Henry Mondeaux went undrafted in 2018. He signed with the Saints and sat on their practice squad. He signed a futures contract with the Kansas City Chiefs after the 2018 season, but was released in May. The Steelers gave him a tryout and signed him on May 13th, 2019.
In 2019 Mondeaux was stuck to the bottom of the depth chart, surviving on the practice squad to get another future contract with the Steelers after the season. In 2020 Mondeaux again was on the practice squad, but the Steelers protected him five straight weeks before activating him in Week 6 to replace Isaiah Buggs. He kept that roster spot for the rest of the season, the bottom of the active roster, playing on special teams much more than defense.
This offseason a lot of focus has been on 2020 7th round pick Carlos Davis, 2021 5th round draft pick Isaiahh Loudermilk, and Isaiah Buggs, with many people assuming Henry Mondeaux was an obvious cut this year.
The Steelers Are Developing Some Impressive, Young Defensive Line Depth
Instead, Mondeaux started the first two preseason games with Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu sitting out. Heyward and Alualu returned against the Lions, and with Chris Wormley starting for Tuitt, Henry Mondeaux came in as the first reserve.
The Steelers seem to be set that not only is Henry Mondeaux not going to get cut, he is firmly in front of Buggs, Davis and Loudermilk on the depth chart.
Let’s look at his game, and give a bit of a spotlight to a player whose development is largely being ignored by fans and the media.
Nfl Free Agency: 3 Observations On Jacksonville Jaguars' Second Wave Additions
Henry Mondeaux showed a nice set of pass rush moves from the moment he joined the Steelers, but he wasn’t polished and didn’t have a lot of success with them.
Here against the Philadelphia Eagles starting offensive line, Mondeaux makes a nice move, drawing the center’s arms out and then swatting them away to get into the backfield for a hit on the quarterback.
On this play Mondeaux splits the center and guard to put pressure on the quarterback. Mondeaux can still put some pressure on the quarterback, even if he isn’t going to look like Cameron Heyward or Stephon Tuitt out there, he uses his rush moves better and provides value as a pass rusher on his own.
Report: Steelers Cut Henry Mondeaux, Ryan Mccollum
Here’s a basic tackle/end stunt. Henry Mondeaux runs upfield and engages the tackle, while edge rusher Alex Highsmith cuts inside behind him. Keith Butler isn’t going to just settle for a stunt though, he also has Robert Spillane on a hug blitz, and the quarterback is pushed out of the pocket.
Two things stand out on the Mondeaux/Highsmith stunt, first is Mondeaux winning his battle after the lineman switch, and the second is Alex Highsmith. Highsmith gets upfield so quickly you can see that Mondeaux has to chase down the offensive tackle just to initiate the stunt. This makes it obvious to the guard that it’s a stunt, and he sits on Highsmith’s cut inside.
This one from the Lions game was much better, Highsmith slows his rush just a bit, and it lets Mondeaux make an earlier move on the guard before attacking the tackle. That slight change in timing keeps the guard’s attention on Mondeaux and Highsmith gets a free run at the quarterback to force a dump off on third and long.
Steelers Notebook: New Faces Put Their Hands In The Pile
Here’s Mondeaux leading a tackle stunt. Mondeaux is impressive here as he takes the left guard and center and drives them into the right guard. Mondeaux takes out three of the offensive lineman on this play, and if Chris Wormley takes a tighter turn to the quarterback, he has a real shot at a sack.
I was surprised watching film of last season how many times T.J. Watt recorded a sack with Mondeaux on the field instead of Stephon Tuitt. Mondeaux’s ability to lead these stunts is a huge weapon when you have an elite athlete and finisher next to him cutting inside. Look for Mondeaux to get more snaps next to T.J. Watt in 2021, because T.J. Watt is deadly on a stunt, and Mondeaux sets them up really well.
Isaiah Buggs is setting up the stunt for Mondeaux here. It doesn’t go well. Buggs gets bogged down in the middle, and doesn’t get in tight to the lineman like Mondeaux does in the above clips. That ends up with Mondeaux running into Buggs and no pressure being generated at all from the stunt.
Steelers Depth Chart: Starters, Position Battles Entering Camp And A Rookie Phenom
Henry Mondeaux shows great power on stunts, where he excels at taking on multiple lineman and controlling the logjam he creates to free up team mates. That kind of skill shows up on other snaps.
The main problem with Henry Mondeaux when he first joined the Steelers was his ability to hold the line. Against the run, and even against the pass, if he wasn’t getting past someone, he was going to lose the battle. As you can see from his work taking on lineman on stunts, that isn’t a problem anymore on those plays, and it isn’t a problem anymore in the run game either.
Mondeaux on this play, much like he does setting up stunts, takes on multiple blockers and controls the pile. The offense can’t move him back or inside to clear room for the back, and with Alex Highsmith beating the left tackle, the run play is dead. Mondeaux has shown he is much better at holding his own when teams run at him than he was even last year.
Steelers 2021 Exit Interviews: Cam Heyward And Henry Mondeaux
Mondeaux does a fantastic job here, he takes on the double team, holds his ground, stops the guard and tackle from getting to another defender, and even drives the pile to the play side to try and help pinch the run lane. You can see no one gets to Robert Spillane on this play, but an uncalled hold on Cassius Marsh and Carlos Davis getting swallowed up and driven back clear a path for the runner to score. Plenty goes wrong for the Steelers on this play, one thing that didn’t was Henry Mondeaux.
Henry Mondeaux isn’t competing for a starting job, or even the top backup spot, but he has separated himself from the rest of the pack as the clear #5 defensive lineman on the Steelers, and he’s a dang good player to have as your #5 lineman. It will be exciting to see how his usage expands in the regular season, following his incredible improvement in less than a year.
In the final preseason game of the season, the Carolina Panthers are expected to play their starters a good bit of the game. That will give Steeler fans a second chance to watch Henry Mondeaux facing off against an offensive line of NFL starters. While most of the defense is likely to be overmatched, Mondeaux has shown he is up to the challenge.Nearly four years since his last sack, Henry Mondeaux recorded the first of his NFL career in Sunday’s win over the Denver Broncos. A tremendous spin move to beat the right guard, Mondeaux dropped Teddy Bridgewater on 1st and 10 late in the third quarter. Speaking with reporters Monday, Mondeaux broke the moment down.
Henry Mondeaux: 'the Older Guys Do A Great Job Of Teaching Us Younger Guys'
“The sack was, they gave us an empty set so we knew it was pass, ” he told reporters via Steelers.com. “I was in a one-on-one situation. So I knew I had a two-way go on the guard and he overset a little bit and I used a spin move and broke through the line quick. So I was happy about that.”
An impressive athlete, Mondeaux beat the right guard to the inside with the spin then used the “ice pick” to propel himself forward the rest of the way and ensure the guard couldn’t get his hands on him. Take a look at the play.
As Mondeaux said, he had a “two-way go” as a pass rusher on this play, meaning he had the freedom to win inside or outside based off the guard’s pass set. Here’s an example of it described in Dick LeBeau’s 2002 Bengals’ playbook.
Who Are These Guys? Little Known Long Shots Become Players For Steelers Defense
“I was happy about my identity identification before the play. Knowing that it was going to be what it was. We’d seen on film that their guards were oversetting a little bit. So I knew I had the opportunity to go inside. So that was good.”
It was the first sack in a game that counted since October 28, 2017 against Utah, when he was with Oregon. An impressive athlete for a 300-pounder, a guy who has run down kicks and caught fake field goals in practice, he showed off his athleticism on that play. That spin move is something he’s had in his toolbelt for years now, refining and getting quicker with it over time. Here’s a clip of him using the spin in a 2019 preseason game to get pressure against Carolina.
Henry Mondeaux has a seriously potent spin move. Not the first time he's won with it. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/BxbSzPsXCU — Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) August 30, 2019
Pittsburgh Steelers Vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: What To Watch For In Preseason Game 2
Hard work pays off and Mondeaux was rewarded with his first career sack Sunday. Coming into the game, the Steelers’ backup defensive linemen struggled
