Journeyman angling to fill role at safety
Riley has experience with Raiders, Giants
Curtis Riley went nearly five months without gainful employment, the first time in his five-year career he was on the street.
Riley might be about as anonymous as possible for a safety who has played 43 games in the NFL, started 19 of them and picked off five career passes. Signed by the Steelers at the start of training camp, Riley got a chance with the first-team defense in practice Friday afternoon and made good use of it, strong-arming a catch away from tight end Eric Ebron over the middle.
“It was actually a good play by one of our D-linemen who tipped the ball in the air,” Riley said. “I saw him go for the ball and I just ripped it out of his hands and made a play.”
As he came off the field, Riley got some big hugs and hand pounds from starting cornerback Steven Nelson, as well as Terrell Edmunds, who was watching from the sideline.
A part-time starter last year with Oakland and full-time starter the season before with the Giants, Riley clearly is here to shore up depth in an experienced safety group. At 6 feet, 190 pounds, he doesn’t have standout size, and he went undrafted out of Fresno State in 2016. But Riley, who turned 28 in late July and was added to the mix around the same time as running back Wendell Smallwood, does have something coach Mike Tomlin covets.
“More than anything, we were interested in increasing the level of competition in this environment. The way you do that is you bring as many capable men in as you can,” Tomlin said Friday. “Both the guys you mentioned have credible NFL resumes, and they’ve proven that thus far. They’ve got a veteran-like look to them and both are being positive contributors to the days that we’re having. We look forward to continuing to get to know them and looking at ways that they can carve out a niche for themselves within what we’re doing here.”
Riley got to carving Friday, playing next to Minkah Fitzpatrick because Edmunds missed practice with what Tomlin referred to as a minor ailment. Edmunds is day-today, but Riley has lived year-to-year for much of his football life.
Coming out of high school as a no-star quarterback recruit, he went to Division II Mars Hill College — bonus points if you can name the state — then took off the 2011 season to be with family. He was back in school in 2012 but at the junior-college level in California, and he didn’t even play in his lone year at Fullerton College because of eligibility issues. But Riley practiced with the football team and eventually managed to sign with Fresno State.
Riley joined Fresno State so late in the summer that he showed up one day before the first practice, only to become a starter the third game — at cornerback. He transitioned to safety and might just cement himself as the No. 3 — or at least Fitzpatrick’s backup as the deep man — for the Steelers despite not having a team a month ago.
“It was a little frustrating with the COVID going on,” Riley said. “It was a long waiting process, so kind of frustrating, but I kept my head down, worked out every day, was trying to make sure I was ready so that when I got a call, I was ready to go.”
In a perfect world, the Steelers won’t need Riley to replace Fitzpatrick or Edmunds at any point as a starter this year. But with all the sub-package defense they play and the potential to move around either of those safeties given their versatility, Riley not only might make the team, but also have a role.
Just last season, the Steelers rolled with an unproven youngster in Kameron Kelly as the top backup safety. Kelly struggled so much out of the gate — remember he started next to Edmunds in the Week 1 touchdown party for the Patriots — that the Steelers traded for Fitzpatrick once Sean Davis injured his shoulder.
Kelly is gone now. Davis is gone, too, and the safety options are thin outside of veteran special teamer Jordan Dangerfield.
“I think I’m doing pretty well,” Riley said. “This is actually a similar defense that I ran my first few years in Tennessee. It was easier picking it up, and I just had to learn new terminologies and how they play things.”
Up for a bubble
As the NFL discusses the potential of creating a bubble of sorts for the postseason — Troy Polamalu reportedly is one of eight former players, coaches and executive on a new advisory board — Tomlin wasn’t in much of a mood to discuss that possibility.
But if it means the playoffs will go off without a hitch, you can probably sign up the Steelers coach for whatever it takes to make it happen.
“I’m definitely not opposed to it. I’m not opposed to anything that’s going to aid us through this process,” Tomlin said.
Quick hits
• Riley didn’t have the only interception of the day. Cornerback Cam Sutton picked up where he left off from 2019 training camp, intercepting a Ben Roethlisberger pass intended for Ryan Switzer over the middle to end the team’s two-minute drill period at the start of practice.
• Tomlin said that in addition to Edmunds, wide receiver Diontae Johnson also sat out practice with a minor injury. Guards David DeCastro and Kevin Dotson also remained out, as did tight end Dax Raymond, but Tomlin has said they don’t have longterm ailments. Center Maurkice Pouncey, who was excused Monday due to personal reasons, was not at practice.
• Before practice while the team was stretching, Tomlin brought up a challenge to Ebron from a blocking standpoint. He told Ebron he wanted to see him against rookie outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, but that he wasn’t ready yet for T.J. Watt or Bud Dupree. Ebron laughed back that he couldn’t lie; he definitely didn’t want to match up with Dupree.
• Tomlin almost always wears black but was noticeably in a red collared shirt Friday for practice. On the back it had the words “CLEANING AMBASSADOR.” It was the same uniform worn by service workers at Heinz Field, and Tomlin wanted to give them a nod of approval for their hard work during a most unusual camp.