Cam Heyward tops the Steelers defensive Pro Football Focus 2022 season grades

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2022 season has come to a close. While the Steelers come up short of the ultimate goal of winning the championship, they have lots of company as 30 other teams will come up short as well. Whether you are in the category of believing the Steelers over-performed or under-performed, there were definitely things the Steelers did well this season and other places where they need a lot of improvement.

But how did the individual players grade out?

For this exercise, we will be looking at the player grades from Pro Football Focus (PFF) for the entire 2022 season. Before going any further, I must give the typical disclaimer that PFF grades are subjective. While some people rely on them heavily, others are quite skeptical of the process in which they are determined. It is completely up to each person as to how much stock they put into PFF’s grades. For me, I often look at the grades to see if my own “eye test” lines up with what others viewed as how a player performed. If nothing more, the grades create a discussion about how accurate, or inaccurate, they are each week.

Instead of looking at the entire team at once, we break up the scores into offense and defense. Next up is the defense. Included will be all the players who played at least 50 defensive snaps this season and the total snap counts for each player will be included. For reference sake, the Steelers played 1,064 snaps on defense this season according to PFF.

Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

DT Cam Heyward: 89.8 (801 snaps)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 82.4 (939 snaps)
OLB T.J. Watt: 82.1 (502 snaps)
S Damontae Kazee: 81.0 (273 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 78.0 (941 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

DT DeMarvin Leal: 46.0 (175 snaps)
CB Ahkello Witherspoon: 45.4 (248 snaps)
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk: 42.2 (116 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 35.3 (243 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 30.4 (291 snaps)

Defensive Front Five

DT Cam Heyward: 89.8 (801 snaps)
OLB T.J. Watt: 82.1 (502 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 78.0 (941 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 74.3 (338 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 63.8 (396 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 61.7 (636 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 57.7 (86 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 48.9 (281 snaps)
DT DeMarvin Leal: 46.0 (175 snaps)
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk: 42.2 (116 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 30.4 (291 snaps)

At first glance these scores appear to lineup as the Steelers big three— Heyward, Watt, and Highsmith— top of the list for the position group and land in the top five for the defense. But beyond this, things really get interesting. Chris Wormley was having quite a nice season as the first person off the bench and it was a shame his season ended prematurely, especially in a contract year. Malik Reed scored opposite of how I expected as he was given high scores in coverage (77.9) and run defense (72.1) and a lower score in pass rush (50.9). Larry Ogunjobi often did not get any love from PFF all season, and DeMarvin Leal is falling into that category after his rookie season. What might be the most concerning is no score above a 50.0 from a Steelers nose tackle this season. Although they are rarely used, it helps to have a good one when needed. Whether or not their scores deserve to be that low is up for you to decide.

Inside Linebackers

ILB Devin Bush: 58.8 (659 snaps)
ILB Myles Jack: 53.6 (692 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 52.5 (588 snaps)

There was not a lot of discrepancy between the qualifying inside linebackers for 2022. Some may be surprised if Devin Bush landed on top, but even if looking at the scores since the bye, which were better than their overall scores for two of the players, Bush was still on top with a 64.9 with Spillane at a 60.8 from Week 10 to week 18. Myles Jack had much better scores early in the season, which would follow right in line with the reports that he was dealing with significant injury over the last half a season. As for those wondering about Mark Robinson, he was six snaps short of the threshold with only 44 on the season. Had his score been included, he would have landed at the bottom. Not just the bottom of the position group, but the bottom of the entire defense with a 27.6 overall score.

Defensive Backs

S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 82.4 (939 snaps)
S Damontae Kazee: 81.0 (273 snaps)
CB Cam Sutton: 72.2 (931 snaps)
CB James Pierre: 69.9 (260 snaps)
S Terrell Edmunds: 69.1 (886 snaps)
CB Josh Jackson: 63.4 (85 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 62.8 (709 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 56.5 (481 snaps)
CB Ahkello Witherspoon: 45.4 (248 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 35.3 (243 snaps)

For someone who reports the scores each week, the final report of the defensive backs is right around what I expected. The big surprise was how high Damontae Kazee finished the season. Going out with his best scores in the final week, Kazee only had one overall score since his return in Week 10 that fell below is 60.0 which was in Week 11 when his 57.2 barely missed the mark. Otherwise, he had a solid score each week. It’s nice to see James Pierre getting a good score as well, but I’m still not sure this means he’s ready to be a full-time starter as he was utilized in positions which highlighted his strengths. There could be some concern with Levi Wallace coming in just above the standard 60.0, but his second half of the season looked completely different— as in better— from the first half. In all, the Steelers secondary came on strong over the final weeks of the season.

So, what do you think of the above grades? Do they pass the eye test? Let us know your thoughts on the Steelers’ defensive grades in the comments below.

Author/Editor’s Note:

At this time, this appears to be the final individual grades from PFF that I will be reporting from the 2022 season. Perhaps there’s something that I forgot and will highlight later, and there is going to be team scores coming out next week.

I just wanted to further clarify my disclaimer I give it the beginning of every article. What everyone who looks at PFF scores needs to realize is that you are looking at an opinion. There is no objective way to quantify something so subjective as how a player played on each snap. By assigning it a number, it’s easier to understand how it compares across multiple games were fans may not have viewed what happened. But every week you are looking at a numerical score of someone’s opinion of how someone played. Sometimes that opinion lines up with your own. Sometimes it doesn’t. This is what happens often within the message boards and comments sections here at BTSC. Some opinions are more “correct” and some opinions are pretty far off.

If you remember to look at PFF as one opinion, it may help determine how much stock you put in their scores. The one thing that they do offer is looking at every player and every play they played. This is not something we generally do as fans, but PFF takes it upon themselves to do so. Does it make their opinion more correct? Not necessarily. But at least it’s not an opinion based on only part of the information. One way the PFF undeniably gets it right is that every play is taken into account.

There are many that like PFF based on it being scored from film. Simply because a fan watches film does not necessarily mean that they understand what they’re watching any better than some that watch it live. I’ve seen this firsthand with a number of people that have reported their views after watching the film and I still don’t trust their opinion. So as we view these grades for individuals for the last time of 2022, remember I am simply reporting an opinion that just so happens to have a numerical value attached to it.