Fifty-one weeks ago while going on to social media in the wake of signing a two-year contract extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers, DeShon Elliott used words such as “grateful” and “thankful.”
A few months later after enduring multiple injuries and having to miss the vast majority of the 2025 NFL season, Elliott was experiencing the other end of the emotional spectrum.
Now that he’s back to health and has been participating in Steelers spring workouts over recent weeks, Elliott is feeling all warm and fuzzy again.
“It’s a blessing to be able to play the game whenever you can, (especially with) going into my ninth year,” Elliott said from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex after a Steelers minicamp session last week. “(Coming off) missing a lot of ball last year, I’m just happy to be back here with my guys, honestly.”
After repeatedly remarking about how happy he was to find an NFL home following playing for four teams over the previous four seasons, Elliott was especially gratified to bind himself to the Steelers through 2028 by way of the $12.5 million extension he signed last June.
Elliott in 2024 had assimilated quite nicely into a role as the Steelers’ starting strong safety and quickly became a vocal leader on a defense that had and has no shortage of veteran voices.
That continued throughout training camp and the preseason of last year. But during the season-opening win at the New York Jets, Elliott suffered a knee/hamstring injury that caused him to miss the next two games. Upon returning, Elliott appeared in four consecutive contests before suffering another knee injury — this one, costing him the final 11 games of the season (including playoffs).
“It’s a lot of adversity you got to go through. I had a lot going on last year with on the field, (and) off the field (things),” said Elliott, 29. “Right now, I’m just happy to be able to play ball again. I put that behind me. I’m just blessed to be out here with my guys. Anything else, I ain’t worried about.”
Elliott was pegged to be an every-down member of the Steelers defense in 2025. His absence played a major role in the revolving-door nature of the safety position for the team last season. Six different players started at safety for the Steelers in 2025.
General manager Omar Khan upgraded the position in the offseason, signing veterans Jaquan Brisker and Darnell Savage as well as drafting Robert Spears-Jennings. But perhaps there is no better “addition” to the Steelers safety corps than Elliott.
While he overall remained noncommittal on Elliott’s health during OTAs, coach Mike McCarthy termed Elliott’s recovery as “positive” with “no setbacks” and “making progress.”
Elliott over his two seasons with the Steelers has (per Pro Football Focus data) lined up as an in-the-box (strong) safety most often but also has extensively played a deeper (free) safety and frequently lined up in the slot/nickel.
The belief for 2026 is that he and Brisker will team up for most of the safety snaps, while Jalen Ramsey serves as the primary option at the nickel spot. But new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has stressed versatility among his unit and isn’t afraid to move players around on a snap-to-snap or game-to-game basis.
Elliott would seem to be a natural to thrive in such circumstances. Over the spring, a priority was just learning the terminology and overall scheme so that he can communicate with teammates within it.
“Obviously, (there are new) playbooks, but we have a lot of smart guys,” Elliott said. “(Coaches have) broken it down for us very easily, so I think over these last couple weeks, everything’s starting to come together when it comes to the basics of the defense.
“It’s pretty easy right now, so I think going into training camp, once you put those pads on, football comes back to being football. So (knowing the defense by then) is all that really matters.”