The Pittsburgh Steelers have suffered a large amount of attrition at their safety position recently. Keanu Neal and Elijah Riley have been on IR for the last month, and in Saturday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, Minkah Fitzpatrick suffered a knee injury and Damontae Kazee was ejected, and later suspended, for a hit that concussed WR Michael Pittman Jr.
After they exited on back-to-back plays — Fitpatrick was unable to return — the team turned to CB Patrick Peterson to help fill in at safety. He has been used as a chess piece this season, moving around between outside corner, slot corner, and safety at times. Against the Colts, he ended up logging 30 snaps at free safety and eight snaps as a box safety. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin discussed using Peterson as a safety during his coordinator press conference on Wednesday.
“When we talked to Pat in the offseason about bringing him here, that was one of the things that was exciting about him, and he was excited about, was the opportunity to do some different things,” Austin said via video posted by Trib Live’s Chris Adamski on X. “As I’m sure everybody knows, he’d played a little bit of safety in some of our dime package and done some things. So when we had those extreme circumstances hit, it was only natural that he move there.”
With Fitzpatrick already ruled out for Saturday’s game against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals and Kazee’s suspension set to last the rest of the season, could Peterson move to safety full-time for the remaining few games?
“I think moving forward, I still see him as a corner/nickel that slash kind of guy,” Austin said. “I think moving forward we just have to play it by ear and see where we are in terms of our depth and in terms of what we need from him.”
The Steelers might have some additional options at safety this week. They opened the 21-day practice window on Riley and have had veteran S Eric Rowe on the practice squad for the last month learning the defense. Between those two and Trenton Thompson, Peterson might continue in a similar role that he has had for most of the season.
