After safety Sean Davis had suffered a serious shoulder injury in the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 2 loss last season to the Seattle Seahawks, it seemed almost certain that he had played his final game with the team that selected him in the second-round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Maryland. However, as fate would have it, Davis is now back with the Steelers following him recently being cut by the Washington Football Team on the heels of him signing a one-year contract with them earlier in the offseason. On Thursday, Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler was asked about Davis’ return to the team and if he’s been able to pick up the scheme easy with him already having some familiarity with it after playing the last four seasons in it.
“Yeah, he did,” Butler said of Davis. “And some of the stuff we changed over the year and he had to pick up some of the stuff. But I think it was pretty easy for him. The terminology and stuff like that, he has been here. I’m glad we got him back. We felt like we could use a third safety and it would help us. He came available and of
course, Mike [Tomlin] did a good job of getting him. We were glad we got him back and I think it will be an easy move for him in terms of our defense. It won’t be very much for him to learn. I think he knows most of it anyways.”
Davis seemed good as gone after injuring his shoulder early last season and that’s because he was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent during the offseason. Additionally, the Steelers trading for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick a few days after Davis suffered his season-ending injury also made it clear that the team probably wasn’t going to be able to re-sign their former starter. With Davis now back in the fold as of Sunday, the player who replaced him last season after he suffered his injury, Fitzpatrick, was asked to comment on how his teammate is doing in making the transition back to the Steelers.
“Sean Davis is a good football player,” Fitzpatrick said. “He knows the scheme pretty much already, just small little adjustments that he’s getting back used to doing. But he’s been doing a good job. Been out there communicating, playing fast, playing physical and just executing very well.”
That’s certainly great to hear as the Steelers entered the summer with tons of questions about their depth at the safety position behind starters Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds. While the team did address that problem right as training camp got started by signing veteran safety Curtis Riley, he’s not that great of a tackler and a liability too many times during his career in coverage. While Davis isn’t a Pro Bowl safety by any stretch of the imagination, he’s an upgrade over Riley, who is now a member of the Steelers practice squad after initially making the 53-man roster.
While it’s great that Davis is back with the Steelers to provide experienced depth, the hope is that he won’t have to play at all. While serving as a backup to Fitzpatrick and Edmunds, Davis will play quite a bit on special teams for the Steelers, much like he did his first two seasons in the NFL. as we wait to see if Davis will be needed much on defense throughout the 2020 season, it’s clear that Butler is happy to have him back in Pittsburgh and part of the defense.
“So, I’m glad we got him,” Butler said of Davis on Thursday. “He should help us.”
