INDIANAPOLIS — SEC edge rushers Nolan Smith and Byron Young ran faster than many receivers at the NFL combine. Smith, who played at Georgia, ran a 4.39 and Young, from Tennessee, ran a 4.43. That was after Pitt's Calijah Kancey ran a 4.67, the fastest time ever for an interior defensive tackle.
Defenders on the line of scrimmage keep getting bigger, faster and stronger, and they are in demand by NFL teams. The best way to contain mobile quarterbacks is by getting athletes who can chase them down, and there is no shortage of those types of players in this year's draft.
That's good news for the Steelers, who have to add younger players to the mix both on the edge and on the interior. The challenge for the Steelers is finding the right players to fit their system, and they could follow the approach they took last season when they selected DeMarvin Leal in the third round.
At 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds, Leal entered the NFL draft last year as a "tweener" — undersized for a defensive end and oversized for a 3-4 outside linebacker. But Leal being "positionless" coming out of Texas A&M wasn't a deterrent for the Steelers front office.
The Steelers viewed his versatility as a plus. Rather than trying to project him into a prototypical five technique in the mold of Cam Heyward or ask him to drop weight to become a full-time outside linebacker, they embraced his unique skill set.
One week, Leal might play inside and the next outside. And how the coaches deployed him might depend on matchups one week and injuries the next.
"I think the great thing about DeMarvin is his versatility, and we're not going to try to do anything that's going to hinder his versatility," Steelers general manager Omar Khan said. "We like that he can go inside, outside. Coach can utilize him in a lot of different places, and I foresee that continuing."
Players like Leal could be the future of defensive line play in the NFL. The Steelers might not have their pick of linemen who fit into traditional roles on their defense, but there are players aplenty who can help bolster their front line.
Two of the best defensive linemen in this draft are from Clemson, an annual stop on Mike Tomlin's pro day tour. Bryan Bresee (6-5, 298) and Myles Murphy (6-5, 275) could go in the first or second round of the draft.
"I think I'm a unique player," said Bresee, who played inside and outside in college. "I'm a big, athletic, strong player with just a super competitive drive to me with a no-quit attitude."
Murphy once was a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher who was gunned in the low 90s as a 14-year old, but once he started getting some scholarship offers, he decided to concentrate on football. Like Bresee, he can play over guards as well as tackles and tight ends.
"I have film of playing from the 3 technique all the way out to a wide 9, 2-point, 3-point [stance]," Murphy said. "Dominating in every gap, honestly. Great off the ball, great speed off the ball. Great point of attack. Being 275 pounds, I have the strength to go with it."
Bresee ran a 4.86, the third-fastest time for defensive tackles this year. Murphy did not run.
Iowa's Lukas Van Ness is another player capable of flexing up and down the line. He played inside during his first season with the Hawkeyes and played on the edge more this past season.
Van Ness (6-5, 272), who is leaving behind two seasons of eligibility, ran a 4.68. He could bulk up to become a more traditional 3-4 defensive end, or teams could have him stay at his current weight and play a Leal-type tweener role.
"Everything happens a little faster inside," Van Ness said. "You've got to be better with your hands and a little lower with your pad leve. And it taught me all the fundamentals of playing [well], and I think that really translated to my outside play. It helped me come play with good leverage, be physical. And I attribute a lot of my play to my years before and playing inside."
One of the most impressive defensive linemen at the Senior Bowl and the combine was Adetomiwa Adebawore (6-2, 282) of Northwestern. He had a great week at the Senior Bowl last month and followed that up with impressive on-field workouts that included a freakish 4.49 in the 40-yard dash. He played inside for most of his career at Northwestern before playing outside as a senior.
If the NFL chose to classify him as a defensive tackle, he would have obliterated Kancey's record-setting time. Adebawore, whose favorite NFL player is Aaron Donald, is letting teams know he'll play anywhere he is needed on the line.
"I think it just adds value to my game because you can put me kind of anywhere you want," he said. "So if you need a defensive end for a certain situation, you can put me there. If you need a defensive tackle, you can put me there."
