Figuring out where Cam Sutton is going to play in 2019 is one of the Pittsburgh Steelers biggest mysteries. Slot corner? On the outside? Some sort of work in dime packages? From what we’ve learned during spring practices, you can put safety on the back burner. For now, at least.
According to this article from PennLive’s Jacob Klinger, which has a rundown on some of the OTA highlights you can check out in the link, Sutton has yet to take any reps at free safety.
From Klinger:
“Hilton was told he’s simply remembering the role for emergency situations, as he did last year. Sutton said he’ll know safety, too, but has remained an outside and nickel corner in practice.”
To date, the idea of either of those guys moving to safety has been talked about far more than it’s actually happened. Save for Hilton getting moved to safety in-game, a number of instances you can count on one hand, we’ve only witnessed the two of them receiving safety work sparingly during training camp.
It seems clear Hilton will remain in the slot this year, knowing he was hindered by an elbow injury for most of 2018. But that left Sutton as the odd man out. Given the team’s lack of depth at free safety, it made sense for him to be cross-trained there. For now though, it sounds like he’ll only play there in emergency. We’ve argued his best spot is to play outside corner but after the Steelers signed Steven Nelson and drafted Justin Layne, it seems probably Sutton will act as Hilton’s backup in nickel.
We know Kameron Kelly, a former AAF player signed after the league folded, has logged first-team FS reps while Sean Davis was sidelined with a minor injury. And Klinger notes Jordan Dangerfield has also been the first man off the bench. It sounds like Kelly only got those reps when Dangerfield missed practice in order to attend his Towson graduation. But we’ll have more answers when the team begins training camp late next month.
