When the Pittsburgh Steelers signed S Keanu Neal in free agency he was expected to replace Terrell Edmunds who decided to sign with Philadelphia Eagles. With Neal being new to the team, it is important he learns the playbook and builds chemistry with FS Minkah Fitzpatrick and S Damontae Kazee. Unfortunately, Kazee and Fitzpatrick have seen limited to no practice time, meaning on-the-field chemistry with his safety partner isn’t being built now, but that doesn’t mean it is all doom and gloom for Neal.
Neal spoke with reporters today and said there are some advantages like getting more reps, understanding the defense better because of those extra reps, and building chemistry with the rest of the starting unit.
“I’d say it helps with the growth of understanding the defense, continue to build that, and talking, building that chemistry,” said Kazee in his interview which was posted to Steelers.com. “Yeah, there’s definitely advantages to it, but not having them out there is also something that you miss.”
With Neal being new it is important he gets all the time to learn how the defense plays in front of him and know where everyone is in their assignments. While reading and studying the playback obviously helps, nothing is better than live reps to see how teammates actually react under fire. With the loss of Fitzpatrick and Kazee, it means that Neal is seeing more snaps just due to the lack of players at safety.
Neal absolutely needs to gain chemistry with both Fitzpatrick and Kazee, players who he will be paired with when he is on the field at safety, but both Fitzpatrick and Kazee will return at some point. It is early on in camp, and you can argue that right now it might be better for him to get more reps. Chemistry on the back end will come, it is much easier to gain chemistry with one or two guys than it is with the entire defense.
Right now, Neal is focusing on that and isn’t going to cry over the fact that Fitzpatrick and Kazee are out. Yeah, it does stink it would be better if they were there, but Neal also sees there are positives to it. Maybe their absences will end up leading to better play from Neal and a better defense overall.
