The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: How much and how soon will CB Desmond King contribute on defense?
A former All-Pro defensive back in 2018, Desmond King is now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ secondary after they scooped him up after the Houston Texans released him rather than pay him another $3 million. Details for his deal with the Steelers are not yet known, but it is likely a one-year veteran salary benefit deal, or something close to it.
Now that he is here, of course, the question is: what comes next? This is a player who averages over 900 snaps per season when healthy, as he has been for the past two seasons with the Texans. His career has been a bit up and down, likely in no small part due to some instability—he played for three different teams in a two-year span due to a trade and then free agency—but has gotten closer to his best self more recently.
The Steelers are obviously hoping that is the player they are getting—they had similar hopes when they acquired Ahkello Witherspoon last year and Justin Gilbert several years back, though it worked out much better with Joe Haden. But how soon will they find out?
He’ll have a full week of practice to get himself up to speed ahead of Pittsburgh’s season opener. But they have a group of defensive backs they have been working with all offseason who have the communication and the system down. It’s really not clear by any means if they have any intention of playing him at all.
Again, we may know a little bit more once the contract details surface, but he may have just been signed for depth, for all we know. At least in theory, he is one of their top four most talented cornerbacks on the roster. But they need to get him in and work with him. I don’t think they’re going to just throw him onto the field like they had to do with Minkah Fitzpatrick in 2019.
Whenever he debuts and how extensively he plays, that remains to be seen, but don’t be shocked if he begins the year as a healthy scratch as one of 11 defensive backs on the roster. At least that’s how many there currently are.
