With the 2024 NFL Draft just days away, the Pittsburgh Steelers are not currently making plans for any reunions from last season, according to general manager Omar Khan—at least at the cornerback position. Asked if they would approach the draft understanding that some of their players remain on the market, he said no.
“They’re not a part of the team right now, so until they’re a part of the team, we have to look at every avenue to try to improve the position and add competition and address the needs”, he told reporters yesterday during the team’s pre-draft press conference, via the Steelers’ website.
The big name still available is, of course, Patrick Peterson, one of their biggest free-agent signings last year. Signed to a two-year, $14 million contract, he only saw the first year before the Steelers released him. However, he claims that head coach Mike Tomlin told him the door was still open for his return.
“Open” presumably only means if they fail to satisfactorily address the position during the draft or via other means. They can also sign other free agents aside from theirs or pursue a trade, as they did with Donte Jackson.
At the time Khan fielded this question, CB Levi Wallace had not yet signed with the Denver Broncos. We have no way of knowing if Wallace intended to take that visit and potentially sign, but I’m sure free agents don’t keep their former teams abreast of their every movement in the hopes of reconciliation.
That’s now two of four cornerback free agents who have signed elsewhere, Wallace joining James Pierre. In addition to Peterson, the Steelers also have Chandon Sullivan sitting out there. They only signed him during the 2023 NFL Draft after Arthur Maulet requested his release, so it’s not surprising that he is still available. Sullivan is exclusively a slot defender at the cornerback position for the Steelers.
While the Steelers have Darius Rush and Cory Trice Jr. on the back burner, they are unproven commodities. A pair of late-round second-year players, neither has accomplished anything in the NFL. But they’re tall, and Steelers fans like that in their cornerbacks. Trice, a seventh-round draft pick, is recovering from a torn ACL suffered in training camp.
As for the starting lineup, the Steelers are pairing Jackson with Joey Porter Jr., the first of their two 2023 second-round picks. Porter showed shutdown cornerback traits as a rookie last season and they’re banking on him being the real McPeezy.
Beyond that, they’re quite thin at cornerback with Luq Barcoo somehow the most notable name of the lot. The Steelers understandably have done their homework on the cornerback position in this draft class, though.
Just taking a look at their pre-draft visitors, you see names like Nate Wiggins, Cooper DeJean and Max Melton. They are likely to draft a cornerback before the end of Day 2 at the latest if the value lines up right. If not, then, and only then may the Steelers come ringing for Peterson.
