HADEN TALKS LOSING ‘PARTNER’ NELSON
Letting Nelson go ‘business decision’
Joe Haden has been in the NFL long enough to know it’s a business — a big business — and sometimes tough decisions have to be made.
One of those came when the Steelers released his “business partner,” cornerback Steven Nelson, who played opposite Haden in the secondary.
But Haden, who enters his 12th season in the league and fifth with the Steelers, knows he could have been the veteran cornerback with a big salary who was let go for much the same reason.
“I was a little surprised,”
Haden said about Nelson’s release. “But, you know, it’s the business thing. It had a lot to do with [salary] cap numbers. Me and him are older players, we both have one year left on our deals. The salary cap being what it is, it was a business decision. It [stinks]. Steve is a baller. I can’t wait for him to land on his feet.”
Nelson, 28, was entering the final year of his three-year, $25.5 million contract, which was the largest the Steelers have handed a player in free agency. He was scheduled to count $15,169,000 against the salary cap in 2021.
That was not much different than Haden, 32, who will count $15,575,000 in 2021, second highest on the team after Ben Roethlisberger. Haden is at the three-day minicamp at Heinz Field after not attending any of the OTA sessions on the South Side.
But, even though Nelson was four years younger, the Steelers released him because they considered Haden a more valued member of the secondary who can still play at a high level. The Steelers were disappointed with Nelson’s play in the late stages of last season, especially in the game in Buffalo when Bills receiver Stefon Diggs was running wide open in the secondary.
Nelson has yet to sign with another team and is an unrestricted free agent. Meantime, the Steelers re-signed Cam Sutton to a two-year, $9 million deal to be his replacement.
“I know he had options with other teams,” Haden said. “That’s just a very, very tough part of the business where it’s a numbers thing.
[Sutton], dudes who can be able to be here a long time. We have so much talent on one team, sometimes we can’t keep everybody.”
But the Steelers will be without more than just Nelson in their secondary in 2021. Nickelback Mike Hilton signed in free agency with the Cincinnati Bengals, effectively leaving them without two starters.
Curiously, Sutton was signed to effectively fill both roles. He will be the starting outside cornerback with Haden in their 3-4 defense and move inside to the slot when the Steelers use their nickel and dime defenses. Either James Pierre, an undrafted free agent in 2020, or 2019 third-round choice Justin Layne will replace Sutton on the outside in sub-packages. At least, that is the plan right now.
“I think it comes to guys stepping up and going to have a lot of opportunities for guys like Antoine Brooks, for Justin Layne, for James Pierre,” Haden said. “These dudes are going to have a really, really good opportunity to be able to step in there and make significant jumps in their career.
“Cam Sutton is going to be able to thrive on the outside corner. He’s a great nickel and outside [corner]. He could be a starter on a lot of NFL teams regardless. It’s good we can keep him. He’s going to be a solid starting corner in this league.”
Teryl Austin, the team’s senior defensive assistant/secondary coach, said the Steelers are using the three-day minicamp to look at several players who can play in the slot in their sub-package defenses and leaving Sutton on the outside. That includes Brooks, last year’s sixthround draft choice, and rookie free agent Shakur Brown.
“I know Cam can play inside, so right now he’s working outside and we’re letting these other guys work inside to see what we have,” Austin said. “We want to give them as many opportunities to learn and see where they can go. If we don’t feel real comfortable with what we have, we’ll address changes at that time. I know Cam wouldn’t need a lot of reps to move inside and help us.”
It was a little surprising the Steelers did not pursue a veteran in free agency after losing two starters in the secondary. But that could still happen before the Steelers get to training camp, or even before the regular season, depending on what they see from their depth in the preseason.
“I like our young guys,” Austin said. “I like James Pierre, I like J-Layne. We have some young guys, a couple free agent guys, I’d like to see compete. Ability-wise, James and J-Layne have the ability to play in this league and be qualityplayers. It just depends how fast and how far they progress in the next four or five weeks.
“I’m comfortable there, but I’m also aware if we have way to better our team and it happens to be an outside guy, I’m more than happy to have him, as well.”