With Patrick Queen, DeShon Elliott, and Jeremiah Moon, the Pittsburgh Steelers will likely have three former Baltimore Ravens on the field at the same time against their former team on Sunday. Queen and Elliott are staples of the defense, while Moon is a rotational pass rusher, and injuries will dictate that he sees snaps with Alex Highsmith out.
While they all enjoyed their time in Baltimore, they all seem to appreciate being with the Steelers. On former Ravens teammate Marlon Humphrey’s podcast, DeShon Elliott even took things a step further. Sure, he has some preferences for Baltimore over Pittsburgh. But he believes in the Steelers he has found his forever home, professionally.
“I do love Pittsburgh. I love the mentality, I love when I first got out here and you come out of that tunnel and you see the yellow bridges everywhere and then as you’re going over that bridge, you see the stadium”, Elliott said of signing with the Steelers this offseason as a free agent. “You get to the facility and it’s a winning culture. It reminds me a lot of Baltimore as well. There’s championship DNA, working hard, gritty, very detailed”.
Elliott also talked about Mike Tomlin and how he values having a head coach who is sincere in his faith and passionate about his community. He called the fan base “like a cult”, and one that’s “amazing”, playing to home crowds in away stadiums. “Every away game that we’ve had, they’re there”.
“Hopefully I’m here until I retire. I would love to be able to play here”, DeShon Elliott said. And he didn’t quite stop there, speaking to Marlon Humphrey. “Honestly, at the end of your career, if you ever decide to…”, he added, before trailing off playfully. “No. Can’t do that”, Humphrey responded.
The Ravens drafted DeShon Elliott in the sixth round back in 2018. He played his first four seasons there, but as he pointed out to Humphrey after having called him a traitor, Ravens GM Eric DeCosta “had a chance to sign me back and he chose not to. He chose to sign No. 32 [Marcus Williams]. Yeah, I’m putting it out there, I don’t give a f***”.
Instead of returning to the Ravens, Elliott spent the 2022 season with the Detroit Lions. After playing with a Miami Dolphins team last year that he called soft, he finally feels home with the Steelers. He said in Pittsburgh they have a collective of hard-minded individuals, implying he had not had that since playing in Baltimore.
And in his first season as a member of the Steelers, DeShon Elliott is arguably having a career year. He has 64 tackles, including three for loss, with an interception, a forced fumble, four passes defensed, and a fumble recovery. You see his impact on tape even more because his sure tackling in the open field has really made a difference.
Elliott is still 27 years old, so he actually has a decent amount of his career left if he continues to play well. He signed a two-year, $6 million contract with the Steelers this offseason, so is on the books for 2025. By the time his contract expires, he will be going into his age-29 season. But he still has another season and a half to get through first. Up to this point, though, he is looking like the Steelers’ next Ryan Clark.
