It took awhile to run the numbers, but you’re going to be as equally surprised at who played the most snaps on defense, as you may have been when you learned who played every snap on offense.

Jumping into the numbers, the name atop the list might not even be on the 2017 team:

Biggest Surprises

Yes, the biggest surprise for many might be Ross Cockrell playing the most snaps of any Steelers defender this season.

Why should that be a surprise?

First of all, Cockrell wasn’t a full-time starter the previous season. He was an outcast from Buffalo, who drafted him in 2014, but cut him in the hopes of resigning him to their practice squad.

He never cleared waivers, as the Steelers had an eye on Ross, and promptly claimed signed him. No one was expecting this new pickup to make an impact, but he made headlines in practice by routinely covering, and covering well, against Antonio Brown.

A sure case of “iron sharpening iron”, Cockrell because the full-time starter at one of the cornerback positions. More surprising is, as a restricted free agent, the Steelers have set a fourth round tender on the cornerback, meaning, if another team signs him, and the Steelers do not match the offer sheet which is signed by Cockrell, Pittsburgh will be compensated a future fourth round draft pick for losing him to the other team.

The other two corners, William Gay and Artie Burns, could also be considered “surprises” as the Steelers play more subpackage sets with multiple DBs in recent years. Gay, who started the season on the outside after an injury to Senquez Golson, usually plays in nickel packages as the slot corner.

Burns earned his starting position roughly a month into the season.

When combined with S Mike Mitchell (who played the second-most snaps on D) that’s a boatload of experience for the secondary.

Missed time due to injury

Stephon Tuitt and Ryan Shazier each missed multiple games which cut into their overall snap counts.

Bud Dupree got a slow start after sitting on IR for a good portion of the season, starting only four games, appearing in seven total.

Cameron Heyward also appeared in, and started seven games, before moving in the opposite direction of Dupree: starting the season, then landing on Injured Reserve.

Next surprise

Following the Steelers Week 10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Sean Davis never left the field through the end of the regular season and into the playoffs. That’s small exaggeration, but not really: the only snaps he missed were mandated league/game protocol where players are required to leave for at least one play before returning (such as an injury stoppage).

During contract negotiations last season, part of the reason Lawrence Timmons wasn’t resigned, is because the two parties couldn’t agree as to whether the long-time linebacker was a three-down player.

Timmons played the third-most snaps on defense, putting those claims to rest.

Other observations

The ageless James Harrison played over 58% of the reps on defense, which was the most of the outside linebackers. (The outside linebackers started the season in a rotation before Bud Dupree returned; then the rotation disappeared, with Harrison and Dupree owning nearly all of the playing time.)

Speaking of that rotation, Jarvis Jones and Arthur Moats were the beneficiaries of playing time early on, before making way for the aforementioned 92 and 48.

Robert Golden started at safety when Golson went down, and Davis had to play in the slot. Once Burns became the starter, Golden was phased out as Davis moved back to the safety position he was drafted to play.

Justin Gilbert, the former first round pick, and top overall corner taken in the draft (by Cleveland) only played 11 snaps.

Worse?

CB Al-Hajj Shabazz, a on/off practice squad player who was released three times by the Steelers, and once by the Texans over the course of the 2016 season, played one more snap on defense than Shamarko Thomas.

(Edited for the brain fart about Cockrell/waivers – thanks Igmond.)