CB Levi Wallace opened his first season as a backup with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022. That’s how he ended his second season in 2023, but he started a number of games in between. Now scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, he has the opportunity to sign anywhere he wants. Anywhere willing to give him a contract, anyway.
Yet there have been multiple indications that the Steelers would like to re-sign him. The first came from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, who said that he could see the team bringing him back in advance of free agency.
Now Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboly strikes a similar tone. Writing in a free agency column, he indicates that the Steelers “would love to have Wallace back”. Yet he also claims that re-signing him will not be a priority, or at least not at the top of the priority list.
And let’s make something clear: the Steelers’ own free agent priority list is short and undistinguished. This is about as unremarkable a free agent class as I can recall. It’s telling that it does not include members of their 2020 NFL Draft class—mostly because nearly all of them are gone.
Third-round OLB Alex Highsmith is the lone exception, and they already signed him to an extension. They traded WR Chase Claypool last year. RB Anthony McFarland Jr. appears to be out of the picture now. Consider yourself a scholar if you can recall the rest of the class off the top of your head.
Although they may wish that they had Kevin Dotson hitting free agency right now. He is another 2020 draft pick they traded, only Dotson found success with his new team. The other two draft picks from that year, by the way, were S Antoine Brooks Jr. and DL Carlos Davis. Neither played in the NFL in 2023, but Davis spent time on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad.
Anyway, back to Levi Wallace and his tenure with the Steelers. Signed to a two-year, $8 million contract in 2022, it didn’t take him long to gain playing time over Ahkello Witherspoon. He had a career year with four interceptions and hoped to ride that into 2023.
As it turned out, his primary job was keeping the seat warm for rookie Joey Porter Jr. to take his starting role. Wallace did have to return to the starting lineup at the end of the season due to injuries. Mounting issues at safety even led to Patrick Peterson starting the final three games there.
The thing is, without Wallace, the Steelers have no depth. They have Porter and Peterson, and that’s basically it. Wallace, James Pierre, and Chandon Sullivan are all free agents. Then you have a pair of 2023 rookies with no resume in Darius Rush and Cory Trice Jr. The latter is their own seventh-round pick, and he is recovering from a torn ACL.
Given the circumstances, and in the face of evident popular opinion, I agree that the Steelers should want Wallace back. He played better coming off the bench and at the end of the season. But the question is what they should be willing to pay him. Certainly, less than the $4 million per season he earned the past two years. And he might want to buddy up with Danny Smith this time around.
Sign him to a cheap deal with little in the way of guarantees if you can. What’s the harm? Such a move doesn’t prevent the Steelers from exploring other options. And given the potential for depth loss this offseason, it’s good to have a veteran experienced in your system. Frankly, one who isn’t as bad as many believe, even if you don’t hand him a starting job.
