During an appearance on the PM Team with Andrew Filliponi and Chris Mueller today at Super Bowl Radio Row, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back and former seventh-round pick Tre Norwood talked about what it meant to him to get drafted and drafted by the Steelers.
“I feel like my circumstances could’ve been different, but I don’t ever complain. I feel like things happened for a reason,” Norwood said. He added that it was frustrating not hearing his name come off the board earlier.
“During that time, it was frustrating at first, but once I heard my name called, all that went away,” he said. He also said that Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin called him to deliver the news, but he doesn’t remember much of the phone call.
“I kind of blacked out, honestly, once I got the call. Really don’t remember too much from the call.”
He was also surprised to get drafted by the Steelers because he said that he didn’t talk with the team much during the pre-draft process.
Norwood has been a decent contributor through two seasons with the Steelers so far, and he definitely has outperformed his seventh-round draft slot. He saw the field immediately as a rookie, as his versatility to line up as a slot corner and at safety helped him see the field pretty soon after being drafted. He played in 15 games this season, although in five of those games he exclusively played special teams. He played in all 17 games during his rookie season. He also serves as the team’s backup upback, behind inside linebacker Marcus Allen.
He has 61 career tackles and an interception in his career. In 2022, he played 156 special teams snaps, but it would’ve been more if an injury didn’t cost him the final two games of the season. He registered 243 defensive snaps this season, which was a little bit lower than the 388 he saw as a rookie. Pittsburgh’s addition of Damontae Kazee limited some of Norwood’s opportunities, but with Kazee and fellow safety Terell Edmunds hitting the open market, Norwood could be in line for an increased role if Pittsburgh fails to bring one or both of them back.
Either way, Norwood’s definitely made the most of his opportunities. Coming into the league as a seventh-round pick, there’s no guarantee he would make the roster as a rookie, but he made it and he saw decent playing time. It clearly means a lot to him to have an opportunity in Pittsburgh, and if he can continue to progress he could see an increased role in the next year or two, especially on special teams.
