Tuzar Skipper's return is Steelers’ latest attempt at fortifying depth at OLB

In their quest to shore up depth at a prime position on defense, the Pittsburgh Steelers this week turned to a familiar face.

It was a friendly one, at least in how the overture was received.

“This is my low-key home,” Tuzar Skipper said Thursday after his first on-field practice session back with the Steelers. “I like it here. I like it a lot. I love it, actually.”

Skipper’s signing is the Steelers’ latest effort to provide reinforcement at a position that — on paper — is among the thinnest areas on the team in regards to experience. It is also a position at which last year the lack of depth was glaringly apparent.

Melvin Ingram was signed to be one of the Steelers’ top three edge rushers, joining 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt and emerging starter Alex Highsmith, who last year was entering his second NFL season.

Problem was, by all accounts, Ingram saw himself as the No. 2 among that Big Three, while the Steelers deployed him more as the No. 3. Ingram ultimately angled his way into a trade to the Kansas City Chiefs.

But Watt missed two full games and significant portions of three others in 2021. By the time Ingram was jettisoned, the Steelers were compelled to resort to the waiver wire to find players such as Taco Charlton at outside linebacker.

While no one in the league can perform consistently to the level of Watt, the lack of options for capable edge players hurt the Steelers defense.

The depth chart to begin this summer would list Genard Avery and Derrek Tuszka penciled in as the top backups. Tuszka played a quarter of the Steelers’ snaps after initially being signed to the practice squad upon the end of the preseason. Avery is a five-year veteran who mostly has been a backup.

Behind them are Delontae Scott, undrafted rookie T.D. Moultry and, now, Skipper. Scott has spent most of the past two seasons on NFL practice squads, but he did play seven defensive snaps in the Steelers’ loss at the Los Angeles Chargers last year. Moultry played a program-record 59 games for Auburn.

Watt, for his part, likes what he sees from the young players at his position.

“I think there is a good core group of veterans here to learn from,” Watt said. “No one is coming in here being super loud, which I always appreciate, not trying to be someone that they’re not. They are asking a lot of the right questions and being very attentive in meetings, and that’s all we can ask for.”

Skipper is familiar with meetings with Watt in the outside linebackers’ room at the Steelers’ facility. And for a time during August 2019, Skipper was putting on quite the show. He had five sacks in the Steelers’ four preseason games, forcing the organization’s hand to put him on the season-opening 53-man roster after he only made the camp roster after a rookie minicamp tryout.

“It was crazy. Those stats were crazy,” Skipper said. “Felt good to do that. Just trying to do it again. Let it go into a (regular-season) game.”

The 6-foot-3, 246-pound Skipper never has appeared in a regular-season game for the Steelers. He made it into 10, though, for the New York Giants (2019) and Tennessee Titans (2020). In between, Skipper finished 2019 on the Steelers’ 53-man roster, though he was inactive for games.

“I definitely learned,” Skipper said of the past 2 ½ years bouncing around the NFL. “I learned more of drops (in coverage) and things like that. I basically got to work on my weaknesses a lot. I had to sharpen those up, and now I am ready to ball.”

The Steelers are giving Skipper a chance. They are armed with cap space, so don’t rule out a late-offseason veteran acquisition — Ingram was signed in July last year, for example.

Even absent that, time will tell if Skipper can beat out Scott, Moultry and Tuszka for a roster spot. At least he’s with the team he’s had his greatest pro success.

“I feel like I am in a really good place,” Skipper said. “This is the Steel Curtain, baby.”

Hey, Steelers Nation, get the latest news about the Pittsburgh Steelers here.