Big Ben: You can’t take eyes off Haden
have to worry about trying to find Haden on the field Sunday when the Steelers open the regular season in Cleveland against his former team. For the first time since he entered the NFL as the seventh overall player drafted in 2010, Haden will be lining up in a secondary other than the Browns.
And the Steelers thrilled to have him.
They signed Haden to a three-year, $27 million contract just two days after he was released by the Browns and immediately inserted him as the starting left cornerback.
“You have to go after a guy and be aggressive to sign a guy like that,” said right tackle Marcus Gilbert, Haden’s friend and former are teammate at the University of Florida. “His talent, you can’t replace. He’s a very talented guy, and he’s still in his prime right now.”
Haden is the first Pro Bowl cornerback the Steelers have employed since Rod Woodson, and his presence should help solidify a position that has been in a state of flux for a number of years. That his first game with the Steelers comes against his former team only adds to the intrigue of his arrival.
“One player can change the face of a defense,” Gilbert said. “Cornerback is one of the hardest positions on the field. You get a lock-down corner, it takes lot of pressure off the other guys. The safeties can roam freely and help out any way they can. He’s a phenomenal football player.”
Haden said he expects Browns coach Hue Jackson to throw his way and test him, even though that was not always the approach opposing quarterbacks took when they played the Browns.
And he thinks he has the quarterback who can throw the ball downfield and attack Haden – rookie DeShone Kizer, the Browns’ secondround draft choice. Kizer is the fifth different quarterback to open the season in the past five years for the Browns.
Jackson likes Kizer for the same reason he wasn’t enamored with last year’s rookie quarterback, Cody Kessler: Kizer has a strong throwing arm that is able to take advantage of the vertical routes Jackson likes to employ. Kessler is more of a West Coaststyle quarterback.
“I’m a guy who has a big arm and likes to use it,” Kizer said on a conference call with Pittsburgh-area media.
Jackson is hoping Kizer can use it to get Corey Coleman, a No. 1 draft choice, more involved in the offense. Coleman was targeted 74 times as a rookie, but had only 30 catches, in part because Kessler couldn’t get him the ball.
The Browns also traded for former Steelers receiver Sammie Coates, hoping to use his speed to create more splash plays. Coates is the fastest receiver on the Browns roster. The Steelers do not plan to have Haden shadow the other team’s top receiver, something he did with the Browns.
“He’s a great football player,” Roethlisberger said of Haden. “There are a handful of guys you had to know where they were at all times. Any time a guy follows your main guy he has to be pretty good.”