Daniel McCullers rarely dressed during the 2017 regular season in his fourth year in the NFL. He only played a total of 13 snaps. Through two games in 2018, he has earned the role of the number five defensive lineman, a regular helmet, and more playing time, already up to 15 snaps, more than he had for all of last season.
This is in spite of the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers have the exact same six defensive linemen on the 53-man roster as they did a year ago. And the top four defensive linemen are still in their same roles, with Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt the starting defensive ends, Javon Hargrave the nose tackle, and Tyson Alualu the first player off the bench.