Steelers A to Z: On final year of contract, DL Isaiahh Loudermilk needs to show what he can do
Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2024 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 14 and July 25. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
DL ISAIAHH LOUDERMILK
Experience/age: 4th season, 26
Contract status: $1.14 million cap hit in 2024, after which scheduled for unrestricted free agency
The past: A 2½-year starter over a 40-game college career, Loudermilk was a natural target for the Steelers in the 2021 draft. After all, the organization had long made no secret of its affinity for defensive players in what was then Wisconsin’s scheme. So when the Steelers dealt a future pick to get into the fifth round three years ago, they showed they were serious about their interest in the 6-foot-7, 293-pound Loudermilk as a possible successor to the likes of Cameron Heyward.
Though Loudermilk has remained a permanent presence on the active roster throughout his pro tenure, the projection of him as a starter has never materialized. Loudermilk played 15 games with two starts as a rookie, made three starts over 11 games played in 2022 and by last season made no starts while dressing for 16 of the Steelers’ 17 games. The percentage of defensive snaps he’s played during the games he’s been active for has decreased each season from a high of 29% as a rookie to 18% and then 17% last season. Loudermilk plays on special teams, but half of his career tackles (23 of 46), his lone career sack and three of his five career batted-down balls came as a rookie. His only credited tackle for loss came during a 2022 game at the Carolina Panthers.
“Everything’s kind of become a little bit more second nature in terms of playing,” Isaiahh Loudermilk said. “I can feel things and I can see things that I haven’t seen the last couple years, and I am able to get into (the play) quicker."@C_AdamskiTribhttps://t.co/oHZahI3nWk
— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) June 2, 2024
2024 outlook: In the final year of his rookie contract and aware that the Steelers have selected a defensive lineman during each of the drafts since he was taken, Loudermilk knows it’s the proverbial “put up or shut up” time for his career with the organization. The depth chart is crowded with starters Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi and Keeanu Benton, veterans signed to contracts this spring in Montravius Adams and Dean Lowry and aforementioned recent draft picks DeMarvin Leal and rookie Logan Lee. Veteran Breiden Fehoko is another defensive lineman returning from a season in which he had the look during training camp of a player who could contribute, and others loom hungry to compete at the position.
Loudermilk’s expiring contract and (marginally) bigger cap hit than some of those vowing for a spot in the position group on the 53-man roster could work against him, as could that by now the Steelers know what they have in him. Management might decide that there might not be any more of the upside it saw when they were aggressive in trading a future fourth-round pick to take Loudermilk in the 2021 fifth round. Loudermilk is versatile, and he has a likable demeanor and the respect of the coaches. But he will probably have to have a strong camp to ensure he is in uniform for the Steelers when the season begins.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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