The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost a lot of cornerbacks from the last two seasons from Cameron Sutton to Patrick Peterson, and up to now haven’t replaced the lot. While they acquired Donte Jackson via trade and drafted Ryan Watts in the sixth round, they still lack in depth. That’s the takeaway from most analysts, including Ray Fittipaldo.
Asked in his latest chat session for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette if the Steelers need another cornerback, he responded, “Methinks they need more than one”. This offseason, they released Patrick Peterson and allowed Levi Wallace and James Pierre to leave in free agency. Chandon Sullivan remains unsigned after spending the 2023 season with the team.
The Steelers’ top cornerback is last year’s 32nd-overall draft pick, Joey Porter Jr. They traded for Jackson to start across from him, but behind those two, they don’t have any locks for contributors. You’re not going to guarantee Josiah Scott a starting job in the slot, for example, nor rookie college free agent Beanie Bishop Jr., intriguing as he seems on paper right now.
Now, Fittipaldo believes the Steelers need to bring in a veteran, including some familiar names as possibilities. The guys who were here last year and are still available, for example. Or perhaps the guy who spent six years here before leaving in free agency: Cameron Sutton.
“I don’t think that player is on the roster right now”, Fittipaldo said when asked about the starting slot cornerback. He noted that “It could be Cam Sutton. It could be Patrick Peterson. It could be Chandon Sullivan. Or maybe someone who is cut just before the season. They’ll have options”.
Sutton signed a three-year, $33 million contract last year with the Detroit Lions. He lost his job, however, following an arrest for alleged domestic violence earlier this year. The former Steelers cornerback entered a pretrial diversion program to lower his charge to that of a misdemeanor.
Despite that, Fittipaldo still sees the door very much open for a Steelers reunion with Sutton. “Hard to say because I don’t have all the details the NFL and Steelers might have about his legal situation, but I’ll say 58%”, he said about his odds of being a Steeler this year.
My math tells me that’s above 50 percent, so that’s better than a coin flip. Of course, Fittipaldo is purely speculating, though the Steelers are enabling it. They’ve publicly acknowledged that they’ve spoken to Sutton. General manager Omar Khan said “we’ll see” about the possibility of an on-field reunion.
The Steelers also left the door open for re-signing Patrick Peterson after releasing him early in the offseason. As for Sullivan, he remains unsigned and thus still an option. He played over 400 defensive snaps for the Steelers in 2023, mostly in the slot.
Given Fittipaldo’s belief that the Steelers need multiple cornerbacks, might we see two of these names return? How serious are they about bringing back Sutton, in spite of the accusations against him? He’ll likely face a suspension of some kind, perhaps two games or more. As they often do, they may wait until training camp to see what they have before making another move. Nobody seems in a rush to sign Sutton—or Peterson, or Sullivan.
