The National Football League is a reactive league, they say. One trend emerges and over time a counter develops. Remember that brief moment in time some actually thought a full-time Wildcat offense might actually be successful?
One of the current trends in today’s game, thanks to the developments we’re seeing in college, is the rise of the big, tall, athletic wide receiver. With Calvin Johnson arguably being the archetype, we saw guys like A.J. Green and Julio Jones come in more than a decade ago, followed by plenty of others from Ja’Marr Chase and D.K. Metcalf to Mike Evans, A.J. Brown, and so many others.
It’s only natural that a defensive counter would come about with a greater focus on bigger, more athletic cornerbacks. And Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson is grateful his own group will have that type of body to go up against in practice with the likes of Patrick Peterson, Joey Porter Jr., and Cory Trice Jr.
“The big wideouts was the huge trend to overcome the small DBs”, Brooke Pryor quoted him as saying last week for ESPN. “And now the big corners are in, and that’s the new thing. And so I tell my guys, ‘These guys got long arms. You’ve got to get yourself ready for a fight.’ That’s becoming the thing in the league. You look around the league and everybody’s got a 6-2, 6-3 corner, and so it’s going to be great to go against these two guys here and training camp during the season because they’ll give us that iron-on-iron work that we need”.
While the Steelers did have the 6’2” Ahkello Witherspoon open the regular season last year, he was soon replaced by 6’0” Levi Wallace, working with 5’11” Cameron Sutton and 5’10” Arthur Maulet as their primary cornerbacks.
Things could look very different this year with Sutton replaced by the 6’1” Peterson. Wallace may retain his place in the starting lineup, but we could also see the 6’2” Porter, and possibly even the 6’3” Trice, finding roles in the secondary.
Pittsburgh’s wide receivers have gotten taller as well. George Pickens at 6’3” was drafted last year, and they brought in the 6’2” Allen Robinson II via trade earlier this offseason. Though Diontae Johnson is only 5’10”, this may be the talent starting three they’ve had in a while, discounting the half a season with the 6’4” Chase Claypool last year.
And we’ll have to see who else makes the cut. There’s the petite Calvin Austin III, who could have a significant role this year, but you also have Miles Boykin (6’4”), Hakeem Butler (6’5”), Dan Chisena (6’3”), and Cody White (6’3”) among those looking to round out the depth chart.
And they’ll have plenty of size to practice against. The Steelers also have James Pierre (6’2”), Luq Barcoo (6’1”), Chris Wilcox (6’2”), and Madre Harper (6’1”) lining up at cornerback this fall. It should be a clash of the titans.
