Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: CB Levi Wallace
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: The veteran cornerback continues to trend in the wrong direction. Having already lost his starting job to rookie Joey Porter Jr., his struggles have not stopped in the playing time he has gotten with Wallace having the worst season of his career.
For the second year in a row, the Steelers brought in a veteran cornerback who had a second-half surge that promised more than it could deliver. In 2021, it was Ahkello Witherspoon playing the best football of his career, which he parlayed into a two-year, $8 million contract that he promptly made the worst of.
They also gave Levi Wallace the same deal, and especially in the second half of 2022, he also had the best season of his career. They didn’t have to give him a new contract this offseason, but it’s increasingly looking like he may follow the Witherspoon path of being released halfway through it.
The veteran has already lost ground, and his starting job, to rookie second-round CB Joey Porter Jr. Once the secondary gets healthy, he may struggle to find the field at all. He gave up another touchdown the last time out and was pulled from the game. Pro Football Reference charges him with five touchdowns allowed this year, for example, having never before been responsible for more than three in a season.
With S Minkah Fitzpatrick out, the Steelers have had to lean completely on both Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal at the position, reducing their capacity to use them as more versatile pieces. But as others like Elijah Riley, Darius Rush, and perhaps Trenton Thompson get worked into the secondary, that could push Wallace out even further.
With that said, it might be premature to just give up on him. Presumably, he is still the next man up at outside cornerback if there is an injury unless he really gets exposed. And he has made some plays in recent games as well, even if he failed to complete a potential interception opportunity against the Tennessee Titans (the ball was through his hands before the receiver swatted it).
