On paper, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense was a good group that got better heading into the 2024 season. It was a great group that was expected to be elite. T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and Minkah Fitzpatrick returned and were healthy after injury issues in 2023, and the Steelers added big pieces like Patrick Queen, DeShon Elliott, Donte Jackson, and Payton Wilson.
The 2023 group fared pretty well considering all the injuries. A fortified group with better injury luck should have resulted in one of the best defenses in the league. The Steelers are spending the most amount of money among NFL teams on their defense, after all.