During an appearance on Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden’s All Things Covered podcast, former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Rod Woodson was asked to build his best all-time Steelers secondary.
“First corner Mel Blount, second corner myself. Safety Donnie Shell, safety Troy Polamalu. And I’m gonna go one more, playing nickel, well it could be nickel dime, cause I got Carnell Lake in there cause Carnell’s one of those dudes,” Woodson said.
He was particularly complimentary of Blount.
“I think Mel Blount is the best corner ever to play in the National Football League,” Woodson said.
Woodson added that the fifth choice was difficult due to the numbers of defensive backs he believes were overlooked during his time in Pittsburgh, specifically naming Willie Williams and Ike Taylor.
With four Hall of Famers in that secondary and another very good player in Lake, that would be one heck of a group. All those guys transcend the eras they played in and would be elite players in pretty much any era. It would be a lot of fun to watch that secondary in today’s pass-happy NFL.
It goes to show just how many talented defensive backs have played in Pittsburgh. While that’s an area where they haven’t a ton of success in drafting and developing in recent years, they still feature Minkah Fitzpatrick at safety, and he’s another guy who could’ve been chosen (although Shell and Polamalu obviously have a much larger body of work and were better choices at this point).
The Steelers throughout their history have been buoyed by a great defense, and when that great defense has an offense to match, good things happen. That’s why they were a dynasty in the ‘70s, with an MVP in Terry Bradshaw at quarterback bolstered by Hall of Famers at wide receiver and running back in Lynn Swann, John Stallworth and Franco Harris. In the mid-2000s, Ben Roethlisberger helped lead the Steelers to two Super Bowl wins, but both in 2005 and 2008 it was the defense that reigned supreme.
The Steelers are looking into building something similar now, with multiple All-Pros on their defense and a young, emerging offense led by guys like Kenny Pickett, Najee Harris, Diontae Johnson and George Pickens.
If the offense can play up to or close to the defense’s level, good things should happen for the Steelers, and maybe they’ll add to their Lombardi Trophy count sooner rather than later.
