Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season is over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason and everything that means. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: S Elijah Riley
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The third-year safety was recently mentioned by defensive coordinator Teryl Austin as being among the defensive backs competing for the nickel job. His position flexibility gives him a fighting chance to crack the 53-man roster.
Let’s be honest. Right now, the Steelers really don’t know who their slot cornerback is going to be. They have been toying with the notion of that being Patrick Peterson since they first signed him, and perhaps that will actually prove to be the answer when all is said and done.
Even that requires that somebody like Joey Porter Jr., however, is ready to take on a full-time role, even if it is as the third cornerback rather than an every-down guy. Because if they don’t have that alternative, then Peterson is going to have to stay outside.
While the Steelers signed Chandon Sullivan as a free agent, subsequently releasing Arthur Maulet, nobody will mistake him for Mike Hilton. In reality, we don’t even know if Sullivan would be an upgrade over Maulet.
That’s one of the reasons it’s notable that the Steelers coaching staff rattled off a list of names of players who would be competing for the slot role. Within that list of names was that of Elijah Riley, the third-year safety who spent time on Pittsburgh in 2022, primarily on the practice squad, but also managing 20 defensive snaps.
Riley, formerly with the Jets and Eagles, has slot versatility even if they only list him as a safety. At 6’0”, 205 pounds, he would represent a bit of a different kind of presence in that position than we have had for the past several years.
The former Army alumnus has his work cut out for him, but at least he has familiarity with the Steelers’ defense, having worked within it already last year. That will give him an upper hand over some of his primary competition, including Sullivan.
Granted, it’s as likely as not that he won’t even make the 53-man roster. Pittsburgh retained four safeties from last season and added Keanu Neal to the mix, so if he were to make the team, it might either be as a slot cornerback specifically or as a substitute for either Tre Norwood or Miles Killebrew, the latter a special teamer. Which would mean he would need to fill those shoes as well. And he doesn’t have much special teams experience.
