By Mark Madden
August 28, 2017
Jordan Dangerfield and Cameron Sutton (http://www.steelers.com/)
The “battle” at one cornerback spot between Ross Cockrell and Coty Sensabaugh seems like a smokescreen.
Just like the notion of Willie Gay at safety. The only place Gay should be moved is to the unemployment line. Flip Gay over. He’s done on this side.
This tinkering is designed to make it look like coach Mike Tomlin is doing something to fix the Steelers’ broken secondary.
Too little, too late.
Except for that broken secondary, the Steelers are a Super Bowl team. If they don’t make it, the secondary will be why.
The Steelers should have repaired the secondary in the off-season. They should have done a lot. Instead, they did a little. Not enough.
The Steelers took Tennessee cornerback Cameron Sutton in the third round, and insanely expected cornerback Senquez Golson, a second-round choice in 2015, to finally be healthy.
He isn’t. Golson, as always, is injured. It’s Golson’s third year, and he’s never even played a snap in an exhibition game. Sutton missed lots of camp, too.
The Steelers kicked the tires on trading for Los Angeles Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson. But that’s not the Steelers’ style. Anyway, it would have been difficult to fit Johnson’s $16.7 million cap hit. The Steelers also considered free-agent corner Dre Kirkpatrick before he re-upped with Cincinnati.
So, the Steelers go into the season with the same secondary that Tom Brady carved to ribbons in the AFC championship game. Gay might as well have had a target painted on his back. Brady shredded Gay, but not just Gay.
The secondary wasn’t good enough then. It’s not good enough now.
But it isn’t totally useless.
Second-year pro Artie Burns is blossoming as a cover corner. He may isolate on the opposition’s top receiver, following his man from side to side.
Free safety Mike Mitchell is hard-hitting meat and potatoes. Second-year strong safety Sean Davis is solid, and getting better.
Cockrell isn’t awful. He’s just not a starting-caliber outside cornerback on a legit contender, and has been exposed in the preseason by the Steelers’ attempt to play more man coverage.
Gay used to be OK. But at 32, he’s washed up. The Steelers defense plays nickel on two-thirds of the snaps. That makes Gay a de facto starter.
The first half of the Steelers’ season isn’t too difficult. That affords Tomlin, defensive coordinator Keith Butler and defensive backs coach Carnell Lake time to figure things out and break in the younger DBs.
If Sutton stays healthy, it’s hard to imagine he won’t get an opportunity. Cornerback Mike Hilton has had a good preseason and could challenge Gay for the nickel spot. Safety Jordan Dangerfield has two preseason picks but gets no respect, no respect at all.
The Steelers didn’t need a receiver, but they took Southern Cal's JuJu Smith-Schuster in the second round because they considered him a first-round talent and because they don’t (and shouldn’t) trust Martavis Bryant.
Smith-Schuster’s talent duly noted, the Steelers should have selected a corner. But management has long underestimated the importance of that position.
The Steelers might win a Super Bowl with their secondary. It’s just very unlikely. God forbid Burns or either starting safety gets hurt.
Darrelle Revis is still unsigned. He's got to be better at age 32 than Gay is.
Another ill-advised draft pick was taking long snapper Colin Holba of Louisville in the sixth round. The notion of drafting a long snapper at all seems ludicrous. Holba’s high snap caused kicker Chris Boswell to miss an extra point in Saturday night’s exhibition loss to Indianapolis. Free-agent signee Kameron Canaday may claim the spot.
As Don Cheadle said in "Ocean’s Eleven,” “You had one job to do!”
Mark Madden hosts a sports talk show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
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