It’s funny what you can learn from the amount of playing time each individual athlete receives in a given game. Sometimes, a player may fit a situational game plan, such as a receiver playing more in three or more receiver sets to stretch a defense, or a left tackle enters a game to “ground and pound” an opponent.

Injuries also play a role in who comes in, and who goes out, week-to-week, and of course, within the same game.

In examining snap counts for the Steelers offense over the course of the 2016 season, a number of interesting things stand out.

Biggest Surprises

The biggest surprise, at least when looking at things heading into the season, is that LT Alejandro Villanueva played every single snap during the season, essentially earning the unanimous “Iron Man” award for not missing any time.

It’s not uncommon for offensive linemen to play every play possible, but sometimes they do miss a play here or there, as league rules mandate if a game is stopped for an injury, that player must leave the field for a single play. (Which explains David DeCastro missing all but two plays.)

Missed time due to injury

The Steelers sat several big name players for their Week 17 contest against the Cleveland Browns, but that didn’t stop Antonio Brown from claiming the next-highest snap total. Maurkice Pouncey was available for most of the season as well, sitting that final game, but also missing snaps with a dislocated finger in a road game against the Baltimore Ravens. (He played only 19 snaps in that game.)

Ben Roethlisberger sat out against the New England Patriots in Week 7, while Ramon Foster was replaced by B.J. Finney in spots throughout 2016. Each still played a plethora of Pittsburgh’s playing time however.

Injuries also hurt the amount of time Sammie Coates (28.90%), Markus Wheaton (9%), and Darrius Heyward-Bey (21.5%) all played. Each wide receiver had an opportunity to takeover the starting spot vacated by Martavis Bryant, and none could effectively do so. Coates broke his fingers, Wheaton hurt his shoulder, and DHB had a leg injury midseason.

FB Roosevelt Nix (9.2%) took two months to get on the field, yielding time to David Johnson (23.8%) early on, though both players are utility assets used in certain sub package situations.

Next surprise

Aside from offensive lineman (who as mentioned, never leave the field) and two of the three Killer B’s (the ones that weren’t injured/suspended) the offensive player with the most playing time?

Tight end Jesse James.

Color me shocked at seeing that in writing, since the second-year player, initially taken in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, was a third stringer in 2015 (behind Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth) and was expected to take a backseat to free agent pickup Ladarius Green (who is another “surprise”, landing near the bottom of this chart with 12.90% playing time).

Instead, James proved he could hang with the big boys, even though he was truly the “only other option” when Green, and Grimble (the “other” tight ends) found themselves sidelined for different reasons. It’s a refreshing thought to know the Steelers can lean on James, when needed.

Other observations

The camp hype surrounding Eli Rogers was well-founded, as the second-year receiver played in over half of the offensive series for the season. But if you told me before the season that Cobi Hamilton would end up as the next-highest receiver with playing time behind Brown, Rogers, Wheaton, Heyward-Bey and Coates, I would’ve said “no way”.

Indeed, by virtue of being the last man standing, Hamilton appeared in over 1/3 of the Steelers plays.

And in case someone was wondering, the two possessions list for Lawrence Timmons are accurate: the linebacker joined the offensive players in the late game “victory formations”, as the player behind the quarterback in the event of a bad snap. DeAngelo Williams also fulfilled the same role when healthy, but it’s not uncommon to see a defensive player perform the same duties for Pittsburgh. (Troy Polamalu once did the same.)

Overall, most of the players who should’ve played, did: Le’Veon Bell, Big Ben, AB, etc. It was refreshing to not have too many offensive line injuries. Marcus Gilbert was lost for one game, and both of his preseason replacement (Harris, and fourth round pick Jerald Hawkins) were unavailable. This led to a conversion project, moving Chris Hubbard from guard to tackle; Hubbard played so well, he received additional playing time (30% total) throughout the season when additional tight ends were required, but unavailable.