During the 2023 offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers went to great lengths to attempt to rebuild its secondary. This was after losing cornerback Cam Sutton and safety Terrell Edmunds to free agency.
But even after all that, the secondary remains the weak link on defense. Cornerbacks Patrick Peterson and Chandon Sullivan have underperformed and the combination of Damontae Kazee and Kenau Neal hasn’t impressed.
Jeff Rison over at Draft Wire has a new two-round mock draft out for 2024 and he hits the defensive secondary with both picks.
In the first round, Pittsburgh went with Georgia cornerback Kamari Lassiter. The Steelers struck gold in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft with Joey Porter Jr. and Lassiter is an interesting player to add to this group.
Moving to the second round, Risdon returns to the secondary with Michigan safety Rod Moore. Moore is a solid zone-coverage safety with some nice tools to build from.
Is this the direction we’d have gone? Probably not but not because these guys don’t fill significant needs because they do. Instead of Lassiter and Moore, in this scenario, I’d have opted for Miami safety Kamren Kinchens in the first and Iowa State cornerback T.J. Tampa in the second. Same positions but both of these players have better athleticism and more upside.
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