The Pittsburgh Steelers defense runs through its star players on all three levels. Part of the problem last year is they only got star execution from one level, however. Both DL Cameron Heyward and S Minkah Fitzpatrick missed significant time due to injury, and then returned to play hurt.
Just a year after sharing the league lead in interceptions, for example, Fitzpatrick failed to record a single turnover. He recorded at least two interceptions in every other year of his career, not unlike his new teammate, Donte Jackson. He somehow still made the Pro Bowl—on name recognition, but he didn’t have a Minkah-like season.