Over the last few offseasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have placed a major emphasis on the \u201cbig men\u201d in the trenches on both sides of the football. They\u2019ve invested heavily in the offensive line in recent years, and double-dipped at defensive line in the 2025 NFL Draft, too.<\/p>\n
Now, entering an offseason that will feature significant change for the Steelers with Mike Tomlin stepping down as head coach after 19 years, and questions about the future of All-Pro Cameron Heyward<\/a>, the defensive line could be a major point of emphasis once again for the Black and Gold.<\/p>\n Fortunately for the Steelers, it once again appears to be a deep, talented draft class in the trenches on the defensive side of the football. The evaluation process moves into overdrive this week, starting with the 2026 East-West Shrine Bowl in Dallas, which gets underway Friday, January 23.<\/p>\n Though it\u2019s unclear the direction of the Steelers moving forward, especially with defensive line coach Karl Dunbar\u2019s status uncertain, the Steelers need to keep adding youth to the group. They\u2019ll get a good look at a strong group in Dallas.<\/p>\n Thirteen interior defensive linemen are headed to Dallas for the week-long session in front of NFL scouts and media members. Below are a handful to watch during the session before the Jan. 27 game.<\/p>\n DL TO WATCH Age: 23 One thing is clear this week in Dallas: Cincinnati\u2019s Dontay Corleone will have the best nickname of anyone at the East-West Shrine Bowl: \u201cThe Godfather.\u201d Heck of a last name for Corleone to have, and his play matches it too as he\u2019s a rather brutal, ruthless defender in the trenches that uses his size well and dominates at the point of attack. He battled injuries in 2025, limiting him to just 10 games and 352 snaps, but he remained a problem for opposing offenses when on the field.<\/p>\n With his stature, leverage is a huge part of Corleone\u2019s game. He\u2019s athletic for his size, too, landing at No. 14 on Bruce Feldman\u2019s Freaks List from The Athletic<\/a>, and plays with good technique and a motor that runs hot. His best fit in the NFL remains to be seen, but he\u2019s a huge name entering the week in Dallas and will have scouts keeping a close eye on him this weeks.<\/p>\n DARRELL JACKSON JR. \u2014 FLORIDA STATE<\/a><\/p>\n Age: 23 Another massive human being in the middle of the defensive line, Florida State\u2019s Darrell Jackson Jr. brings a complete package to the table on the interior of the defensive line. Listed at 6-5, 337 pounds, Jackson has the height, weight and length that teams covet in the trenches. He has the production, too. Having played in 50 career games in college with 25 at Miami (FL) and 25 at Florida State, Jackson enters the NFL with 25 consecutive starts with the Seminoles. Jackson won the Bobby Bowden Leadership Award in back-to-back seasons and was named the Defensive MVP, too, all while earning back-to-back All-ACC honorable mention accolades, too.<\/p>\n In his career, Jackson recorded 80 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks at Florida State. He\u2019s one of the biggest defensive linemen at the Shrine Bowl, and brings a great deal of experience, too. It will be interesting to see how he performs in a new situation, and if his leadership skills show up immediately in Dallas. Jackson is a name to know along the defensive line.<\/p>\n LANDON ROBINSON \u2014 NAVY<\/a><\/p>\n Age: 22 Coming into the 2025 season, Navy\u2019s Landon Robinson landed on Feldman\u2019s Freaks List, landing at No. 13 overall \u2014 one spot ahead of Corleone. Robinson can squat 665 pounds, bench press 465 pounds and power cleans 350. He also had a vertical jump of \u00a033 inches entering the season and was clocked at more 20.13 MPH in GPS tracking. He\u2019s even been utilized on fake punts in his career. He can do it all.<\/p>\n Fresh off of an All-AAC first-team accolade in 2024, Robinson took it up a notch in 2025. He was a first-team All-American for the Midshipmen and was named the conference\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year, finishing with 64 tackles and 6.5 sacks. In the bowl win over Cincinnati, Robinson was covering punts, making tackles in space. He\u2019s a rare athlete with a wrestling background in high school, and he comes from an athletic background with his father competing in gymnastics at Kent State.<\/p>\n This week in Dallas, he\u2019ll get a chance to show off that athleticism on a big stage and continue to make the case to be drafted into the NFL.<\/p>\n ALBERT REGIS \u2014 TEXAS A&M<\/a><\/p>\n Age: 23 Part of a deep, experienced defensive line in recent years at Texas A&M, Albert Regis was a big part of the Aggies\u2019 success defensively in 2025. In 13 games this season, Regis recorded 49 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. That was consistent with his overall body of work with the Aggies. Regis played in 49 career games with Texas A&M and finished with 116 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and 10 pass breakups.<\/p>\n Though on the smaller side for interior defensive linemen, Regis is one of the strongest at the point of attack in the class. He\u2019s very difficult to move off of his spot, and his anchor is very impressive snap after snap. He has some good lateral explosion, too, allowing him to make plays up and down the line of scrimmage. There\u2019s not much splash from Regis in his career, as far as making plays behind the line of scrimmage, so it will be interesting to see what impact he can make when turned loose in Dallas.<\/p>\n DEMONTE CAPEHART \u2014 CLEMSON<\/a><\/p>\n Age: 23 With 57 career games and nearly 1,000 career snaps under his belt, Clemson\u2019s DeMonte Capehart is the graybeard of the defensive line group this week in Dallas. With that type of experience, Capehart is one of the more intriguing prospects at the Shrine Bowl. Capehart possess great size and flashed time and time again during his six years at Clemson.<\/p>\n After biding his time behind a number of NFL defensive linemen at Clemson, Capehart went on to start 12 games over the last two years. In 2025 alone, Capehart produced 21 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and one sack. Though there\u2019s limited impact plays there, he\u2019s a sound defender. He\u2019s flashed quite a bit, but he\u2019s never taken that step forward many expected. He\u2019s an explosive athlete that should open some eyes in drills throughout the week, but he\u2019ll have to find some consistency this week.<\/p>\n Other DL competing in the East-West Shrine Bowl:\u00a0<\/p>\n -Texas A&M DL Tyler Onyedim<\/a> More on the 2026 East-West Shrine Bowl<\/p>\n East-West Shrine Bowl Primer: QBs To Watch\u00a0<\/a>
\nDONTAY CORLEONE \u2014 CINCINNATI<\/a><\/p>\n
Year: Redshirt Senior
Height\/Weight: 6-1, 335
PFF Position Rank: DL7 (59th overall)<\/p>\n
Year: Redshirt Senior
Height\/Weight: 6-5, 337
PFF Position Rank: DL9 (88th overall)<\/p>\n
Year: Senior
Height\/Weight: 6-0, 287
PFF Position Rank: DL23 (270th overall)<\/p>\n
Year: Graduate Senior
Height\/Weight: 6-1, 317
PFF Position Rank: DL11 (119th overall)<\/p>\n
Year: Graduate Senior
Height\/Weight: 6-5, 315
PFF Position Rank: DL15 (165th overall)<\/p>\n
-Miami (FL) DL David Blay Jr.<\/a>
-North Carolina State DL Brandon Cleveland<\/a>
-Kentucky DL David Gusta<\/a>
-Baylor DL Jackie Marshall<\/a>
-Southeastern Louisiana DL Kaleb Proctor<\/a>
-UCLA DL Gary Smith III<\/a>
-Illinois DL James Thompson Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n
East-West Shrine Bowl Primer: RBs To Watch<\/a>
2026 East-West Shrine Bowl Primer: WRs To Watch<\/a>
2026 East-West Shrine Bowl Primer: TEs To Watch<\/a>
2026 East-West Shrine Bowl Primer: OL To Watch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the last few offseasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have placed a major emphasis on the \u201cbig men\u201d in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[101612,50014,227,1681,32413,22841,7,6,520,57,2360,426,1687],"class_list":["post-696490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-2026-east-west-shrine-bowl","tag-albert-regis","tag-cincinnati","tag-clemson","tag-demonte-capehart","tag-dontay-corleone","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-texas-am"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115939269890535032","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}