The Pittsburgh Steelers have been super busy during the 2022 free agency signing period so far, as a total of six outside players have been added to date. That said, and with so many holes filled so far this offseason via free agency, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert did admit on Sunday that there is one position the team hasn’t yet addressed.
Per Brooke Prior of ESPN, Colbert said on Sunday that he believes the Steelers currently have starting-caliber players for 24 of 25 positions. He added that the lone vacancy is at the strong safety position, however.
Colbert’s comments aren’t a bit surprising, as the team has a gaping hole on their depth chart right now at the strong safety position. While the team has already re-signed safety Miles Killebrew this offseason, he’s merely a backup and special teams ace. Currently, safety Terrell Edmunds, the team’s starting strong safety the last several seasons, remains unsigned. He, however, has recently dropped some minor hints on his Twitter account via his profile that he isn’t likely to re-sign with the Steelers.
While there are a lot of people attempting to link veteran free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu to the Steelers this offseason, it sure doesn’t sound like Colbert is leaning that direction as March starts winding down.
Per Prior, Colbert reiterated on Sunday that the team’s priority is adding young, veteran players to the team’s roster.
“Our preference is always to add players coming off of their first contract or as close to their first contract as they can be,” Colbert said.
Mathieu, who is 29 years of age, is still an unrestricted free agent. He has bounced around to several teams since being selected in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. There have been some minor rumblings that Mathieu might land with the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason.
The free agent strong safety market isn’t great as we sit here late in March. That said, it still wouldn’t be shocking to sign another experienced strong safety on the cheap ahead of the draft.
At this point, it’s not hard to imagine the Steelers spending an early round draft pick on a strong safety. Georgia’s Lewis Cine and Penn State’s Jaquan Brisker are just two top strong safety prospects that might interest the Steelers in the early rounds of this year’s draft.
