitter:

Butler will need to make the Steelers more aggressive on defense and add some new twists to create pressure, as the Steelers have been trending in the wrong direction of league rankings in total defense, sacks, takeaways and big plays over the last couple of seasons:

Pittsburgh Steelers Defensive Rankings

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Total Defense	2nd	1st	1st	13th	18th
Sacks	1st	T-17th	T-15th	T-25th	26th
Takeaways	T-3rd	32nd	25th	T-27th	23rd
Opp. 20+ Yard Plays	1st	1st	1st	7th	T-17th

Defensive rankings aside, the Steelers defense is going to look quite different in 2015. ESPN’s Scott Brown reported strong safety Troy Polamalu, outside linebacker James Harrison, defensive end Brett Keisel and cornerback Ike Taylor—all of whom were with the Steelers when they won the Super Bowl following the 2005 and 2008 seasons, face “uncertain futures.”

In addition, outside linebacker Jason Worilds—who the Steelers used the transition tag on last offseason—is set for unrestricted free agency (though Rooney said the Steelers would like him back).

The Steelers do have some building blocks on defense: Per Bouchette, Rooney “cited veterans Cameron Heyward, Lawrence Timmons and William Gay ‘and some of the other younger linebackers we have now’ as being part of a core group ‘that we can build around.’ ”

And Rooney acknowledged the strength of the defense, the defensive line, is “young but certainly capable of doing the job.”

However, the Steelers pass defense was the worst in the AFC in 2014 and second-worst in the NFL among teams that made the postseason (Arizona, 29th).

As a result, Pittsburgh will head into free agency and the draft looking to shore up its defensive backfield, as Rooney told reporters: “I think obviously on the back end [of the defense], we need to add some players. We are going to need to add some people in the draft. We will see what else is out there.”

The Steelers have neglected defensive backs early in the draft for years, having not drafted one within the first two rounds since Bryant McFadden (second round, 62nd overall) in 2005 and not in the first round since Polamalu (16th overall) in 2003.

Last year, despite a glaring need, the Steelers passed on cornerbacks such as Darqueze Dennard, Jason Verrett and Bradley Roby in the first round in favor of inside linebacker Ryan Shazier.

Furthermore, the Steelers were dependent on aging veterans at outside linebacker in 2014, but Jarvis Jones is the only one still under contract for next season. As a result, they’ll be forced to look to free agency or the draft to fill this need.

The Steelers generally do not reach in the draft to fill holes, but looking exclusively at defensive players this year would not be a bad approach given how much help they need on multiple levels.

They need to make big changes on the defensive side of the ball, and having a new defensive coordinator is the perfect occasion to make bold moves and revamp a defense that has regressed over the last two seasons.