Tomlin, Colbert let DB Hilton slip to division rival despite production

The Steelers defense has taken some big hits over the past week, the biggest of which was inevitable. We all knew Bud Dupree was gone.

The second-biggest hit didn’t have to happen.

Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin chose Cam Sutton over Mike Hilton, and while Sutton might have a bright future, Hilton is the more unique and harder-to-replace talent.

The difference in average salary over the next few years — after

Hilton signed a four-year, $24 million deal with the Bengals — is a measly $1.5 million. The difference in age is just one year. (Hilton is 27, Sutton 26.)

Sutton can play outside or

inside. His versatility was his advantage. If he continues to progress, he will be the obvious replacement for 31-year-old Joe Haden when Haden’s contract expires after the 2021 season. In the meantime, there should be plenty of playing time for Sutton, who signed a twoyear, $9 million deal.

Again, this isn’t really about him.

It’s about Hilton, who is one of the better slot cornerbacks in the league and has a knack for making plays behind the line of scrimmage. He’s just different.

The following number illustrates as much. It always jumped off the page as I tracked it each week in the Steelers’ game notes. It was last updated the week of the playoff game against the Browns, which turned out to be the last game of Hilton’s Steelers career (assuming he doesn’t return someday): Since 2017, Jamal Adams is the only defensive back in the NFL with more combined sacks and tackles for loss than Hilton.

Think about that. Adams, considered one of the more dynamic defensive players in the league, has 39 tackles for loss since 2017. Hilton is second among defensive backs with 30, ahead of the likes of Budda Baker, Malcolm Jenkins and Harrison Smith.

Also, Hilton is tied for second among defensive backs in sacks since 2017 with 9.5. Adams has 21.5.

If the rap on Hilton is his coverage abilities, the numbers beg to differ. He clearly had some rough moments in 2018, but he spent much of that year dealing with an elbow injury.

My eyes tell me to believe the NFL-produced site Next Gen Stats (nextgenstats.nfl.com), which tweeted the following after Hilton signed with the Bengals: “Mike Hilton has excelled in coverage over the course of his career. Hilton is one of five defensive backs (the only slot CB) to allow fewer passes to be completed than expected in coverage in each of the last four seasons (minimum 40 targets in a season).”

Hilton’s passer rating against, as the nearest defender, is third in the NFL over that span.

Obviously, at 5 feet 9, Hilton is going to find himself in some bad matchups. But it’s not as if Sutton is Manute Bol. He’s 5-11, and I seem to recall a football or three going over his head last season, too. Do you think he is that much of a better matchup in the slot against huge tight ends, if that is where he ends up?

Slot corner is a hugely important position these days. Just after the Ravens signed their 5-9 slot guy, Tavon Young, to a three-year, $25.8 million contract in 2019 — he has since suffered two major injuries — ESPN’s Louis Riddick put it this way: “Just go back in history and think of the players who have dominated as outside, one-on-one, shutdown corners. That’s where the money goes. But we know, in order to survive in the NFL right now and in order to play good defense, you do have to have very good inside, slot corners.”

The Steelers had a very good one. An unusual one. A highly productive one.

They let him slip away.