Though the NFL season is just three weeks old at this point, the roster construction process for future teams never stops.
While much of the focus from the coaching staff, the players and even the fans is currently on 2023 and improving throughout the season, GMs and other front-office executives are looking ahead to free agency and the 2024 NFL Draft to get a grasp on the situation.
You can expect Pittsburgh Steelers GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl to be looking ahead from a roster construction standpoint also, and just in case they aren’t just yet, Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger offered up a pair of names in the secondary for the Steelers “to know” moving forward.
That would be Iowa State cornerback T.J. Tampa and Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson as potential upgrades for the Steelers at a position that looks like it might be a need once again in 2024 with veteran Levi Wallace set to hit free agency and Patrick Peterson potentially only seeing one year of his two-year deal he signed in free agency.
Currently, Pittsburgh is projected to land the No. 16 overall draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft based on Las Vegas odds. Additionally, the Steelers have the 21st-ranked cornerback group in the NFL, according to PFF.
That’s where the projection for upgrades comes in.
“Tampa is a big outside cornerback at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, which fits the mold in Pittsburgh, and is coming off an 81.6 coverage grade and an 87.7 run defense grade with eight pass breakups and a 46.5% allowed completion rate in 2022,” Spielberger writes regarding Tampa as a player to know for the Steelers in the draft process. “Through four games in 2023, Tampa has three pass breakups and an interception.”
Tampa earned second-team All-Big 12 accolades from Big 12 coaches coming out of the 2022 season. Last season, Tampa started all 12 games for the Cyclones, recording 40 tackles, five tackles for loss, nine passes defensed and one interception.
PFF’s Trevor Sikkema, the lead draft analyst for PFF, wrote in August that Tampa is the ideal height/weight/length piece at cornerback in the class.
“He has a good strength profile at the catch point and when tackling and defending the run. His issues are typical for big guys — somewhat slow hips and having a tough time cutting on a dime and changing direction. But the long speed is adequate once he can open up, and he has the mentality of a lockdown type of receiver (137 of his 319 coverage snaps came in press),” Sikkema writes regarding Tampa, who could be a corner that is on the Steelers’ radar throughout the pre-draft process one year after landing Joey Porter Jr. out of Penn State with similar measurables, testing numbers and play-style.
Outside of the draft process, the Steelers could look to free agency to add to the position once again.
For Spielberger, that name at the cornerback position in free agency is Jaylon Johnson, who just turned 24 in April and is already in his fourth season in the NFL.
Johnson was a strong height/weight/speed guy coming out of Utah in the 2020 NFL Draft, landing with the Bears in the second round at No. 50 overall that year.
“Johnson is stuck playing a lot of soft zone and off coverage in Chicago and it doesn’t appear to fit his skillset all that well,” Spielberger writes regarding Johnson and a potential fit in Pittsburgh. “Pittsburgh traded for William Jackson III at last year’s deadline as he grew frustrated with the defense in Washington, and perhaps that could apply here too. Johnson is playing in a pivotal contract year in 2023 that is off to a very strong start, earning an 84.1 coverage grade through Week 3.”
In his fourth season with the Bears, Johnson has played 2,623 snaps in Chicago, grading out at 65.5. Currently, Johnson sits at an 80.1 through the first three weeks of the season in 2023, including a sparkling 84.1 in coverage for the Bears. He’s allowed just five receptions on 12 targets for 73 yards.
In his career, Johnson has allowed 114 receptions on 202 targets for 1,628 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has just one interception in his career to date.
