Player: S DeShon Elliott
Stock Value: Purchased
Reasoning: The Steelers added their first official non-specialist outside free agent yesterday in signing S DeShon Elliott. A former Baltimore Raven, he has more recently played for the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. He has been a full-time starter for the good majority of his career, recovering from a major injury in 2021. He joins the Steelers on a two-year, $6 million deal, presumably as a starter.
DeShon Elliott is not the big splash signing many fans hoped to hear about at safety, but he’ll do. A five-year veteran who only turns 27 next month, he is still in his prime. Thanks to his work last season in Miami, he earned himself a two-year, $6 million contract from Pittsburgh.
The move comes only after the Steelers released Keanu Neal, who is another safety they signed in free agency last year. Neal signed a two-year, $4.25 million deal with the Steelers, of which he saw $2 million. They gave him slightly more than they gave to Damontae Kazee a year ago as well on a two-year deal.
Elliott, drafted in the sixth round in 2018, played his first four seasons in the league for the Baltimore Ravens. Early injuries threatened to derail his career from the word go, Elliott spending his rookie season on Injured Reserve. He earned that stint with a forearm fracture, then another six games into the 2019 season he went down with a knee injury.
After Earl Thomas ran aground, the Ravens pushed Elliott into the starting lineup in 2020. He showed enough to enter the starting lineup on a permanent basis, starting all but one game since then. By now, he has 50 career starts with three different organizations and presumably adds to that in Pittsburgh.
Last season, the Steelers made the ill-advised attempt to divide strong safety duties after failing to re-sign Terrell Edmunds. Kazee and Neal shared the load, which proved problematic. They rarely had both healthy at the same time, either. By the end of the regular season, neither were on the roster, though Kazee was serving a suspension. Presumably, they now hope that Elliott is an all-in-one solution.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
