Steel City Blitz
While the Pittsburgh Steelers are now enjoying their summer prior to Training Camp, we’re going to spend some time previewing the positions. From the locks to the guys who are just ‘camp bodies’ we’ll take a look at all of the guys competing at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.
On the Roster: DeShon Elliott, Darnell Savage, Sebastian Castro, Jaquan Brisker, Jack Henderson, Robert Spears-Jennings
What We Know: Elliott and Brisker are locks. Savage is an eight-year veteran who will rely on experience. Castro is undersized yet continues to be one of those guys that just keeps making plays in practice. Spears-Jennings was a very pleasant surprise throughout OTAs and has some people thinking he could make the roster. Henderson is a Camp body I’m sorry to say. Perhaps he uses the opportunity to earn a spot on the Practice Squad.
A couple of notes on Brisker… The local product returns to the Steel City with high expectations. I think he’s going to be a very versatile piece of what Patrick Graham wants to do. He has the ability to be one of those two deep safeties and he’s also good around the box. He’s a really good blitzer too and I’ll be surprised if Graham doesn’t use him occasionally in this manner. Brisker isn’t perfect by any means. He can stare down QBs a bit too long and I’m not entirely convinced he recognizes routes at the level he should. However, I expect him to be an important piece of this new defense.
What We Don’t Know: How many safeties will Mike McCarthy and Patrick Graham want to keep? This question takes on more significance because of Jalen Ramsey. If they are planning to give him a decent portion of snaps at safety, then perhaps that’s one less you need. We also have to raise the issue with Elliott’s ability to stay healthy. This is something he’s struggled to do in recent seasons and when he’s not on the field, the defense struggles.
Based on OTAs it sure looks like Graham intends to use more two-high safety looks. In most general cases this calls for each safety to be responsible for one half of the field. Those skills don’t appear to fit Elliott. It’s not that he can’t play in that type of system, its that he’s been so good as a safety playing closer to the line of scrimmage. In other words, how Graham deploys Elliott will be interesting.
Of this group, Castro is likely to be the main Special Teams player. I don’t see Elliott, Brisker or Savage playing much on Teams so that helps Castro’s cause. None of this matters though if Spears-Jennings makes his way on to the roster because he’ll be a reserve safety but will be used a lot on Teams.
How It Shakes Out: NFL teams normally roll with 10 defensive backs in a combination of six corners and four safeties or five and five. Elliott and Brisker are in and...
