While opinions vary on how well they may perform this year and whether they will make the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers have generally been praised for their work this offseason in rebuilding reloading their roster.
That ordinarily includes what they did at the cornerback position. Though they lost Cameron Sutton in free agency and released Ahkello Witherspoon (and William Jackson III), their signing of Patrick Peterson was generally met favorably, and their draft picks of Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. have been almost universally praised.
Yet Jason McIntyre on The Herd wasn’t too impressed with the group—though he was actively looking for weaknesses. Conversing with Colin Cowherd, the latter said of Kenny Pickett, “If he can play, where aren’t they good? They have no holes”. But McIntyre found one.
“Okay, here’s a hole: their cornerback situation”, he said. “Patrick Peterson, who’s a fossil, at cornerback, and their other guy’s a rookie, Joey Porter Jr. So that’s questionable. But the safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick, helps out, and the pass rush is gonna be nasty”.
Cowherd pointed out that almost everybody these days is looking for cornerback help and used the Kansas City Chiefs as an example of a team that can win now with rookies in the secondary, as they did just last year.
Most egregious, however, is the fact that McIntyre glossed over the existence of Levi Wallace, who could retain his starting job at the beginning of the season, and maybe all year. The Steelers are not relying upon rookie contributions from Porter. If he plays, it will be because he earned that time on the field.
McIntyre and Cowherd were discussing how much they actually like Pittsburgh this year, it should be noted, and the former offered the possibility of the Steelers adding to the secondary during the season, suggesting that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be sellers at the trade deadline with cornerbacks Carlton Davis III and Jamel Dean.
Dean has a small 2023 cap hit, but the problem is that his deal includes $9 million guaranteed for 2024 as part of a $12 million base salary. Of course, if the Steelers were interested in Dean as a full-time starter in the future, it might not be such a bad idea.
Davis is owed $1.08 million in base salary for 2023, which if he were acquired at the trade deadline would be prorated down to the portion of the season remaining, plus a $500,000 per-game roster bonus. He has no other future commitments beyond that. He would be due $14 million next year if not released.
