This is the ninth in a series examining the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster, position by position, heading into the offseason.
Today: Safeties
When Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II discussed the team’s roster during his annual season wrapup this week, he talked about the need to get stronger on the defensive line, and he called the linebackers a strength of the roster.
Left unsaid was anything — positive or negative — about the secondary. Despite the presence of Pro Bowl selection Minkah Fitzpatrick and the hard-hitting Deshon Elliott, the safety position didn’t warrant a mention.
Perhaps Elliott did enough talking for everyone in the organization late in the year and the postseason when he spoke critically of the way the defense, especially those patrolling the back end, played down the stretch.
It was after a Christmas loss to Kansas City that Elliott fumed about mistakes made that typically are corrected after the early weeks of the season. And after the Steelers lost their fifth consecutive game, 28-14, in the wild-card round at Baltimore, Elliott sounded off one final time.
“We have to figure out what the problem is,” he said. “How to get better. We have to figure out how to get past that point, figure out how to finish strong, how to go into the playoffs hot.”
Although he had just completed his first season with the organization, Elliott grasped the gravity of the situation. The Steelers have lost six consecutive playoff games since the 2016 season.
The defense allowed its three highest yards per pass attempt in December losses to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Kansas City. Elliott missed those first two games with an injury. And in the wild-card loss to Baltimore, the Ravens averaged 7.5 yards per pass attempt. That was the sixth-highest total allowed by the Steelers in 18 games.
Elliott was more rankled by the 299 yards rushing the defense yielded to Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson and company.
“That’s worse than having 300 yards passing,” he said. “It’s a will (thing). They definitely put belt to butt.”
Despite missing two games, Elliott led the Steelers with 75 solo tackles from his strong safety spot, and his 108 total stops trailed only linebacker Patrick Queen’s 129. Elliott also contributed one interception, six pass breakups, two forced fumbles and three recoveries.
He will return for a second season at a relatively inexpensive $3.75 million.
The bigger issue with the secondary is how Fitzpatrick’s contract fits into the equation. As he enters the penultimate season of his deal, Fitzpatrick will count $22.355 million against the salary cap. That’s among the top five at his position in the NFL.
Fitzpatrick did finish third on the team with 96 tackles, but it wasn’t until that December loss at Baltimore that he got an interception for the first time in nearly two years. Even Fitzpatrick was surprised to be selected to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time in his career, citing his lack of splash plays during the season.
The Steelers will try to add depth at safety in free agency or the draft. Damontae Kazee, who spent the past two seasons as the No. 3 safety, is a free agent. The Steelers don’t have another experienced safety on the roster.
Under contract: Minkah Fitzpatrick ($22.355 million cap hit), Miles Killebrew ($4.245 million), Deshon Elliott ($3.75 million), Ryan Watts ($1.005 million), Joshuah Bledsoe ($960,000)
Impending free agents: Damontae Kazee, Eric Rowe
Outside perspective: Sharp Football Analysis, on giving the Steelers’ secondary a No. 18 ranking in its year-end evaluation: “Pittsburgh’s secondary was a mess when the front seven failed to create disruption. Without pressure, the Steelers allowed a league-worst 63.2% completion rate on throws 10 or more yards downfield.”