When the Pittsburgh Steelers selected edge rusher Sutton Smith in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL draft, I found myself heading straight to YouTube for some highlights of the young man. And wow, is Smith fun to watch. We talk a lot about motor and effort, but this young man is off the charts. He is absolutely relentless in rushing the passer.
But unfortunately, I don’t think he’s an outside linebacker in the NFL. Smith is undersized. He checks in at 6-feet and 233 pounds. He’s got a thick build but his lack of length makes it hard to believe he will be able to consistently beat NFL offensive tackles. In fact, during the Senior Bowl, NFL Network analyst Lance Zierlein noted that Sutton “looked out of place at Senior Bowl” and was “frequently rag-dolled by tackles in practice.”
But realistically this doesn’t really matter. Because Sutton’s future with the Steelers is as an inside linebacker and special teams ace. In fact, a strong case can be made Smith is a more aggressive and athletic version of Tyler Matakevich. And he will eventually replace him on the roster – maybe this year.
The Steelers will do all they can to keep Smith on the active roster. His energy and effort is the trend of the draft for Pittsburgh. The Steelers seem committed to a full re-build of the inside linebacker depth chart and Smith appears to be a big part of this.
