The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2020 season is now in the books. It ended in spectacular fashion — though the wrong kind of spectacular — in a dismal postseason defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, sending them into an early offseason mode after going 12-4 in the regular season and winning the AFC North for the first time in three years.
Since then, they have lost several players in free agency who were key members of the offense and defense. Multiple starters retired, as well. They made few notable additions in free agency, and are banking on contributions on offense from their rookies, as well as perhaps a last ride for Ben Roethlisberger.
The only thing facing them now as they head into 2021 is more questions. Right now, they lack answers. They know that they have Roethlisberger for one more year, but was that even the right decision? How successful can Najee Harris be behind a questionable offensive line? What kind of changes can Matt Canada and Adrian Klemm bring to the offense? And how can the defense retain the status quo with the losses of Bud Dupree, Steven Nelson, and Mike Hilton?
These are the sorts of questions we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football is a year-round pastime and there are always questions to ask, though there is rarely a concrete answer. This is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all of their uncertainty.
Question: Does the visit with free agent Malik Hooker foreshadow the signing of another safety?
The Steelers took a visit with Karl Joseph before the draft. They did not sign him. Since then, they drafted Tre Norwood in the seventh round and signed veteran Arthur Maulet, both of whom are defensive backs who could play throughout the secondary, but are perhaps not true safeties.
We recently learned that they have now hosted free agent safety Malik Hooker. While he left without signing, it is an interesting move, and it must leave us wondering if it foreshadows the signing of another safety, a position that remains thin.
If you’re not including Maulet and Norwood on your safety depth chart—and, it must be noted, they do list both as safeties—then you are perilously thing behind the starters, with just 2020 sixth-rounder Antoine Brooks and a pair of rookie free agents in Lamont Wade and Donovan Stiner.
Shortly before the 2020 season because, the Steelers brought back Sean Davis to serve as their number three safety—the safety who would play if a starter were injured. Is Maulet that guy this year? Can one of these young late-round or undrafted player manage that task? The fact that they are still looking hard enough at safeties to bring in a notable name for a free agent visit may suggest that is not what the team has in mind, even assuming they don’t ultimately sign Hooker.
