Player: S Juan Thornhill
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin cited Juan Thornhill when responding to a question about a lack of need for safety help. While he didn’t explicitly say they don’t need or wouldn’t draft a safety, that is an endorsement. It’s also not the first time since signing Thornhill the Steelers have discussed him as part of their plans.
The Steelers have a history of preferring three-safety packages, and Juan Thornhill gives them the capability to do that. An experienced starter, he doesn’t appear to be in that phase of his career any longer. But he can still play, particularly in a sub-package role.
“We’re very familiar with Juan [Thornhill] and his talents”, Steelers HC Mike Tomlin said last month. “That’s gonna be a fun endeavor to figure out how to divide the labor up and that certainly will change from time to time”.
While they already have starters in Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliot, there’s always room for another safety. In recent years, Damontae Kazee has served in that role, if he wasn’t starting. Now the Steelers have replaced him with Thornhill.
And Tomlin brought him up again on Tuesday in downplaying the team’s need for safety help. It was a short answer, but he said, “We signed Thornhill”, following a rambling question on the topic. Some will interpret this as the team declaring it won’t draft a safety.
Now, the Steelers did bring in a first-round candidate at safety, which offers some intrigue. I don’t think many people realistically see them drafting Nick Emmanwori, but you never know. Perhaps bringing him in for a pre-draft visit was their attempt at playing subterfuge with the process. But unless the Steelers draft him, Thornhill seems to be locked into a meaningful role this season.
With the new league year underway and the Steelers turning their roster over, it’s once again time to “take stock”. It took a while, but we finally saw some of that change the team talked about after the season ended. Certainly, the move to trade for WR DK Metcalf qualifies as a change, not to mention the accompanying contract.
There is still a long way to go before we know what this Steelers team is going to look like. Once the dust settles on free agency, we turn our attention to the draft, and so on. What other moves might the team make, perhaps unexpected acquisitions or departures? If they traded for one player, they could certainly trade for another, or trade one away. This is a Steelers team starving for postseason success, but how desperate are they for a playoff win in 2025?
