The Pittsburgh Steelers entered training camp with the problem of sorting out the loss of two starting cornerbacks. Steven Nelson was a cap casualty and Mike Hilton left for a big payday with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Over the course of training camp and the preseason, the Pittsburgh coaches have offered up a multitude of potential solutions. The first was using Antoine Brooks Jr. as the new Hilton. He was released last week.
Then the notion of nickel back by committee was tossed around based on the down and distance. Not exactly a practical solution when you consider the lack of depth the Steelers have at other positional units.
But after the team’s final preseason game, it feels like the simplest solution is going to be the best. In base defense, the starting outside cornerbacks will be Joe Haden and Cameron Sutton. Starting safeties remain Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds.
When the Steelers go to the nickel, Pittsburgh will likely kick Sutton inside to the slot and bring in James Pierre to work on the outside opposite Haden. This maximizes the team’s efficiency and gets the 11 best guys on the field.
The dime is where Pittsburgh has a little more flexibility. There are really three guys, Donovan Stiner, Arthur Maulet and Tre Norwood who could see the field in this scenario. As the coaches continue to flesh out the strengths of these three new guys you should see this defense have multiple dime sets, each with its own specialization.
