While Beanie Bishop Jr. has run with the first-team defense in training camp, the Pittsburgh Steelers have also utilized a three-safety package with DeShon Elliott sliding inside. This is not a random experiment but rather part of the plan. The Steelers have long had an affinity for three-safety packages, though Elliott being the slot option is mildly surprising. Well, surprising to those on the outside, but not to himself or the Steelers because he’s worked toward this.
“I’m just here to do whatever my coaches want me to do. I’ve worked my butt off in the offseason to fine-tune myself into those positions”, he said about his ability to play in the slot as well as at safety on Training Camp Live for the Steelers’ website. “I’m trying to be the best version of myself, and I think being here is going to push you toward that way”.
A 2019 sixth-round draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens, DeShon Elliott signed with the Steelers this offseason. He is taking over the strong safety position, which Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal split last season. Neal is gone, but Kazee remains as the third safety. Now in his third year in Pittsburgh, Kazee also has slot experience, but he is playing safety in three-safety packages.
Elliott has played both free and strong safety throughout his career, with some slot work mixed in. Last season with the Miami Dolphins, he logged 119 snaps in the slot or corner out of 987. He has actually seen more work in the slot in recent years than he did early on after leaving Baltimore. And he is doing that in Steelers training camp now, bringing him some direct one-on-one competition.
“The last two days, me and [TE Pat Freiermuth] have been going back and forth, even in OTAs”, Elliott noted as one consequence of his work in the slot. “Win some, lose some, but at the end of the day, we’re both working toward the same goal”.
Elliott has 50 career starts in 57 games played across 3,183 defensive snaps. He brings to the table 287 career tackles with three interceptions, three forced fumbles, and 3.5 sacks. Injuries have caused issues throughout his career, but the Steelers believe he is an upgrade in their secondary.
We will see once the season begins just what the Steelers plan to do in the secondary, but they are likely to use a variety of packages to suit different opponents and situations. They have to get by without slot defender Cameron Sutton for the first eight games of the season, so they can’t confidently put everything on rookie CB Beanie Bishop Jr.’s plate.
Having a safety in Elliott who can absorb some of those slot snaps with Kazee stepping in gives them options. Minkah Fitzpatrick and Kazee can both slide down to the slot, as well, so the Steelers can be very multiple. The better you can conceal who will be where after the snap, the more disadvantaged is the offense.
