If there was one position primed for the Pittsburgh Steelers to double dip in the 2025 NFL Draft, it was the defensive line. Not only was it one of the Steelers’ biggest needs entering the draft, but it’s also one of the deepest position groups in this year’s class. They addressed it right away in the first round with Derrick Harmon and then in the fifth round with Yahya Black.

Defensive line coach Karl Dunbar has a lot of new clay to help mold into a dominant unit, but the room is suddenly crowded and there are only so many roster spots to go around.

“It’s about competition and that’s why we’re sitting in this room,” Dunbar said Saturday via video on the Steelers X page. “It’s competition, so if you want to eat, go take your food. That’s what it’s all about.”

DC Teryl Austin said something similar about the outside linebacker room earlier today after Jack Sawyer was drafted. The talent rises to the top and sorts itself out. It’s never a bad thing to add competition to important positions. And as we saw toward the end of the 2024 season, the defensive line wasn’t cutting it.

The 2024 initial 53-man roster carried six defensive ends and two nose tackles for a total of eight. The year before that the Steelers carried seven total with one less defensive end.

Cameron Heyward, Keeanu Benton, Derrick Harmon, and Daniel Ekuale are the players I would consider locks to make the initial 53-man roster. Montravius Adams is on that next tier where I would say he is likely to make it. That leaves two or three bones and a whole lot of dogs to fight over them.

Yahya Black, Logan Lee, Jacob Slade, Domenique Davis, DeMarvin Leal, Isaiahh Loudermilk, Dean Lowry, and Esezi Otomewo round out the defensive linemen on the roster right now. That is eight dogs vying for two or three bones. The Steelers are going to put all of that talent in the pressure cooker and the best candidates will emerge on the other side.

The defensive line will be younger and better for it.