The Pittsburgh Steelers were making moves again late Sunday night as the team concluded talks with the New York Jets just before the NFL’s trade deadline to shore up depth at a position of need.

The newly acquired Steeler is inside linebacker Avery Williamson – who has spent the last few seasons with the Jets. The veteran comes to Pittsburgh, along with New York’s 2022 seventh round draft pick in exchange for the Steelers’ 2022 fifth-round selection.

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While Williamson is in the final year of his current contract with the Jets, most of that contract has already been paid out – with only half of the season remaining, he is a bargain player (or “rental”) with tremendous upside for a Steelers organization reeling after losing their projected starting inside linebacker, second-year pro Devin Bush, for the season.

With Bush sidelined, the Steelers have turned almost exclusively to undrafted journeyman Robert Spillane – which isn’t a bad thing. Spillane has turned heads in the last 2.5 games, standing up Titans monster running back Derrick Henry at the goal line and picking off Ravens quarterback, and reigning league MVP, Lamar Jackson, only three plays into the Steelers-Ravens game last Sunday.

The latter play is Jackson’s first pick-six in the NFL: it’s also Spillane’s.

So why the need for the veteran Williamson?

That’s what some fans are asking as the Steelers made the shrewd move as games ended Sunday. It doesn’t appear that Spillane’s job is in jeopardy, yet. However, next to Spillane is LB Vince Williams and then… practically nothing.

The next man off of the bench should be second-year linebacker Ulysses Gilbert III – but Gilbert has seen little time in practice and on the field. His first action was the weekend before, against the Titans, as he was placed on injured reserve in 2019 with a back injury.

Gilbert is once again reeling with a back injury this season which kept him out of Sunday’s game against the Ravens.

The other inside linebacker on the depth chart wasn’t even a linebacker last season.

Marcus Allen, drafted as a safety out of Penn State in 2018, has found himself on and off of the active roster attempting to carve out a role on the roster. That role would be a change of positions, to inside linebacker, after Allen failed to play a single snap on defense in 2019 and only appeared in two games his rookie year.

Between he and Gilbert, each was coin toss for the inactive list through seven games. Allen finally found the field on Sunday against Baltimore, which likely prompted the Steelers move for Williamson, after seeing how thin they were at the positions while the Ravens ran through middle of Pittsburgh’s defense.

Williamson, 28-years-old, is much more seasoned than either of the younger Steelers. Drafted in the fifth-round by the Tennessee Titans in 2014, he spent four seasons there before landing a $22.50 million deal with the Jets during the 2018 offseason – one in which the Steelers were eyeing Williamson as a potential replacement for Ryan Shazier.

Ironically Williamson now comes to Pittsburgh when Shazier’s rightful heir has been sidelined. While the starting role is still Robert Spillane’s to lose, Williamson should immediately find himself as the primary backup to Williams and Spillane, as well as sharing time in a rotation akin to last season, when the Steelers rotated Williams, Devin Bush, and Mark Barron.

With the Steelers next three opponents sporting a combined record of 5-17-1, this is also perfect timing to experiment with how Williamson could be used without putting the team at any great risk.

Barron, who had also made the switch from safety to inside linebacker in the NFL, ended up out-snapping Vince Williams by nearly double in 2019. Barron would play 766 defensive snaps in 15 games to Williams’ 401 snaps in 14. He left the Steelers this offseason as a cap casualty with the organization relying on Bush to be a three-down back in his second pro season.

With Bush out we could eventually see a similar time shared to help keep bodies fresh and limit any deficiencies in pass defense that Spillane or Williams may exhibit. Williamson had already played 90% or more of the Jets defensive snaps in 4 of the 7 games he’s played this season – being eased into the defense following a season-ending knee injury that caused him to miss all of 2018.

Williamson would be inactive in Week 1 and play limited reps (17) in Week 2. (He would play 44% and 85% of the other two games.)

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Seemingly healthy and assuming he hasn’t lost a step, Williamson also has experience on his side and familiarity with coaches who have a history in Pittsburgh. He played under both Dick LeBeau (the grand architect of most of the NFL’s 3-4 defenses) as well as Ray Horton, who is a disciple of Bill Cowher.

In New York he also played in a 3-4 scheme under defensive-minded head coach Todd Bowles, with former Steelers legend and Hall of Fame linebacker Kevin Greene as a position coach for the outside linebackers during that season as well. (Yes, I know Avery plays inside but it’s yet another Pittsburgh connection!)

Bowles would be fired in 2019 and replaced with Gregg Williams, yet another 3-4 architect who has made his rounds throughout the league.

All of this coaching prowess, particularly with those who have Steelers roots, means Williamson may not have a large learning curve to start contributing on defense right away – something that Mike Tomlin and company have continuously looked for when adding players to their roster in recent years.

Overall, the move should give some sense of security for a currently unbeaten team looking to make a deep playoff run. Heading into training camp, inside linebacker and safety were both thought to have been the weakest depth areas on the roster.

With Sean Davis brought back and now by adding Williamson, the Steelers major concerns should be for naught. How much Williamson truly plays will yet to be determined, but with his history of being a tackling machine capable of picking off and swatting down passes, we should expect to see him in passing down situations sooner rather than later.