Pittsburgh Steelers

Vince Williams will be key once again for Steelers

The feeling among the Steelers coaches in 2019 is that the team's defense would be better suited if inside linebacker Vince Williams played fewer snaps than he had in the previous two seasons.

A very good run stuffer and blitzer, Williams was seen as something of a liability in pass defense -- at least not up to the standard the Steelers wanted at the position. It was something opponents exploited in 2018, when Williams and Jon Bostic manned the inside linebacker spots for the Steelers.

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But with the additions of Mark Barron and first-round draft pick Devin Bush a year ago, the Steelers felt they had two linebackers better capable of handling the coverage duties required to play inside linebacker in today's NFL.

That meant Williams, while still technically a starter, saw his snaps cut nearly in half a year ago.

Fast forward to 2020, and Barron is now gone, released in the offseason in a salary cap-related move, and the Steelers are counting on increased snaps from Williams once again. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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