Behind the Steel Curtain
What are the Steelers’ greatest strengths and weaknesses on defense?
Heading into training camp, what are the Steelers’ biggest strengths? In this two-part series, we’ll be power ranking Pittsburgh’s position groups on both offense and defense. Today, we’ll finish the series by looking at the latter.
Invert the ranking, and you get an idea of the team’s defensive needs heading into the new season:
Rostered: Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay, Beanie Bishop Jr., Brandin Echols, Cory Trice Jr., Donte Kent, James Pierre, D’Shawn Jamison, Cameron McCutcheon, Kyler McMichael
Cornerback is, without a doubt, the Steelers’ defensive position group with the most question marks entering 2025. But they could still be very good in the upcoming season. We’re already starting off on a much stronger foot than the offense rankings.
Joey Porter Jr. had an up-and-down second NFL season as the Steelers’ CB1 in 2024, leading the league’s defensive backs in penalties. The former No. 32 overall pick didn’t play anywhere near bad enough to be considered a potential draft bust, but he didn’t take the expected second year leap. His completion percentage and passer rating allowed, yards per target, and missed tackle percentage were all worse than his rookie season numbers.
The Steelers drafted Porter with high hopes, and while he’s been solid so far, he still has work to do to prove he can be a true lockdown corner.
Free agent addition Darius Slay is coming off an excellent 2024 where he won a Super Bowl as a starter on the Eagles’ top-ranked defense. But he’ll turn 35 in January — no matter how good his tape was last year, there are legitimate questions about how much longer he can be a plus starter at the position.
In the slot, the Steelers have even more uncertainty. Beanie Bishop Jr., a 2024 undrafted free agent, is expected to start. His rookie season was full of highs and lows, with Bishop starting six games and recording four interceptions; he also lost that starting job midseason and was a part of a number of coverage busts.
Seventh-round rookie Donte Kent is expected to compete with Bishop for the starting slot job.
And as for the reserves on the boundary, the Steelers added former Jets defensive back Brandin Echols in free agency, a career backup who can start in a pinch. The team also has 2023 seventh-rounder Cory Trice Jr., a talented, lengthy cornerback who’s struggled to stay healthy in both his college and pro career. James Pierre has eight career starts and is an experienced, quality gunner on special teams.
There are a lot of exciting names in this room — and also a lot that can go wrong.
Rostered: Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, Malik Harrison, Cole Holcomb, Mark Robinson, Carson Bruener, Devin Harper
It’s easy to be bullish on the Steelers’ inside linebacker corps, but like cornerback, there’s no guarantee everything goes right.
In 2024, Patrick Queen was signed with the biggest free agent...
