The Pittsburgh Steelers were looking for a new enforcer at the safety position. Keanu Neal was looking for a new team that would allow them to play that role. At least on paper, it proved to be a perfect match, and soon a two-year, $4.25 million deal was written up and signed. Time will tell if the coupling fits, but both sides seem eager to get underway.
“What they’re about here, I feel like it lines up perfectly with what I am, what I’m about and what I enjoy doing when I play the game”, the veteran safety told Mike DeFabo of The Athletic last week during OTAs. “Just being part of an organization that really loves that physicality — that bully ball — I want to be a part of that, for sure”.
Bully ball. It’s a phrase we’ve been using all offseason, although I’m not even sure if any of the coaches or executives have even used it themselves. The thing is, whether they did or didn’t, they didn’t have to. Their actions spoke for them.
The signing of Neal, a 6’0”, 211-pound plugger who has dabbled at linebacker, is just a taste of the physicality the front office has sought to inject into this roster. Other examples include Elandon Roberts at linebacker, Breiden Fehoko at nose tackle, Isaac Seumalo and Broderick Jones along the offensive line, and Darnell Washington at tight end.
Where exactly Neal fits into the mix remains to be seen. It’s possible that he will compete with longtime teammate Damontae Kazee for the right to start at strong safety next to Minkah Fitzpatrick. If not, then there will be plenty of other opportunities for him.
As we saw last season with Terrell Edmunds still on the roster, Pittsburgh has a desire to exploit the possibilities of three-safety packages, so Neal—or—Kazee—will still find himself on the field even if he doesn’t win the starting. They may even use a ‘big nickel’ package at times with three safeties and two cornerbacks.
But in a rarity, they actually have options this year. the Steelers picked up two big, physical cornerbacks during the 2023 NFL Draft, with Joey Porter Jr. in the second round and Cory Trice Jr. in the seventh. Porter may prove to be a day-one starter, or at worst the nickel defender alongside Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace.
Regardless of who is on the field, the intentions will be the same: outphysical the man across from you. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the trenches or outside the numbers on the boundary. The more physical team will win a lot of football games, whether it’s 1923 or 2023. You can’t catch many passes on your butt.
