For a team that finished first in Defensive DVOA in 2020 (and first against the pass by a large margin), the Steelers are undergoing a lot of uncertainty in their secondary right now. Losing outstanding slot cornerback Mike Hilton to the Bengals in free agency was a blow, and as it stands, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of clarity in regards to who will start at outside cornerback opposite Joe Haden. Losing Steven Nelson in a salary cap-based release was another hit in that Nelson played more snaps (839) at outside cornerback last season for the Steelers than anyone else on the roster, including Haden. One assumes that Cameron Sutton, who probably has the best tools to be Haden’s bookend, would be slotted into that role, but as the Steelers get ready to deal with the Bills’ high-powered passing game on Sunday, September 12, there’s more we don’t know than what we know.
When asked on Wednesday whether second-year undrafted free agent James Pierre would be his third cornerback, defensive coordinator Keith Butler was… pointed in his response.
“Well, we’ve got several guys and I’m not gonna tell you who the guy is. I’m gonna make dadgum Buffalo figure that out, okay? We’ve got several guys who can play and move around in different positions, and we’re gonna move them around in different positions. In terms of who’s gonna be the nickel, who’s gonna be the left corner, who’s gonna be the right corner, who’s gonna be the free safety, the strong safety, all that stuff… fortunately for us, we’ve got some guys who know the whole defense and they know what we’re gonna expect out of each position. We can change positions with them if we need to.”
When pressed whether he was comfortable with four cornerbacks, Butler opened up the possibility of an opportunity.
“I don’t think anybody’s comfortable with four cornerbacks. We’ve got guys who can play different positions. Cam [Sutton] can play different positions. He can play the nickel. 42 [Pierre] has shown that he can play in preseason. We think we’re okay right now to play them in different positions. If somebody becomes available out there in Never-Never Land, we’ll see what happens.”
Not that I, a Seattle resident, enjoy seeing the Emerald City referred to as “Never-Never Land,” but it may be from these very environs that the Steelers have found their missing piece. On Friday, they traded a 2023 fifth-round pick to the Seahawks for the services of cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who Seattle signed to a one-year, $4 million, fully guaranteed contract in March. The Seahawks were more than familiar with Witherspoon, as the 2017 third-round pick out of Colorado played his first four seasons with the 49ers. But as training camp and the preseason went along, Witherspoon found himself dropping down the depth chart as his size (6-foot-2 and 195 pounds), normally a plus in Pete Carroll’s defenses, didn’t make up for his lack of trail speed against the league’s better receivers.