Faceoff - S Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh Steelers

Posted 8/12, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Upside - by Jeff Pasquino

Troy Polamalu is the embodiment of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense -- tenacious, relentless and physical. Polamalu is a playmaker that is capable of taking over a game on the defensive side of the ball, which is not very common in today's offense-happy NFL. It does not matter who the opposition is -- you can count on Polamalu to be at the tackle point far often than not and to be in on nearly every play whenever possible. Whenever I see a Steelers' game, it feels like he has been all over the field and involved the entire game. He is everything you could ask for in a safety -- he racks up tackles, forces turnovers and is capable of picking off a pass and running it back for a touchdown.

Now if you are looking for a safety that is going to rack up 100 combined tackles, I will admit that Polamalu may not be the guy to go after. The front seven for the Steelers do suck up quite a large amount of tackles, which does not leave much for the Black and Gold secondary to add to their fantasy stat lines. Polamalu will lead the Steelers' defensive backs in tackles -- but the question remains as to just how big of a number that will be in 2009. Polamalu has been a Top 10 DB twice (2004 and 2005), while he missed a combined eight games over the next two seasons to pull down his totals. Last year Polamalu had 73 tackles (54 solo) and seven interceptions -- so in leagues that tend to reward turnovers, his value gets quite the boost. The downside of last year was that Polamalu did not collect a sack, fumble or even force a fumble -- three reasons why he fell out of the Top 10 defensive backs last year, winding up as the 13th overall DB.

With Polamalu's track record of sacks, interceptions and tackles, there are plenty of reasons to think that he can put up Top 5 numbers again this year. You know that he will virtually never come off of the field when Pittsburgh is on defense, and that his playing style will have him in the neighborhood of the ball far more often than not. Polamalu has had three 75+ tackle seasons and four 50+ solo tackle years, so the opportunities are there for him to put up similar numbers and force turnovers that will push him once again in the Top 5 by season's finish.

Downside - by Jene Bramel

Troy Polamalu may be the best all-around safety in the NFL and he clearly deserves consideration to be drafted among the top five IDP defensive backs. Yet there's a reasonable argument to be made that Polamalu is as likely to finish outside the top five as within it at year's end. Consider it a cautionary tale on big play safeties, rather than an indictment of his on-field play or IDP upside. Three things should give you pause before reaching for Polamalu as one of the first defensive backs off the board.

First, big play safeties are inconsistent. To be clear, Polamalu is not Ed Reed. Polamalu is interested in run support and is a willing tackler. But his role in the Steeler 3-4 defense is to roam freely throughout the box and the secondary, looking for opportunities to make big plays. That role suits him perfectly. Unfortunately, if you're in a tackle-heavy scoring system or looking for a consistent IDP option, it can hurt as often as it helps. Polamalu had three or fewer solo tackles in ten of his 16 regular season games last year. In seven of those games, he didn't have an interception or sack. That's nearly half of his games in which he didn't produce anything near DB1 numbers, and, often finished at or below DB3/replacement level production.

Next, Polamalu is a known durability risk. He's played a full slate of games only three times in six seasons, missing at least three games during the other three seasons. Notably, his injury history has included multiple concussions. Though he had no issues last season, the concussion susceptibility is a definite red flag for him.

Finally, the surrounding cast that allows Polamalu to freelance and turn offensive mistakes into big plays also holds his tackle opportunity down. Already out of the box more than a more traditional strong safety, the year-in, year-out poor team tackle opportunity severely limits his tackle upside.

While it's possible that Polamalu approaches the 70 solo tackle pace from earlier seasons and/or racks up sacks and interceptions as he's done in others, it's more reasonable to expect less than his career highs. For Polamalu, that's a projection of 55-65 solos, possibly a couple of sacks and 3-4 interceptions. That's a very good NFL season and a very solid IDP line. It's not necessarily the line of a top five stud defensive back in fantasy leagues.