How Iowa’s Yahya Black, ‘F-350’ of defensive lineman, fits in Pittsburgh Steelers’ 3-4 scheme

IOWA CITY — Karl Dunbar seemed to be in good spirits as he talked to Pittsburgh reporters on the third day of the NFL draft.

“It’s great to be sitting here,” the Steelers’ defensive line coach said. “Because if I’m sitting here, that means I got somebody in the draft.”

The player Dubar did get — Iowa’s Yahya Black — is part of the Steelers’ efforts to be “more dominant up front” in 2025.

“And I think the way you get dominant up front is to get youth,” Dunbar said. “I think he’s going to be a great addition to the group.”

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin “wanted to retool physicality in all areas,” which even includes what the AFC North team has done in the offseason at wide receiver. At 6-foot-6 and 336 pounds, there seems to be little to no doubt about Black’s physicality on the defensive line.

“He’s a big chassis,” Tomlin said. “There’s F-150s. He’s like an F-350. He’s a big man and really stout against the run. And you can always use a skill set like that certainly.”

That physicality will likely not be on display at the same position Black played, however. Black is expected to go from a defensive tackle in Iowa’s 4-3 scheme to a defensive end in Pittsburgh’s 3-4 scheme.

“I think he’s going to be able to play all of it,” Dunbar said. “I think he’s going to play a four technique. He can play nose, but I think we have a pretty good nose tackle on staff right now.”

The same goes for Derrick Harmon — the Oregon defensive tackle Pittsburgh selected in the first round — as incumbent Keeanu Benton remains at nose tackle.

Black’s anticipated move from 4-3 defensive tackle to 3-4 defensive end in general is not all that unusual. Granted, most 3-4 defensive ends do not necessarily have the size for their coach to compare them in the post-draft news conference to a Ford F-350 pickup truck.

“I think Yahya and Derrick have the length to play four technique, and I really like Keeanu where he is right now,” Dunbar said. “And bring these guys up in that ‘B’ gap and give them opportunity to do that.”

That puts Black and Pittsburgh’s first-round pick at the same position as veteran all-pro Cameron Heyward.

“It’s like being in the church,” Dunbar said of the chance to learn from Heyward. “Youth and wisdom. … Some things you try to give to a person, but I think a lot of players respect other players who’ve been through it.”

The Steelers have drafted three Iowa players in the last two drafts — Black and Kaleb Johnson in 2025 and Logan Lee in 2023 — after previously going 15 consecutive drafts without drafting any Hawkeyes.

The Steelers also were heavy on Big Ten players in general this year, using six of their seven picks on Big Ten players — two from Iowa, two from Ohio State and one each from Oregon and Washington.

That was not necessarily intentional, however.

“I just think there’s a lot of teams in the Big Ten now,” Tomlin said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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