3 Steelers defenders that could be used in trick plays on offense during the 2024 NFL season
The Pittsburgh Steelers used to be a team unafraid of pulling out a trick play in a big scenario. Who can forget the Antwann Randle El pass to Hines Ward in the Super Bowl? Well, today we're going to act as if Pittsburgh re-imagines their creative ways but using defenders instead. T.J. Watt…The TE Watt's older […]
The Pittsburgh Steelers used to be a team unafraid of pulling out a trick play in a big scenario.
Who can forget the Antwann Randle El pass to Hines Ward in the Super Bowl?
Well, today we're going to act as if Pittsburgh re-imagines their creative ways but using defenders instead.
T.J. Watt…The TE
Watt's older brother J.J. played tight end long before he was a future Hall of Fame DT and was used in goalline packages during his time in Houston. To think his slighter and more agile brother couldn't do the same is a fallacy.
Watt is a flexible, bendy, and flowing athlete. He could easily run a goalline slant, fake a block and leak up the seam for a TD, or even be utilized in a jumbo package as an extra blocker outside the offensive line.
Keeanu Benton…The Fullback
Before trading him to Houston last year, center Kendrick Green was used as a fullback during practices in Latrobe. Benton would be a supercharged version of that. He is bigger, faster, and stronger than Green.
You can envision it. Old school I-formation, Najee Harris behind Benton, and Russell Wilson under center. Wilson takes the snap, fakes the handoff to Harris, and then Benton leaks out into the flat for a huge conversion on third and short or maybe even in a TD scenario.
Teams would be expecting a punishing run as the Steelers add extra brawn to the formation, but instead, it's the athleticism of Benton that comes back to bite them.
Mark Robinson… The RB
Robinson has to worry about making the team as a LB for the third year in a row, but that doesn't preclude Pittsburgh from having some fun in the preseason with the crash bandicoot of Pittsburgh.
Robinson played RB in college at Ole Miss before converting to LB later in his career, and you can see that in his current playstyle. He pays with excellent vision and a no-nonsense kind of tenacity. He sees it, he hits it. Plain and simple.
Lining up in the backfield for a few snaps at RB won't hurt anyone, and it could just further help his chances of making the team as the LB corps is one of the strongest units on the team in 2024.
