Not only do the Pittsburgh Steelers have plans to tweak their defensive scheme, a personnel shift could come along with it. Veteran safety Juan Thornhill will be listed on the depth chart as a backup, but beat writer Mike DeFabo predicts Thornhill will see regular defensive snaps.
“When it comes to personnel, they brought in Juan Thornhill,” DeFabo told 93.7 The Fan Friday. “What that will allow them to do is lean more into some of their three safety stuff that they do. So some of that within the nickel defense, having a big nickel with one of their safeties.”
“Big nickel” looks aren’t new to Pittsburgh but having a well-built and solid safety like Thornhill could allow the Steelers to utilize it more often. Per our 2024 defensive charting, big nickel/three safety groupings were just on 42 snaps, a similar number to 2023’s 47 snaps. Most often, it comes against teams with multiple threats at tight end. The Baltimore Ravens with Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely are great examples. In the Wild Card loss to them, the Steelers used their big nickel 17 times, 23.6-percent of their total.
Adding Thornhill could offer flexibility to expand the package. Though he’s coming off two disappointing seasons in Cleveland where he often battled injury, he has the size and skillset to play free or strong safety. It’s a difference from last season when No. 3 safety Damontae Kazee wasn’t used down in the box, and one-to-one, Thornhill is the better player.
Using big nickel wouldn’t be a core component of Pittsburgh’s defense. It would serve as one of the half-dozen personnel wrinkles the Steelers use depending on the matchup. An offense heavy in 11 personnel with three talented receivers isn’t a recipe for a three-safety package. But a multiple tight end scheme could call for it.
The trade-off using big nickel is the removal of a defensive lineman. As it’s been used previously, it’s a 2-4-5 package. Run defense can suffer as it did in that Ravens’ playoff game. On those 17 snaps, Baltimore ran the ball more than half the time, nine carries for 55 yards. That’s an average of more than 6 yards per carry.
Perhaps a stronger defensive line thanks to the addition of Derrick Harmon, Daniel Ekuale and improved play from Keeanu Benton can justify it. But DeFabo is correct that Thornhill’s clearest path to playing time, barring injury, is a three-safety sub-package.
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