{"id":10955,"date":"2025-07-15T06:18:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T06:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/10955\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T06:18:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T06:18:02","slug":"luke-kuechly-thinks-steelers-will-have-best-defense-in-nfl-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/10955\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Kuechly Thinks Steelers Will Have Best Defense In NFL This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 defense wilted down the stretch. While that unit still had a fine season overall, the Steelers didn\u2019t meet their own standard defensively. Going into the 2025 season, their expectations will be high once again.<\/a> That group only got more talented this offseason. They added proven veterans in Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, while also infusing some youth into crucial spots like their defensive line. As a result, former Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly thinks they\u2019ll be the best defense in the league this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Pittsburgh\u2019s always tough,\u201d Kuechly said Monday on Up and Adams with Kay Adams.<\/a> \u201cThey\u2019ve got some stuff to figure out. Everybody\u2019s looking at the T.J. Watt situation and them sending Minkah [Fitzpatrick] down to Miami. But you look at the build of that secondary, with Darius Slay and Joey Porter and Jalen Ramsey. Then you have [Alex] Highsmith off the edge and T.J. Watt on the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cCam Heyward on the inside. They\u2019ve got some dudes. Patrick Queen, and I love Payton Wilson, at the linebacker level. They\u2019ve got a little bit of everything. They\u2019ve got a three-level approach that I like. I think they\u2019ve just gotta figure out, do they feel good about Juan Thornhill stepping in for Minkah? \u2026 That defense, on all three levels, is gonna have a really, really good opportunity to be a dangerous team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuechly does a good job laying out all the talented players on the Steelers\u2019 defense. They\u2019ve got star power in spades. However, that\u2019s not all there is to building the best defense in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Slay and Ramsey have been two of the best corners in the league throughout their careers, but they might be past their prime now. Slay is 34 years old, and it isn\u2019t often that corners continue to play well at that age. He\u2019s also reportedly got injury concerns. Similarly, Ramsey will turn 31 this season and he hasn\u2019t looked as dominant in recent years.<\/p>\n

However, if both of them can continue to play at a decent level, the Steelers could have their best secondary in years. Porter didn\u2019t take the leap some people might have expected last year, but he was still good. DeShon Elliott looked like an excellent addition. Even Beanie Bishop Jr., an undrafted rookie, showed promising flashes. Thornhill is a big question mark, but the rest of that group has a chance to be special.<\/p>\n

The Steelers\u2019 front seven is their real strength on defense,<\/a> though. Watt and Highsmith are one of the best pairs of edge rushers in the league. Nick Herbig is great as a backup, too. While Heyward is 36, he continues to defy Father Time. Keeanu Benton and Derrick Harmon are two young, promising players along Pittsburgh\u2019s defensive line as well.<\/p>\n

The Steelers should once again find themselves putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks early and often. Also, Queen and Wilson should take a step forward as the Steelers\u2019 starting linebackers, with both of them entering their second year in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s defense might go through some growing pains with so many new pieces. However, on paper, the Steelers should have one of the best units in the league. If they want to be Super Bowl contenders,<\/a> they might need to reach that level quickly.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 defense wilted down the stretch. While that unit still had a fine season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[10931,349,1321,99,3795,10932],"class_list":["post-10955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-luke-kuechly","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-trending","tag-up-and-adams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}