Steel City Blitz
An annual rite of passage… Our Training Camp Previews for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The concept here is pretty straightforward; we’ll take a look at each position. Who is vying for a place on the 53-man roster and how will that happen? Obviously there are some spots much each easier to break down than others but we’ll do our best to cover it all. Today we cover the Cornerbacks
Coming over in free agency from the New York Jets, Brandin Echols has played in 57 career games since 2021. He’s started 19 of those games, but 14 of those were in his rookie campaign. He’s got the versatility to play on the inside or outside and it will be curious to see where the Steelers deploy him. Most believe him to be more suited and better in the slot, but we’ll see. With just two career interceptions, he’s not a ball hawk but he is a solid tackler which is sorely needed.
Sometimes when guys make a few plays, their actual value to a team gets inflated. They create a few turnovers or scoop and score a fumble leading to fans believing that they are worthy of more time. Beanie Bishop, Jr may – and I stress “may” – fall into this category. He had four interceptions in his rookie season largely playing in the slot. Unfortunately, when veteran Cam Sutton came off his eight-game suspension, he got the nod over Bishop.
The argument was that Sutton was more experienced and understood the defense better. Bishop meanwhile was making some plays but allegedly also was missing some assignments, thus Sutton was getting the snaps. Sutton is gone, but now Bishop faces challenges from Echols and Jalen Ramsey among others.
Pierre is the type of player who should have his Special Teams position listed before his defensive position. I say this simply because Pierre performs better on Special Teams than he does at cornerback. He is typically a gunner on punt team and participates in just about every other unit. Defensively, he can look solid at times. Too often however, he gets beat deep or just doesn’t stay with his man well enough. Because of the lack of depth, he’s got an advantage. That said, his negatives as a defensive back could cost him should someone else step up.
Entering his third season, Joey Porter, Jr has been durable missing just one game in 34. His overall game has been exactly what we all expected coming out of Penn State. He’s long, fast, athletic… and grabby. Not surprisingly, he led the NFL in penalties committed by a cornerback with 17. Like it or not, he’s become a target for officials and opposing receivers. They will do whatever it takes to get a call on him and sometimes it works.
Still, JPJ has to play smarter. He has to know when he...
