Behind the Steel Curtain
It’s one of those moments where last week’s Read & React — the Steelers’ defensive issues against the Bengals — could just be copy and pasted into this week’s edition.
But to avoid repeating ourselves too much, this time around we’ll be looking ahead at the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 4 along with our usual gripes. Could some savvy wheeling and dealing offer some answers to the struggling Steelers? And it appears the team has gone to the well already with Monday’s addition of former Patriots safety Kyle Dugger.
RP: If the Steelers are hoping to change their fortunes via trade, then there are two position groups that stand out like a sore thumb: receiver and the secondary at large.
The Steelers offense isn’t a juggernaut by any means, and certainly could benefit from adding one or more playmakers, but to me the secondary is the most glaring need. We’ll address how poorly the Steelers secondary has played in further detail in the next question, but I don’t think I’m telling any tales when I say the Steelers have been abysmal in pass coverage.
That’s a pretty hard pill to swallow given how the Steelers’ public messaging all summer was about how “historically good” this defense could be. The premise that Pittsburgh’s front office sold and seemed to buy into themselves was that the pass rush was still elite enough that the defense could still be the engine of this team with just a few tweaks.
To their credit, the Steelers took a big swing trading away Minkah Fitzpatrick and bringing in Jalen Ramsey. But the rest of their moves have been disappointing.
The Steelers went cheap at cornerback signing Brandin Echols and 34-year-old Darius Slay. Ryland and I both expressed heavy skepticism that Slay had anything left in the tank (more on him later) and he’s done little to prove those doubts wrong. Meanwhile, Echols hasn’t played poorly, but 124 of his 221 snaps (56.1%) on defense came in Week 3 and 4, with the Steelers refusing to mix things up outside.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure there are many options out there.
The names I’ve seen floated around are Seattle’s Riq Woolen, Tennessee’s L’Jarius Sneed, New Orlean’s Alontae Taylor, and the Jet’s Michael Carter II.
Woolen is the most intriguing of the bunch, with his combination of age (26), size (6’4, 33 ⅝” arms), and speed (4.26 40-yard dash). However, he’s up for a contract extension, would not improve the tackling woes of the secondary (seven missed tackles this year and 42 in four seasons), and is giving up the highest passer rating when targeted (98.9) of his career.
Sneed is in the same boat as Woolen, currently surrendering a passer rating of 137.7, and he’s due $15 million-plus over the next two seasons. Carter (99.2) and Taylor (111.8) aren’t faring much better, and both primarily play in the slot, which...
