Did the Steelers make the right call on signing Cameron Sutton?
From a football perspective, the move makes a lot of sense. Cameron Sutton played good ball in this Steelers system for the better part of his six years here. That he struggled in Detroit’s system last year doesn’t negate what he did in 2022 and earlier. And the Steelers presumably signed him for the cheapest possible contract, under the circumstances.
But it’s the circumstances that the Steelers likely took months considering. According to police reports, Cameron Sutton strangled his long-term girlfriend and mother of his children to the point of brief unconsciousness after throwing her into a wall. He bit her on her neck, restrained her on the ground, then held her head by the hair and then struck her in the head multiple times with his fist, leaving multiple welts.
Does that incident negate the six-year relationship that the Steelers built with Sutton? By any account, this behavior seems extremely out of character for him. Sutton has always held a high reputation as a good person, so what happened? Does it even matter what happened if he really did these things?
I am inclined to assume that the Steelers did their “due diligence” on this matter. They couldn’t have just asked Sutton for his version of events and taken it as gospel. Not that Mike Tomlin hasn’t been as “second chance” head coach before—just consider Mike Vick or Plaxico Burress.
But they served their sentences and even played for other teams in between. In this instance, the Steelers are the Browns signing Kareem Hunt, only on an even more rapid timescale. Sutton is still going through his legal process in a pretrial diversion program.
On the field, the Steelers should benefit from Sutton’s presence, provided that his head is in the game. Off the field, it’s not as easy to say. Having a leader like Minkah Fitzpatrick publicly vouch for him helps. But one wonders if Tomlin discussed this at all with the locker room first.
The Steelers’ 2023 season has been put out of its misery, ending as so many have before in recent years: a disappointing, blowout playoff loss. The only change-up lately is when they miss the playoffs altogether. But with the Buffalo Bills stamping them out in the Wildcard Round, they have another long offseason ahead.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? Will he play just one season in Pittsburgh before moving on, or the Steelers moving on from him? How will the team address the depth chart?
The Steelers are past free agency and the draft and their roster for the 2024 season is coming into focus. They made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
