When the Pittsburgh Steelers’ initial 53-man roster was unveiled, there were plenty of surprises, but none bigger than Kevin Jobity Jr. The undrafted rookie defensive lineman went from an afterthought in most roster projections to one of just seven defensive linemen Pittsburgh kept. I had Jobity on my first projection before OTAs as a bit of a dart throw, but by the time training camp and the preseason rolled around, there wasn’t much buzz around his possibility of sticking.

Somehow, he did.

Now comes the more interesting question: What did the Steelers see that made them hold onto the unheralded prospect? After watching every snap he played throughout the preseason, there’s a lot to like.

At 6044, 308 pounds, with 33 1/4-inch arms, Jobity posted an impressive 8.87 Relative Athletic Score at his Syracuse Pro Day workout. Primarily a soccer player until late in high school, COVID reorganized his high school sports schedule and allowed him to try football for the first time. Now he’s on the active roster of one of the NFL’s most historic franchises.

The athleticism from his soccer background shows. But it’s one thing to see impressive testing numbers on a stat sheet and another to see that athleticism translate to the football field. On film, Jobity’s movement skills immediately stand out.

Pass Rush

Pittsburgh has quite a few run stuffers along its defensive line, with players like Gabriel Rubio and Yahya Black offering relatively little as pass rushers. Jobity, on the other hand, has the traits to develop into a real problem on passing downs.

Aligned as a 5-tech on this play, Jobity exploded out of his stance and quickly pivoted to twist stunt inside. Look how much ground he covered and how much quicker he looked than the offensive linemen. He found a lane into the backfield and created a pressure that caused the quarterback to panic and step into a sack.

Jobity played mostly against depth players who are no longer on NFL rosters, but he quite literally ran circles around them at times in the preseason. He easily crossed the guard’s face and fought through two blocks to have a chance at a half sack.

His pass-rush moves could use some refinement, but he has a club/swim, a push-pull, a swipe-rip, and a long-arm bull rush that all work to varying degrees. Here is a club/swim that made quick work of the guard. He didn’t finish many plays, but he consistently found his way into the backfield throughout the preseason.

Nearly 310-pound defensive tackles aren’t supposed to be able to move like this.

Here is the one sack Jobity did finish against the Bills in the preseason finale. He ripped across the guard’s face and used his leverage and leg drive to penetrate deep into the backfield for the sack.

It’s not all perfect by any means. Jobity currently has one speed, and it’s 100 percent. He came in out of control into the backfield and whiffed on a would-be sack here. Even still, he caused the QB to panic to earn a sack for one of his teammates.

He uses another pass-rush move here, but what is more impressive is his effort at the end of the play. Look at him rallying to the ball 25 yards away from where he lined up. Not many defensive linemen rally like that. He didn’t make the tackle, but good things happen when defenders rally to the ball.

Run Defense

Jobity definitely has potential against the run, but he will need to get more consistent with gap discipline. His quickness can get him out of position in a hurry. But when he does play to his assignment it looks good. Here are three different plays where he used his length and leverage to set the edge, create space for himself, and then shed back inside to swarm to the play.

Length and leverage are Jobity’s two best weapons against the run, and he uses them well. He got full extension with both arms here and scraped across the line until he could use the tackle’s momentum against him to shed and make the tackle.

A lot of run defense is also about motor, and Jobity showed that off here. He went downhill to reroute the running back and then followed him to the outside to make the tackle all while an offensive tackle was draped all over him.

Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw from Jobity on tape. He has a ton of interior pass-rush upside, a red-hot motor, and knows how to use his length and leverage. He is obviously still a work in progress with refinement needed on his pass-rush moves and gap discipline. And he needs to learn how to vary his speed so he has more control once he works himself into the backfield. But I fully understand why the Steelers want Jobity to stick around. In fact, I think Rubio—not Jobity—should be the first to go if they decide to trim down to six DL in the near future.

The Steelers may have really found something in Kevin Jobity Jr.