Pittsburgh Steelers: Full Position Breakdown, Depth Chart Analysis at OLB

Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers defense totaled just 33 sacks on the season. For a 3-4 base defense—one that had just recently been known for its aggressiveness toward opposing quarterbacks—it was a disappointing total. This year, the plan is to improve on that total significantly.

This plan begins with an established veteran, a journeyman who has found a home, a rookie and a 2013 first-round draft pick with a lot to prove in his third season.

The veteran is James Harrison, a 37-year-old who totaled 5.5 sacks and led the linebackers unit in total quarterback pressures in 2014. Harrison, who claims he can play until age 50, might be placed on a snap count if outside linebackers coach Joey Porter and defensive coordinator Keith Butler have their way. 

But the goal is to have Harrison take on a backup role for the first time in his Steelers career. He worked behind Jarvis Jones, the aforementioned 2013 first-rounder, in OTAs earlier this spring. And that's good news for Jones, who is coming off of a 2014 season in which he missed nine games with a fractured wrist.

Jones hasn't yet blossomed into the menacing pass-rusher the Steelers envisioned when they drafted him two years ago. But he still has time on his side. The only problem now is that Jones is still rehabbing that injured wrist, telling the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Mark Kaboly in May that, "It was a serious injury and I am still rehabbing it and everything but I still have some strength and motion and mobility stuff I am working on with it." 

In two years, Jones has had only three sacks and 58 combined tackles. But Porter isn't worried about his slow start, saying, "I thought Jarvis was playing good last year until he got hurt. So it doesn't bother me on how it ended last year with Jarvis. I still think he is one of the better linebackers in the league and he will be that. It just hasn't happened yet."

Porter added, "I think Jarvis has had a good offseason. He's getting stronger. He's doing some things that he knows he needs to do to get better for this year. He's not naive to know what he's done so far. It doesn't meet his standards and he knows there's a lot more in there."

And if Jones does struggle to the point that he becomes Harrison's backup, the Steelers will still be in good shape. After all, Harrison is practically ageless, with his Instagram account evidence of this. And there's also that journeyman—Arthur Moats—to consider alongside quick-study rookie Bud Dupree.

Dupree has worked his way up to the first-team defense in OTAs and minicamp this offseason, and the 2015 Round 1 pick seems destined to eventually start, even if that doesn't happen in Week 1 against the New England Patriots.

Dupree's goal for 2015 is simple: Return the Steelers' pass rush to its previous prominence. He spoke to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Tom Reed after the NFL Rookie Symposium last month and said, "I want to be in that group that brings it back. We want to bring back that hunger, that eagerness to go after the quarterback."

Moats could be one of the linebackers that Dupree shares time with this year. After four unheralded years with the Buffalo Bills, Moats joined the Steelers last season to work mostly as a backup, but ended up playing 344 snaps, mostly owing to Jones' injury. He totaled four sacks, three quarterback hits and 15 hurries in 2014, along with 23 combined tackles.

This year, even with a healthy Jones and the fact that Dupree has proved promising, Moats could be the Steelers' starting left outside linebacker, considering that's where he's been for nearly all of the offseason. And the three-year, $7.5 million contract the Steelers gave him in March seems to indicate that the team both likes and needs him.

How the four linebackers will actually spend their time this year will be determined in training camp and then in live-game situations once the season begins. But it's fair to say that Moats, Harrison, Jones and Dupree will all play significant roles in the Steelers' linebacking corps. 

Player	Comb.T	Sacks	QB Hits	QB Hurries
Harrison	45	5.5	13	15
Jones	18	2.0	1	4
Moats	23	4.0	2	15
Garvin	16	0.0	0	0

Backing up those four are another four players, Terence Garvin, Shawn Lemon, Howard Jones and Anthony Chickillo. Of these four, only Garvin saw playing time in the 2014 regular season, totaling 12 snaps played in five games. Jones spent last year on the Steelers' practice squad, Lemon came to the team in January after being released by the CFL's Calgary Stampeders, while Chickillo is a 2015 sixth-round draft pick.

Jones is looking forward to having another opportunity to crack the Steelers' 53-man roster, saying after the team's rookie minicamp in May (which he was eligible to attend because he was a practice squad player in his first year), "I definitely came a long way. I knew a lot more plays than I thought. It felt good to get back out there. It felt like I had an edge."

Jones was a preseason standout last year, but it wasn't enough for the Steelers to promote him to the 53-man roster, despite being thin at outside linebacker for most of the season. But this is as good a chance as any for him to prove he's ready to be called up. The only thing is that it would likely be at the expense of Garvin.

Lemon, meanwhile, had 13 sacks and tied a CFL record with eight forced fumbles in 2014. If he can prove capable of replicating his north-of-the-border production in Pittsburgh, he too could find his way to the 53-man roster. It will be interesting to see where his NFL-style development is when the pads come on in training camp and through the Steelers' five preseason games.

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Finally, there's Chickillo, a converted defensive end who had a total of 12 career sacks in his three collegiate seasons for Miami. Though Porter said when the team drafted Chickillo that, "I think he adds depth to our pass-rush situation. You can never have enough pass-rushers in the way the game is being played now from the outside linebacker position." Chickillo has a long way to go before he's a part of the Steelers' main roster.

Steelers Depot's John Ledyard sees a lot of room for improvement in Chickillo's pass-rushing game, saying after studying his college film that, "there just isn't any explosiveness, lateral agility, physical traits or bend to get excited about when watching him off the edge." But because Chickillo has good run-stopping abilities, he may be worth a practice squad spot for 2015, which would afford him time to improve as a pass-rusher.

Pittsburgh's outside linebacker situation is much better than it was a year ago, and as such, should be much more productive on the field in 2015. With the Steelers struggling in the secondary, they certainly need more push up front against opposing quarterbacks in order to better defend the run.

With veterans like Harrison and Moats joining younger players like Dupree and Jones, and the depth—especially that of Lemon and Howard Jones—looking promising, the Steelers should be more satisfied with their sack total and quarterback pressure this season.

All stats courtesy of ESPN.com. Advanced stats courtesy of Pro Football Focus. Contract info courtesy of Spotrac.com.