Secondary likely to get new jobs, new faces
The good news for the Steelers secondary is they broke in two new starters last season when Artie Burns and Sean Davis managed to work their way into starting positions on a team that made it to the AFC championship game.
The bad news for the Steelers secondary is they might have to do it again next season.
The defensive backfield is in much better shape at this time this year than last, but it remains in transition. Head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive backs coach Carnell Lake would like to employ more man coverage in the defense next season, which means new players — third- round pick Cameron Sutton, fifthround pick Brian Allen, 2015 second-round pick Senquez Golson (whose injuries have prevented him from playing one down in the NFL) and free agent Coty Sensabaugh — could be learning on the job this fall.
“Each player is going to grow at the pace they allow themselves,” said veteran corner William Gay, who could find himself in a new role with the influx of fresh talent. “They can use what Sean and Artie did as a template, just watching the defense and learning as fast as they can.”
Burns and Davis mostly watched and learned the first half of the season before the coaches were confident enough to insert them as starters. Burns took over for Gay, who moved inside to slot corner, and Davis took over for Robert Golden.
Now Golson, Sutton, Allen and Sensabaugh are vying for playing time at slot corner and perhaps the outside corner job that Ross Cockrell now occupies. Cockrell started all 16 games last season, but the Steelers offered him only a fourth-round tender worth $1.79 million when he was a restricted free agent earlier this spring, an indication they don’t highly value him.
The tender doesn’t mean Cockrell won’t remain the starter, but it certainly gives the appearance that challengers will be given an opportunity to push him for the job.
The development of the new cornerbacks this summ e r will determine whether, and when, Cockrell and Gay are challenged. For Sutton and Allen, and to a lesser extent Golson, the transition from college will have its share of bumps in the road.
“Every year is a learning curve, but last year it was a big jump coming from college to the pros,” Burns said.
“I told Cam and those guys about that. I told them how me and Sean and how it went last year. Everything is going to be going 100 mph. You just have to be ready to work every day. You’ll have your ups and downs, but every week you know you’re going to get better.”
In many ways, the improvement of the secondary hinges on the new players and ultimately what they can offer. If the Steelers can’t play more man coverage, the pass defense isn’t likely to take a big step forward.
Last season, the Steelers ranked 16th in pass defense, but they struggled mightily against Tom Brady (twice) as well as Joe Flacco and rookies Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott. The Steelers will face even better quarterbacks next season, a list that includes Brady, Matt Stafford and Andrew Luck, just to name a few.
The ability to play man and zone will give defensive coordinator Keith Butler more options when he draws up game plans against the best NFL passing games.
“That’s something we’re trying to implement in our scheme,” Burns said. “We have the guys in the room and that’s something we feel like we can do. We just have to work on it. If it looks good preseason, we’ll probably run it throughout the season.”
And the hope is playing more man-to-man will increase the number of turnovers the Steelers force. They were 14th in takeaways last season and recorded 13 interceptions, but only six came from corners. Burns led the way with three, but Cockrell did not have any and Gay had only one.
“You can’t just rely on the offense to get us out of stadiums,” Burns said. “The Steelers are known for their defense, and we have to bring that back. We have to get ourselves out of stadiums sometimes. We can’t just rely on Ben [Roethlisberger] and those guys. Of course, we want those guys to score, but we want to put up points and get stops ourselves.”