The Pittsburgh Steelers signed CB Cameron Sutton knowing he would face discipline from the league after being arrested on domestic battery charges, and on Monday, the NFL announced an eight-game suspension for Sutton. When that suspension is up, the Steelers could move on from Sutton, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio speculated on 93.7 The Fan on Wednesday.
“I think one of the questions here, when the eight games is concluded, after the Giants Monday Night game, they may not take him back. They may decide by then, we’re good, we’re fine. There’s no guaranteed money. They can move on from him if they want to once that suspension expires.”
Someone is going to have to step up and play slot corner in Sutton’s absence, with Grayland Arnold, Beanie Bishop Jr. or Josiah Scott the most likely candidates. Pittsburgh could also go outside the organization and bring in a familiar face like Patrick Peterson or Chandon Sullivan, or potentially sign someone who is cut by another team during final roster cuts. If whoever fills in at the slot position plays well, the Steelers may not need Sutton around and could opt to move on and keep their roster intact, especially if there’s no clear-cut candidate on the 53-man roster.
The optics of signing Sutton already weren’t the best, and Florio believes the Steelers should be scrutinized more heavily for the decision to bring him back. He said on The PM Team that if there was a video of the incident involving Sutton as there was with Ray Rice back in 2012, Sutton “wouldn’t have a chance” with any team and wouldn’t be on the Steelers right now.
Mike Tomlin said the team’s familiarity with Sutton helped aid in the decision to bring him back. If the Steelers truly believe that, it doesn’t seem that likely they’d cut him if they’re comfortable with who he is. Releasing him if they have a solid cornerback option in place already would make some measure of sense, but Sutton could also probably help the team down the stretch, even if they have someone who’s playing well in the slot.
The Steelers made the decision to sign Sutton, knowing there would be some much-deserved blowback. Releasing him after Week 8 wouldn’t do much to save face at this point, and unless Sutton returns out of shape or doesn’t look good in practice, from a football perspective, there’s not much value in releasing him.
We’ll see in training camp who, if anyone, can step up and win the slot corner job, and there is the chance it could become a permanent one (at least for the season) if they play well, but even then, outright releasing Sutton doesn’t seem likely unless the Steelers really want to save a few bucks or attempt to save face for their decision to sign him in the first place.
