Steelers Now
Safety Jordan Whitehead, a Pittsburgh native and a Pitt alum, is seeking to revive his NFL career after missing the 2025 season with a neck injury, and it just so happens that his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers are in need of a free safety.
So should the Steelers take a look at the local product ahead of training camp next week?
Whitehead, 29, missed the entire 2025 season with a neck injury stemming from a car accident on his way to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training facility last January. He ended up needed surgery on that injury, which was performed by Dr. Alex Vaccaro, a spine consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles.
According to a report by NFL Network on Monday, Whitehead has been cleared to return to action, with tryouts already completed with the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans. Could his hometown Steelers be next?
The Steelers are currently thin at free safety, where Jaquan Brisker is expected to start after coming over from the Chicago Bears as a free agent. Brisker was a solid starter for the Bears in his four seasons in Chicago, but split his time fairly equally between being an in-the-box safety and a split-field or centerfield free safety.
In Pittsburgh, there shouldn’t be a big need for Brisker to play strong safety, because DeShon Elliott is expected to return to his starting role in that spot after missing most of 2025 with knee and hamstring injuries.
Making Brisker a full-time free safety will be a bit of an experiment, and the Steelers will be doing it without much of a safety net.
Veteran defensive back Jalen Ramsey is the only other player on the team with significant experience at free safety. Most of that came last year, when the Steelers played him there for 450 snaps, to mixed results that were understandable for a player getting his first large dose of the position. He had just 137 snaps of free safety in his first nine NFL seasons.
But Ramsey is also expected to be the Steelers’ primary starting Nickel cornerback, so playing him at free safety will have some negative trickle-down impacts for the rest of the defense.
Beyond that, there’s very little other depth. Seventh-round rookie Robert Spears-Jennings is a total wild card, with a ton of speed, but up-and-down college tape, playing in a difficult defense. Second-year former undrafted free agent Sebastian Castro played almost exclusively strong safety at Iowa and didn’t see the field as a rookie last year.
Former first-round draft pick Darnell Savage has played more free safety than strong safety in his seven NFL seasons, but he was also waived twice last season.
Does Whitehead project to be an upgrade? As is the case with any player returning from injury, it all depends on what his physical form looks like. But the player he was in 2024, before his injury, would be a useful addition to the Steelers.
He played in 12 games — all starts — for the Bucs...
