When the Steelers selected Casey Hampton in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft, it sent shock waves through the rest of the NFL.
With Hampton holding down the middle of the Steelers defensive line, the team went from having the league's seventh-best defense in 2000 -- including 12th against the run -- to No. 1 in 2001, with a big improvement in run defense, which also led the league at just under 75 yards per game allowed.
It got to the point, however, that by 2002, teams quit attempting to try to run the ball against the Steelers -- most notably with the Patriots and Raiders going to an all-out air attack to start the season -- with the idea of keeping Hampton standing on the sideline.
Fast forward to 2020. The Steelers lost nose tackle Javon Hargrave, a third-round draft pick in 2016, in free agency. Instead of using a high draft pick on another nose tackle to replace him, the Steelers waited until the seventh round of last month's draft to select Nebraska's Carlos Davis.
Such is life in today's NFL, where true run-stopping nose tackles are going the way of the fullback.
"The big thing is that, like Javon displayed, it’s better when you have a nose that is versatile in today’s game," Mike Tomlin said Saturday. "There’s just not a lot of ways for those guys to have an impact if they’re nose-only. That’s what added value to Javon’s portfolio. You’ve got to be versatile. We have candidates. Within those candidates, you’ve got to be capable of doing other things because that’s the nature of the position in today’s game."
That doesn't bode well for veteran Daniel McCullers, the only true nose tackle on the Steelers' roster.
Heading into his seventh NFL season, McCullers was a sixth-round draft pick of the Steelers in 2014. But to this point in his career, he has played just 605 snaps on defense, including 131 in 2019, which represented the second-highest total of his career.
That happened even though Hargrave was playing more than ever, subbing as a situational pass rusher in the nickel and dime defenses after Stephon Tuitt was lost six weeks into the season.
But at 6-foot-7 and 352 pounds, McCullers doesn't offer much explosion as a pass rusher. In six seasons, he has 2.5 sacks and nine quarterback hits.
That means the Steelers could rely more on veteran defensive tackle Tyson Alualu to hold down the nose tackle position.
"We’ve added some young men in this process," Tomlin said. "We have some veteran guys who are nose capable, like Tyson Alualu. We’re comfortable with the men we have to work with. We’ll sort those guys out and allow those guys to establish themselves within the position."
The Steelers also could add a veteran to the mix at some point if they decide what they have on their roster isn't going to work.
"We’re not opposed to adding to that position if we come across a capable man between now and then," Tomlin said. "We’re comfortable with where we are."
Part of the reason for that comfort is because the team only plays its base 3-4 defense about 25 percent of the time. Teams run the ball less than they did in 2001, when 12 teams have 450 or more rushing attempts. Last season, that number was seven.
So any true nose tackle isn't going to play a lot.
Which brings us to Davis.
The rookie said he's been asked to learn all three defensive line positions, something he is certainly capable of doing. Davis played strictly on the nose in 2018 at Nebraska, when he had 27 tackles and three sacks in 11 games.
He then moved to defensive end in 2019 and set a career high with four sacks to go along with 32 tackles in 12 games.
"The nose is pretty much the same as what I ran at Nebraska," Davis said. "Plays have different meanings and what’s asked is a little different. The ends are a little more different than what I was doing at Nebraska. But the nose is pretty much the same."
If the 6-foot-2, 313-pound Davis can show that he can play both nose tackle and defensive end, he could prove to be more valuable on the game day roster. Or just the roster in general.
The Steelers typically keep six defensive linemen on their active roster. Alualu, now 32, Tuitt, Cam Heyward and Chris Wormley, who was acquired earlier this year in a trade with the Ravens, would seem to have four of those spots wrapped up.
That leaves two spots up for grabs from a group of eight other players on the roster that includes Davis, Isaiah Buggs, a sixth-round pick in 2019, and McCullers.
Davis admits that as a rookie, it could be tough for him to make a positive impression with the NFL being shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak and the possibility there won't be any on-field OTAs or minicamps.
"There’s a little uncertainty there because this is a different draft class," he said. "We’re not able to be there. So it does raise a little concern. I really just focus on learning the playbook right now, and when we do get to be there, just going to work."
LOLLEY'S VIEW
Alualu is easily the pick to be the starter at nose tackle to open the season. Wormley has played on the nose in the past and is the only player on the roster listed as a nose tackle, but that doesn't mean anything. He's better suited to play end.
But there's nothing that says the Steelers can't line Heyward or Tuitt up there at times, as well, if the matchup works in their favor.
McCullers, the only true nose tackle on the roster, could have a hard time making the roster if Davis proves capable of also playing end.
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