During the 2022 season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talked about the desire for the Steelers to have a quality three-safety look with Minkah Fitzpatrick, Terrell Edmunds, and Damontae Kazee all on the field at once. It was intended to, among other things, combat two tight ends on the field at the same time.
Unfortunately, due to Kazee only being able to play in nine games because of injuries, Pittsburgh was unable to utilize the package as much as desired. Despite Edmunds leaving in free agency in the offseason, the plan for the three-safety package did not go away. The Steelers signed Keanu Neal to help compete for the starting strong safety position as well as make it possible to have three safeties on the field.
When Neal spoke with the media Tuesday during training camp at Saint Vincent College, he talked about how injuries have impacted the implementation as well as why the team wants to give that look.
“It’s a lot of opportunities to do different things,” Neal said per Steelers.com. “To disguise and really, really confuse the quarterback. Show different looks and things like that. We haven’t really got a full chance to really go into it with the injuries and everything. But we got time now, so we’ll get it going.”
“It allows all of us to do whatever we want to do,” Minkah Fitzpatrick said via Jeff Hathhorn of 93.7 The Fan about the expanded versatility three safeties brings.
Injuries and absences have been a theme at the safety position throughout training camp with Fitzpatrick missing time due to a personal issue and Kazee dealing with an injury. However, that has given a chance for other players like Kenny Robinson and Tre Norwood to get extended practice time.
Now that both Fitzpatrick and Kazee are back in the fold, the Steelers can start practicing and refining the three-safety, or Big Nickel, look. It will be most helpful against teams that rely on multiple tight end sets where at least one tight end is a true receiving threat, like with the Baltimore Ravens and Mark Andrews.
While the formation might not have seen the light of day as much as Tomlin, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, and the safety group might have liked in 2022, it seems that it will be back with a vengeance in 2023. Now it depends on everyone staying healthy,
