The Pittsburgh Steelers’ safety position was in dire straits by the end of the 2023 season. They entered the year with sufficient depth, but they could not have predicted injuries to Minkah Fitzpatrick, Keanu Neal, and Trenton Thompson while also dealing with a suspension to Damontae Kazee. And even with that group of players, they didn’t have a player who fit the archetype of a true strong safety. This forced Fitzpatrick to move around the defense and limited his impact as a deep safety.
They hope to have fixed that issue this offseason with the addition of S DeShon Elliott, previously of the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens. It isn’t a perfect match given most of Elliott’s experience coming at free safety. He has 1,856 snaps as a deep safety and just 846 playing in the box, but his abilities are much better suited for strong safety, where he will play in Pittsburgh.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin spoke about the addition of Elliott and one major thing he could add to the secondary.
“He knows what AFC North football’s about,” Austin said last week via video posted on the Steelers’ YouTube page. “What he brings is he’s a real good pro. He’s tough, he’s a striker, he brings some toughness in that secondary where he’s gonna get down in there and he can punish some ball carriers. And so I think that gives us a level of physicality that we really want.
“And he does match up and he can do some things on the slot as well. And so he brings us some flexibility in there, and that’s what we like for him.”
There are two clips I compiled for the film room I completed on Elliott after he signed that best illustrate his skill set as a strong safety. He is willing to come downhill, and he has the vision and tackling abilities to make it work. He is also willing to take on blockers and uses his length to keep them off his body to shed them.
The entire starting secondary should be comprised of willing and capable tacklers now. Fitzpatrick certainly fits that description/ Joey Porter Jr. made strides throughout his rookie season and is confident he has made strides in that area entering Year 2. Donte Jackson is probably the weakest tackler of the bunch, but it isn’t for a lack of trying. He is absolutely willing to throw his body around. And then Cam Sutton in the slot has always excelled in this area. The front seven will be plenty physical in 2024, and the secondary should have everything it needs to back that up.
Austin also mentioned Elliott’s ability to play in the slot. The Steelers still have Thompson and Kazee, so they should be able to deploy Elliott in a number of different ways in certain packages. If and when Sutton serves a suspension, DeShon Elliott can help fill in along with Beanie Bishop Jr., Josiah Scott, or Grayland Arnold.
