The Steelers kept eight defensive linemen on their initial 53-man roster. This caused a lot of talk in Steelers Nation, as they typically had six on the roster in the past. When I wrote my annual Former Steelers in the NFL article, I noticed that there was no standard number of players assigned to position groups across the league.
I decided to compare the Steelers’ Week 1 roster to other teams’ position groups, just to see if eight defensive players differ significantly from other teams. Each team has three specialists: a kicker, a punter, and a long snapper. So how do teams distribute the remaining 50 positions between the offensive and defensive position groups?
Offensive position groups
The NFL has become such a passing-heavy league that I thought most offensive positions would have a similar number of running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. I thought the fullback position would be limited to just a few teams. And this is what I found out:
| QB | RB | WR | TE | OIL | In total | ||
| AFC | |||||||
| Steelers | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 24 |
| Invoices | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 23 |
| Dolphins | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 25 |
| Patriots | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 25 |
| Nozzles | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 25 |
| Ravens | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 24 |
| Bengal | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 25 |
| Shades of brown | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 24 |
| Texan | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 26 |
| Colts | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 26 |
| Jaguars | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 24 |
| Titans | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 25 |
| Broncos | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 25 |
| Chiefs | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 26 |
| robber | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 24 |
| Chargers | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 26 |
| NFC | |||||||
| Cowboys | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 26 |
| Giants | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 24 |
| eagle | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 22 |
| Commanders | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 26 |
| Bears | 2 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 26 |
| Lions | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 23 |
| packer | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 24 |
| Vikings | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 24 |
| Falcons | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 23 |
| Panther | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 24 |
| Saints | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 25 |
| Buccaneer | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 23 |
| Cardinals | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 25 |
| Aries | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 23 |
| 49ers | 3 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 26 |
| The Seahawks | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 26 |
| Medium | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 25 |
Couple surprises
Going through the rosters, I had a few surprises. First, 19 teams had only two quarterbacks in Week 1, even though the rule dictates that the emergency quarterback must be on the 53-man roster. Additionally, nine teams have a fullback on their roster. I didn’t list Connor Heyward as a fullback because Pittsburgh uses him so versatilely. But that might be a tenth team. 28 of 32 teams had 3 or 4 running backs. 31 of 32 teams had 5-7 receivers. 28 teams had 3 or 4 tight ends. Two teams have five and two have only two tight ends. 28 teams have 9 or 10 linemen. The smallest linemen group had 8 (3 teams). And one with 11 linemen.
Pittsburgh fits the norm, but has one less receiver than the average of all teams, and one more tight end. This reflects the tendencies of previous offenses designed by Arthur Smith.
Defensive position groups
I thought there would be more variation in defensive position groups, as some teams use the 3-4 formation instead of the 4-3 formation as their base defense. But most teams probably vary their offenses with a mix of base, nickel, and dime packages depending on the game situation. I grouped outside linebackers (edge rushers) together with middle or inside linebackers. The same goes for cornerbacks and safeties. Here’s what I found:
| DL | LB | DB | In total | |
| AFC | ||||
| Steelers | 8 | 8 | 10 | 26 |
| Invoices | 9 | 7 | 11 | 27 |
| Dolphins | 5 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
| Patriots | 6 | 8 | 11 | 25 |
| Nozzles | 10 | 5 | 10 | 25 |
| Ravens | 5 | 10 | 11 | 26 |
| Bengal | 10 | 5 | 10 | 25 |
| Shades of brown | 9 | 6 | 11 | 26 |
| Texan | 8 | 6 | 10 | 24 |
| Colts | 10 | 5 | 9 | 24 |
| Jaguars | 11 | 6 | 9 | 26 |
| Titans | 4 | 11 | 10 | 25 |
| Broncos | 6 | 8 | 11 | 25 |
| Chiefs | 10 | 5 | 9 | 24 |
| robber | 9 | 7 | 10 | 26 |
| Chargers | 6 | 8 | 10 | 24 |
| NFC | ||||
| Cowboys | 9 | 5 | 10 | 24 |
| Giants | 5 | 10 | 11 | 26 |
| eagle | 8 | 10 | 10 | 28 |
| Commanders | 8 | 5 | 11 | 24 |
| Bears | 10 | 5 | 10 | 25 |
| Lions | 7 | 8 | 11 | 26 |
| packer | 11 | 5 | 10 | 26 |
| Vikings | 6 | 9 | 11 | 26 |
| Falcons | 8 | 9 | 9 | 26 |
| Panther | 5 | 10 | 11 | 26 |
| Saints | 10 | 6 | 9 | 25 |
| Buccaneer | 6 | 10 | 11 | 27 |
| Cardinals | 6 | 9 | 10 | 25 |
| Aries | 6 | 10 | 11 | 27 |
| 49ers | 8 | 6 | 10 | 24 |
| The Seahawks | 7 | 8 | 9 | 24 |
| Medium | 8 | 8 | 10 | 25 |
Further deviation
As I expected, there seems to be more variation between defensive positions. Defensive line groups consisted of four to 11 defensive players and tackles. The sweet spot is between six and nine linemen. There was a similar spread at linebackers. The fewest were five linebackers on eight rosters. The most was the Titans with 11 linebackers. All secondaries consisted of nine to 11 defensive players. That’s what’s needed to stop the prolific passing attacks. But the big decision is whether to strengthen the defensive line or to add mobility with a larger linebacker corps.
Pittsburgh’s distribution is exactly the median: eight linemen, eight linebackers and ten defensive backs. Is this a conscious decision to keep the run stoppers fresh through rotation?
Diploma
The distribution of players across position groups will change throughout the season. I wonder if more teams will try to sign a third quarterback.
Maybe in the future I’ll break this down into subgroups like safeties, cornerbacks, and interior linemen versus offensive tackles, but this was a quick overview that showed Pittsburgh was well within the norms.
Your song selection
I always like to add a little music. I don’t know if it’s important that the composition of the Steelers roster is normal. But here is Am I Normal, played by Virginia David.
