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: CB Luq Barcoo
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Among the XFL participants signed by the Steelers this offseason, cornerback Luq Barcoo is hoping to make a run at a roster spot this summer after flashing some playmaking skills during the team’s spring practices.
A San Diego State product, Luq Barcoo was first signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That also marks the only season in which he had the opportunity to play in an NFL game. He logged 153 snaps across three games that year as a college free agent, registering 10 tackles and a pass defensed.
That wasn’t enough for him to stick around very long. The Jaguars cut him the following year, though he showed enough to be claimed off waivers by the Arizona Cardinals—who released him as soon as they were able to but later re-signed him to the practice squad.
He’s not been on a 53-man roster since, though he has been in several games and on practice squads. He is hoping his time with Hines Ward’s San Antonio Brahmas in the XFL will help put him back on the map, in this case in Pittsburgh, which signed him in May after the XFL season ended.
According to various reports from members of the media who were in attendance for OTAs and minicamp, Barcoo did have his moments. They said that he even recorded a pick-six against Mitch Trubisky and made other plays on the ball.
After recording 31 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and recovery, and an interception in the XFL, he is looking to stay put in Pittsburgh. Still just 24 years old, he arguably has time on his side, but he also has competition.
An outside-heavy player in terms of his build and skill set, he will be competing for a depth position in a group that is already cemented at the top with Patrick Peterson, Levi Wallace, and Joey Porter Jr., jockeying for a spot with James Pierre and Cory Trice Jr. as his chief competition.
It may be just too crowded for him to earn anything other than a spot on the practice squad, but then again, that’s why they practice and play. If he outperforms Trice, for example, should they really not keep him over the rookie if it comes down to the two of them?
